What happens when the final out is recorded in a high school baseball game, or the match point of a volleyball game is won or the horn sounds following four quarters of football?
Student-athletes, coaches and other team personnel line up and shake hands with the other team to congratulate one another on a game well played.
The irony of this symbolic gesture that dates the history of sports is that in 2020 physical contact is limited due to the coronavirus pandemic. But it’s the thought behind the action that I want to focus on.
I’d be mistaken if I said the world around us isn’t what I expected it to be when the new decade was rung in a little more than five months ago.
Between the impact of COVID-19 on the daily lives of people everywhere, and the push for change around the globe pertaining to the Black Lives Matter movement and social injustice, this year hasn’t been without its valleys and hills.
This column isn’t meant to be political. But I want to share my opinion why sports are such a needed, loved and impactful necessity in our world.
Athletics at every level — whether it be local parks and recreation, high school, college or professional — has this intangible way of bringing people together. People of varying color and religion, among other qualities, compete on fields across the world where the only thing that matters is the love of the sport.
Fans eat peanuts in the bleachers or tailgate ahead of football games. Players work together with their teammates to be the best they can be. Memories are made when a championship is won, a player achieves a personal accolade or when new friends and connections lead to other bigger and better things.
That’s the power of sports, and I’ve seen it firsthand countless times.
When I became the Richmond Observer’s sports editor in the fall of 2017, I hardly knew anyone. I remember trying to build rapports with coaches and student-athletes at Richmond Senior High School. The beginning wasn’t easy, especially when I had to cover an athletic program with such a rich history and tradition as Richmond.
What I credit to my quick acclimation and success of covering Raider and Lady Raider athletics is the community for which I write. Of course, the players and coaches are a big part of that, but so are their families, friends, school and district administrators and other members of the athletic community.
There are many stories I could tell to prove this acceptance, but just know the last three school years have been some of the most rewarding times in my journalistic career.
And through it all, the main objective for everyone was keeping his or her eye on the ball. It’s amazing to me how much of the outside world and its problems and uncertainties go away for the two or three hours a game or match is played.
The arena of sports is a vacuum that allows everyone within its boundaries to come together and make the world a better place. And that’s why I believe we need sports now more than ever.
Richmond County Schools officials are set to meet on Wednesday to discuss the return of high school athletics in the county.
While interscholastic sports, like many other facets of our society, will look different upon their return, I believe the resumption of practices, workouts, and eventually games, will help alleviate some of the pressures of the world.
So, stock up on the hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes, appreciate the safety and awareness of face masks and social distancing, and let’s give the one thing many people find solidarity in another chance.
With sociially-distanced handshakes, of course.
