Writing about my favorite things: sports

I’m grateful I have the opportunity to write about local sports. This past week I attended the NRHEG Fall Sports Banquet. The banquets are among my favorites to write about.

 

When I arrived at the athletic banquet Tuesday evening, I was surprised when I saw former teacher and my former coach Shawn Larson sitting in the front row at the end.

 

I told him it was weird, not seeing him up on the stage. 

 

He started talking about wrestling and how he wasn’t going to coach this season. 

 

He sounded anxious, and I really wanted to try to put him at ease. 

 

Larson was one of my favorite coaches at NRHEG and one of my all-time-favorite teachers. 

 

I thanked him for his service dedication, and many hours he put into the program as a coach.

 

I’m glad that he’s retiring from coaching and will have the opportunity to enjoy his time as a parent, watching his kids finish their athletic careers. Wyatt, his oldest is, a senior this year, and Josie is a 7th grader.  

 

The other thing I cautioned Larson about was coming back too soon from burnout. Larson didn’t say that was his struggle, but I felt comfortable enough to speak on my experience. 

 

It’s funny how burnout works. As soon as I started to feel a little better and tried to return to a specific area of work in my life, that feeling of burnout/dread came back strongly. Thankfully, it dissipated quickly, too. 

 

Speaking with Larson was also a walk down memory lane. 

 

Larson told me that I was the most difficult baseball pitcher in his coaching career to take out of games. He said he would walk to the mound thinking, “There’s no way Eli is going to say something to stop me from taking him out of the game.” 

 

But I usually did. 

 

My favorite instance of this was a game in which we lost 8-0, a game in which our team registered no hits. (Except for me who was hit by a pitch, on my throwing shoulder in the 6th inning, in very cold weather.)

 

Larson tried to take me out of the game numerous times. Nearly every inning beginning in the second. I believe he stopped trying after the fifth. 

 

During the third or fourth inning, I told Larson, “I just want to give us the best chance to win.” 

I remember the feeling like it was yesterday. I feel it in my chest as I recall the moment. It was powerful. 

 

This may be selfish, but the difficult part wasn’t really coming out of the game. The difficult part was watching somebody who didn’t love the game, who wasn’t going to cherish every second on the mound or in the field and in the batters box, which hurt. I loved every second I spent on a baseball diamond. 

 

If anyone ever struggles with the value of local high school sports, please think about the lessons of hard work, dedication, love, community and camaraderie which are learned along the way. 

 

Sincerely, thank you, Larson, for giving me a few more cherished memories on the mound. 

Thank you to all of our coaches, assistants, stat keepers, bus drivers, proud Moms and Dads, and everyone who supports local student activities.