Guest Posts on County 10 are provided by contributors and the opinions, thoughts, and comments within are their own and may not necessarily reflect those of County 10.
The nervous guy at the finish line last Saturday during the 100-meter dash was both a father and a coach. Eric Baker and his wife were on the clock so to speak. Their son Brayden, a junior sprinter at Lander Valley High School, was in the final flight of 10 heats of the 100-meter dash. After that he ran a leg on Lander’s 4×100-meter relay.
Eric kept looking at his watch as his mom and dad, Brayden’s grandparents, arrived. The boy was on borrowed time as they say.
It was approaching 1:30 in the afternoon and Brayden had another game 120 miles away in Casper at 4pm catching, and then later pitching for the Riverton Raiders against the Casper Post 2 Drillers A team at Mike Lansing Field in Natrona County.
Brayden made it, driving in two runs on a single in a 9-7 loss to the Drillers.
On Friday evening, I watched Riverton goalie Ryan Cox bat away Star Valley kicks in the Wolverines’ 2-1 win over the Braves in “Pink Night” soccer action.
I’ve known Ryan for a long time and remember when he was born. He’s the grandson of my cousin Tammy.
Ryan’s grown up to become a fine athlete, an offensive and defensive stalwart on the Wolverine line, a low post for Beau Sheets’ Wolverine basketball team and now a goalie for the first time.
Ryan dropped a few pounds since football and his 6-5 frame is ideal for a soccer goalie.
These two guys are the epitome of the three-sport athlete, OK, maybe four sports.
My column from last Wednesday titled “Behind the Lines: The Specialized Athlete” spoke directly to athletes like Brayden and Ryan.
It was interesting to note that in the social media comment section of the column, everyone who commented was a coach. There were a few likes from a handful of parents, but overall, it was the coaches across Wyoming in nearly every sport the WHSAA administers who appreciated the column the most.
One coach, Heath Hayes, the son of my departed friend Leroy Hayes of Thermopolis, sent a link from the state of Minnesota. Heath has coached at the college level and is currently in Douglas.
The link he sent was titled “Minnesota Statute Offers New Protection for Coaches Under Fire from Parents.”
It was dated June 16, 2013.
That’s right, almost a dozen years ago, the parents were assaulting the coaches over playing time and perceived injustices to their little darlings.
A summary of the article is that coaches can no longer be terminated just because some parents are offended.
They do things a little differently in the Land of Sky Blue Waters than we do in the Cowboy State. They’re much more organized, with statewide teaching and coaching contracts that every district must adhere to. In Wyoming, it remains the “Wild West.” What goes at Worland might not fly in Green River, and even in Fremont County, written expectations, outcomes, and contract provisions vary greatly from Shoshoni to Dubois and all points in between. So do salaries.
The 2013 legislation added just one sentence to the statewide coaching contracts, here it is. “The existence of parent complaints must not be the sole reason for a board to not renew a coaching contract.”
Boom. If that were enacted in Wyoming, coaching terminations would grind to a halt. It might not seem like much, but that one sentence gives an attorney representing a coach ample ammunition to battle the injustices that now prey on good coaches.
One of the joys or frustrations, depending on your viewpoint, is hearing how your coaching friends are doing across the state at track meets.
Coaches are notorious gossips among each other. You can find out a lot about the condition of the profession on a windy afternoon at track meet, you can find out even more over a cold one after a hot day at Harry Geldien Stadium at Kelly Walsh in Casper during the state track championships.
While it’s good to get a grasp of the terra firma present day coaches must navigate, it’s even better to realize that the world will be in good hands when the kids of today take over.
Modern-day teenagers take a lot of guff from the older generations; they’re lazy, unmotivated, live on cell phones, and won’t ever leave their parents’ basements…we’ve all heard it.
Last Friday, in the “Pink Game,” I watched as the girls from Afton and Riverton battled for 80 minutes on the Wolverine field.
No child should ever have to face the horror of cancer that Madison Belle and Garret Rogers faced. It’s not fair, it’s cruel and hideous, but there is little we outside the medical field can do about it, or is there?
The generosity poured out by the Riverton community for these two kids was inspiring.
Seeing the Star Valley staff and players donate to the cause was reassuring on an entirely different level.
With incentives, bounties really, on each Riverton player to score a goal and generate a donation the game took on a different tone.
In the girl’s contest, the big money was on goalkeeper Ayana Mejorado to score. Even if you’re only a casual soccer fan, you know the goalie almost never scores. It’s the same as in hockey, goalkeepers defend, they don’t score.
When Ayana scored off a corner kick with less than a minute left to play it was bedlam on the field, on the sidelines and in the stands. She’d generated $850 for Madison and Garret with that simple kick.
What people in the stands didn’t realize is that when the ball flew in from the corner, the Star Valley defenders spread out just a little bit. Just enough to leave an opening for the girl in the green jersey to find a lane to the goal. I was on the goal line and watched them do it.
When the talented, articulate Ayana scored, she was mobbed by her teammates, but she was equally congratulated by the Lady Braves. The girls from Star Valley realized what was happening and joined in the celebration of support for these two Fremont County kids who were dealt such a horrible hand.
Kids never disappoint if you just give them a chance.