The Final Hurrah, Invisibility, and other Afterthoughts - A Fan's Perspective

It's all over now....

The Championship Orioles returned home this weekend to a gym filled with fans who gave them countless standing ovations...they brought home silver, but the fans showered them with the same approval as if it were gold. The event was low-key though...the girls themselves came in quietly, looking subdued. No bright smiles or high handed waves to the crowd. Pictures were snapped. The trophy was placed center stage. Finally, a couple speeches were given, with the speakers choking back tears...not so much...in fact not really at all over the loss, but over the finality of it all. The five starters and five of the subs are seniors, and with the end of this season comes the end of the basketball "all star" team. The Orioles (and Springville's) 15 minutes...(or I guess 30 minutes, since we got to Des Moines two years running)...of fame are all but over.Seems harsh, doesn't it? Yet it is more than a little true. Small towns like ours get very little notice, and very little recognition outside our borders, or in the press when it comes to athletes and academia... We complain about that a lot...yet I'll bet that after this week, few readers will come back to this site (feel free to prove me wrong!) to see what's happening with the track team, or the softball team, or the baseball team...so to a large extent, we have only ourselves to blame when we become "invisible".Springville has a lot to be proud of, and many fine athletes off the basketball court, and while we may not get as much press time, it would behoove those of us who live here to offer all our teams the same level of fan support we offered to our golden girls of basketball.  Much has been discussed about the fact that the Championship ball team seniors started playing together as young girls...and that's very true..they did.  However, the juniors, sophomores, and freshmen coming up have also played together since third grade. The sophomore class in particular, showed a lot of potential on the volleyball and basketball courts when they were rising through the ranks, and there are clearly some skilled juniors and freshman, so don't count the Orioles down and out just yet. After all, if we don't watch, brag, and talk about our great kids, who will?  Yet we often don't.  We are all to commonly guilty of being fair weather fans, (and I don't mean literally, even though it often IS crappy weather for outside sports) who don't get out to watch our teams when they are not in the spotlight as top contenders.It's a shame really, because Springville High School has some pretty impressive talent on the track, and on the ball diamond. (Baseball and Softball games are also another opportunity to hear the awesome SHS National Anthem singers)Our girls track team is outstanding.  School records are beginning to fall.  Last year they dominated sprinting events at every meet.  Mattea Otten, Brittany Clark, Abbie Neff, April Coppess, Sydney Vaughn, Carly Martin & Sarah Thies made the trip to State Track meet last year, qualifying in 6 events.  Sarah Davidson has also made the trip as a qualifier in High Jump.  They didn't get a fire truck escort, or a poster, (you don't get "state qualifier" banners either) or a pep assembly, but considering that we field a track team with less than 15 girls, qualifying for 6 events is a pretty big accomplishment...and with only 2 seniors this year, if you are a betting sort, 7 or 8 qualifying events this year & next wouldn't be a bad bet. Look for the men's team to improve dramatically this year under the direction of a new coach.Abbie Neff was first team All Conference, and 3rd team All State in softball last year...Karley Markley and Katie Wyman received First team All Conference & State Honorable Mention. Katie and Abbie were also All District Team honorees.  They will all be back on the diamond this year.These kids work hard, train hard, and compete with all they have, so, in the joy of celebrating a tremendous two year run of basketball, lets not forget that there is life at SHS beyond the court, with fine students and athletes to be celebrated.  We can be invisible, or we can sing our own praises till people take notice.So...let us SING!

See you all on the track!