I am not suggesting to you that high schools sports are the savior of everything in our lives, but they maybe used as a good example.
In an era when our nation seems to be hopelessly divided in many ways, the United States Congress being the poster child, high school sports are inclusive rather than exclusive.
All you need to do is a look at the makeup of the gym at any tournament basketball game and you will see many types of personalities, hair styles, clothing choices, and yes, likely political views all coming together for a common goal and that is get a win for the side they are rooting for in the game.
That just proves that it can be done.
As I have said before in this space in North Central Ohio what goes on at the local high school is often the center of that particular community. And that is true of more that just sports, like band and choir, mock trial, or academic challenge competitions. But for this column, let’s concentrate on sports.
I think it is fair to say that our communities in Richland County are more intergraded now than ever before. Ontario, for example, a city that was once a village without its own zip code, that is why when ranked in statewide polls it is referred to as Mansfield Ontario, even though everyone who lives in Ontario knows it has its own distinctive history and culture. In some ways that history and culture is related to Mansfield, but in others is clearly not.
The Warriors, like all of the schools in Richland County outside of Mansfield Senior or Madison, where made up almost exclusively of white kids, but no more. In fact, three of the five starters on the team that was voted Associated Press poll champions in division two were African-American. Then, you can add to that one of the real keys to the team’s success this year was the ability to play together as a team lead by coach Joe Balogh, coach of the year in division two in the Northwest District.
Fans in the Ontario crowd, black or white, are all wearing blue and yellow t-shirts to support that Warriors. Fans young and old, those wearing short skirts, slacks or just plain jeans all coming to together for a common cause.
If there is one thing that high school athletics teaches us it is the value of teamwork. Whether it is the basketball teams at Mansfield Senior, Mansfield St. Peter’s or Mansfield Christian, all of which enjoyed success this season, would not have been able to win conference titles or sectional or district championships without sharing their talents with each other.
It is unlikely that any of the high school players in Richland County will become a professional athlete, not impossible, but not likely. However, they hopefully will become important contributors to society if they chose to live their lives in their hometowns or elsewhere.
There have been times when players on any successful team have had to sacrifice scoring points in order for their teams to accomplish the ultimate goal and that is to win the game. We call that leadership when a player understands what his or her role should be on the team.
Leadership is something that is missing in Congress, let’s hope they can learn a lesson from the Ontario Warriors, but let’s not get our hopes up.
After years of toil and sweat behind radio station microphones, longtime broadcaster, Jeff Swank joined the new generation of sports followers on the web.
Swank launched his internet radio station with nothing more than some wire, a box with some knobs and switches, and an itch to do much more than just scratch the surface of everything sports.
Richland Source is proud to introduce Jeff as a writer focused on high school sports. He will contribute a weekly column and analysis of a featured game of the week from one of our area high schools.
In addition to his work at Richland Source, Jeff provides complete high school sports coverage for over 70 Ohio schools at his web site, http://www.swankonsports.net76.net/.
