The Welcome Sights and Sounds of Spring

The unmistakable sounds are all around us.

The crack of the bat and the stinging pop of a glove as it secures a ball remind us that baseball and softball is being played.

The ping of a ball as the result of compressing against the strings of the racket tells us that tennis is back.

A starter pistol reminds us that running and jumping once again take place outdoors and the shuffling sound of shoulder pads give indication that lacrosse is back in style.

It is these sounds and not the date of a calendar or the shadow of a groundhog that tell us spring has arrived.

As the clocks have sprung forward this past weekend, the days have become brighter at Highland, Timber Creek and Triton. Practices and games inside of gymnasiums have been replaced by contests on a field or a track. While the winter sports season may have just wrapped up a little more than a week ago, the spring season is already knocking on the door.

Preseason games fill the schedules this week and Mother Nature seems to be in a cooperating mood, giving players and fans alike the opportunity to get the real spring feel. As society continues to speed up, these early days
of the spring sports schedule provide us with a chance to slow down, an opportunity to watch and appreciate player and team development. It’s a time when errors can be excused, double faults tolerated and errant tee-shots blamed on the rust of a long dark winter.

It’s also a time of hope for each team and player. Hope that this is the year something special will happen. Not only is every team undefeated, but every player is optimistic that varsity is in his or her future. It’s a time when new, young faces emerge on the scene and experienced ones return with determination and focus.

Goals are many and optimism is overflowing.

Over the next three weeks each team in the Black Horse Regional School District will begin to establish an identity, form an expectation and once again become whole. There will be plenty of local storylines for us to follow over the next few months: Can the Highland baseball team win another Tri-County Conference Royal Division title? Can the Triton softball team win its fourth-straight Olympic Conference Patriot Division title? Can the Timber Creek track team continue its dominance without world-class speedster Damiere Byrd?

Those storylines—and many, many others—will unfold and be answered in time. For now, the focus is squarely on the sights, sounds and smells of spring.

The calendar may tell us that it is still winter, but our eyes, ears and nose are much to the wiser. Take a trip out to your local school this week and take in game, match or meet for yourself. Then you will truly be able to appreciate the undeniable fact that spring is here.