By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

High school sports are here.

After a summer calendar that was probably more jam-packed than ever.

Filled with off-season training sessions, camps, workouts and showcases.

Hopefully, for everyone, there was still some down time filled with family time and vacations.

But here we are.

The 2024 athletic season officially arrived on Thursday.

For the next 11 months, high school student-athletes across Portage County will dedicate and invest countless hours into their teams and the goals they have set for themselves.

All while maintaining academics as a top priority, potentially juggling work schedules, preparing for college and enjoying time with family and friends.

The whirlwind is real.

And it is easy to be swept into it.

There will be moments all around to keep everyone grounded, though, so be sure to see them.

Be ready to live in them.

For the seniors and their parents, these will be the last moments to capture.

Moments that will be different for every team, player and family.

Some teams will compete for league championships and some will find the wins are a bit more elusive. Each should share in the same lessons that can apply to their lives when sports are all over. Hard work, how to respond to adversity, how to manage success and how to stay smiling throughout all of it.

Some athletes will achieve high-ranking league and statewide honors or receive college interest and some will be searching for the opportunity that allows for expanded minutes. Each should share in the value that being part of a team presents. The value of friendships, the bond that can be created when everyone is working hard toward a common goal and what it means to step forward to be a respected leader.

Some parents will expect everything, and maybe too much, from their child and some will take an approach that is more reserved. Each should find the balance that supports, but also includes layers of healthy accountability and expectations.

Too often, these moments are the ones that we let fly by without recognizing them.

Admittedly, some are just ordinary moments.

Sometimes, though, these are the same moments that can change a person’s day, year or life. 

Some will have zero to do with wins and losses, and more to do with discovering a new friendship, overcoming a fear, the laughter that fills bus rides, mastering a new skill, finding their own confidence or knowing that their teammates and coaches believe in them.

The competition is predetermined with a schedule that already exists.

It will be the moments inside of those games, and all of the days in between, that a season can grow beyond a final record and develop into a memory.

What moment will you create today to contribute to that memory?