For any high school sports team, the first goal is typically to win their respective conference championship. Then, the next goal is to make the playoffs and the final goal is to win a state championship.

As we have moved to the end of the 2015 high school football regular season, sometimes we get caught up in the Friday night lights. However, all too often many forget about the youngsters playing on Saturdays in their respective youth leagues.

Yesterday, the league wrapped up its season with the Teen OVC “Super Bowl” held at Boyd County. Additionally, the Tri-State Youth Football League that includes teams from South Point, Chesapeake and Fairland in Ohio along with several West Virginia teams are in their playoffs fighting for a spot in the annual “Turf Bowl” held at Marshall University’s Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

It is certainly a joy to watch these young people play the game and cheer for their team in such an innocent manner.

All too often, even in high school today, we see the attitudes of some that are only playing for themselves and not for their teams. It is more about what is in it for them and their personal benefit rather than working to reach team goals and make others around them better.

That’s why it is such a wonderful experience to attend youth leagues, as the kids are there, almost always, for their love of the game and to play with their friends. The same can be said for all those cheerleaders who stand out in the rain and cold during the latter part of the season to cheer on their friends who are playing.

Many wouldn’t bat an eye at going to a high school football game on Friday night, but if you haven’t went out on a Saturday to watch the future of our communities, I encourage you to do so. This not only shows the commitment to your community, but it will most certainly show all these young people they are an important part.

To all those players in high school, and middle school for that matter, these young people look up to you whether you like it or not.

You are leading by example for the younger children in your community, and it is crucial that whether you win or lose, at the end of the day, your actions will make a much larger impact than you realize.

At the same time, The Tribune can play a much larger role than we have in the past when it comes to our youth leagues. Sure, we always support them financially, but haven’t always done a good job in recognizing them.

Moving forward, I would like to meet with each of the youth leagues in Lawrence County and develop a plan that makes it easy for us to be able to recognize the hard work those young people put in. However, this will take the cooperation of the leagues themselves to ensure we receive scores.

If you are a youth league representative, please send me an email at josh.morrison@irontontribune.com with your contact information so a meeting time can be set to work together to reach this goal.

 

Josh Morrison is the general manager at The Tribune. To reach him, call 740-532-1441 ext. 16 or by email at josh.morrison@irontontribune.com.