Winter sports begin

Monday was a big day. It was the first day of winter sports. Of course, it was weird to say that because, normally, winter sports would have started almost a month ago, and last weekend would have already seen events like the Havre Invitational wrestling tournament take place.

Of course, this year, and the coming year, are anything but normal.

And because it's not normal right now, the Montana High School Association, rightfully so in my humble opinion, delayed the first practice date of the winter sports season a couple of weeks so that schools, teams, kids and all of us could take a collective breath, regroup, and get ready for the season ahead.

With that being said, I want to take just one minute, or a paragraph or two, to close the book on the fall sports season.

And what a season it was. No one in Montana has experienced high school sports like we just did in the fall. And I can say that because I coached a sport during it. And I will say, it was hard, it was stressful, and it was, at times, uncomfortable and every bit as unusual as we all thought it would be.

But we, as coaches, as student-athletes, as administrators, as parents, we as a state, we did it. Again, I know it wasn't easy. There were cancellations, and schedule changes, and quarantines and just about every other obstacle you could think of. And yet, at the end of it all, there were still smiles, there were still trophies and tears of joy and sorrow, there were champions, there were triumphs, and there were memories, just like every fall that came before the fall of 2020. It looked and felt different, but we, collectively did it.

And for that, I'd like to say congratulations to everyone who made fall sports in 2020 possible. Congrats to the coaches, and kids, congrats to the athletic directors, the administrations, the bus drivers, the officials, the volunteers and everyone who supports athletics in Montana. Congratulations and thank you for helping all of us who love sports so much in this great state get to play this fall. Congrats, and thank you.

Now we turn our attention to winter. Now, it's basketball and swimming and wrestling. It's your turn. Again, I can tell all of you, it won't be easy. Having just gone through it, there will be plenty of challenges along the way. But you can do it. We can do it, if we continue to support, help and take care of each other. Through the dedication and hard work of so many we can, even in these very trying times, have a successful winter sports season. We just have to care about each other watch out for each other, and do our very best to stay healthy, and stay the course.

So, good luck to everyone embarking on this winter sports journey in Montana. It will be tough, and it will be unusual, but it will still be fun. So have a great season everyone. And to all of our awesome student-athletes, go chase your winter sports dreams.