As many of my regular readers are aware by now, I started doing this newspaper thing at the age of 18 for the former Slidell Daily Times. Within only a few months I was asked to cover a football game, although I had never done anything like that before, and I certainly didn’t consider myself a writer.
Somehow it did work out, partly because I was a big sports guy and at least understood the game and the rules. That was in the summer of 1973 and here I am, well, quite a few years later, finding myself getting connected again to high school sports in a way that I am enjoying.
I went to the Slidell High Invitational cross country meet at Fontainebleau State Park last week, not that I planned to cover anything, but it was going to be a high school sports event for one of my grandkids.
I found myself getting caught up in the pure emotion all those young kids displayed, as well as the excitement I could see from them as they got ready for their race.
It reminded me again how great prep sports are. I wrote about it in our annual football section that was published last week, pointing out the challenge for any kid to join a high school team and play sports. It’s very difficult in some sports, all the way to very, very difficult in other sports like football, where you are practicing in the brutal summer heat.
And maybe the toughest sport of all in terms of conditioning? Swimming has always ranked number one to me.
I never played on any high school sports team, even though I loved sports from a young age. My younger brother Tony and I were always playing sports in the neighborhood and that sparked our interest for what turned out to be our entire lives.
When I came to Slidell in 1969 and entered the 10th grade, I was still a small-sized teen who had not been preparing for a high school team. Regardless of that, I especially loved basketball and decided to try out for the Tigers along with my older brother Larry.
I remember going to the first day of practice, which was still in very hot weather, and many years ago when there was no air conditioning in any gymnasiums.
I have one vivid memory of that day—the coach making it clear to the new kids that this would be hard. He must have easily seen someone like me, as well as others, who had never been on a high school team and certainly knew how to weed out the ones who weren’t ready.
That would be me.
There is something in basketball practice called suicides. It is a grueling workout where you start at one end of the court, run a quarter of the way down, turn around and go back, then go halfway and back, three-quarters of the way and back, and finally all the way to the end of the court and back.
You better be in great shape to do that, or you won’t last. Or you might do like me. I did manage to do the suicides a time or two, but then I remember about the third one being more than I could handle. Fortunately, there was a large garbage can right in the corner of the gym and I managed to unload my lunch there at the end of the last suicide I did.
So, that was the end of my prep sports career, but since my brother Tony was a 6-6 superstar who went on to make all-state and play both college baseball and basketball, I started going to every game to watch him, which opened the door to become the team stat man for both teams for three years.
I loved doing that, and I think it played a part in becoming a sports writer only a year after high school out of I passed on the idea of getting a college degree.
As for those cross-country kids, I loved watching them because it is a sport that anyone can do. Boys and girls, young kids or seniors, they were all together, warming up, having fun getting ready for their first race of the season, and then accomplishing something really great to finish the two- and three-mile races in the upper 90-degree weather.
For my grandson Jerry, who had never done much of any sports before, he finished 7th in the JV race out of about 40 kids—I was so impressed.
But best of all, for Jerry and the other kids, you could clearly see this look of confidence and self-satisfaction at the end of their race. They took on something hard, didn’t quit, and finished it.
That is a lesson high school sports teaches, and it’s one of the best lessons a young kid could ever learn.
Kevin Chiri can be reached by e-mail at kevinchiri@gmail.com.