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Show ommunity lews A2 • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2007 -N Let your kids F. \V S - Spanish Fork 280 North Main St. Spanish Fork, UT 84660 Lane Henderson Steve Hardman Nam on Bills PLA Publisher Editor Assoc. Editor The Spanish Eork News is published each Wednesday for $37.50 per year in area and $4 1.50 out of area by J-Marr, 280 North Main St., Spanish Eork Utah 84660. Email stories to editor@spforkncws.com Email ads to ad s @>sp fo rknews. com Call us at 794-4964 POSTMASTER Send address changes to Spanish Fork News 280 North Main Si. Spanish Fork, Utah 84660 The entire content of this newspaper is Copyright© 2007 Spanish Fork News. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may he reproduced in any form without the written permission of" the editor or publisher. DEADLINES Weddings, anniversaries, missionaries, 1st birthdays, articles, photos, letters to the editor Friday, 12 p.m. Display advertising and classified advertising Friday, 12 p.m. Covering what matters most Matt Marziale SF PARKS & RFC. accelerated teams spring up, I worry and wonder about the future of recreation baseball. 1 wonder if Spring weather is near, the local the one (accelerated) will kill the boys and girls have already converted other (recreation)? Where will all the gyms into throwing and catching the kids go that just want to play? areas. Ball park crews have hung the If the rec league dies, where will batting cages and the snow is melting the accelerated league gather their away. What does it all mean? Play players from? Questions, questions and more questions. Let me give you ball! I hope that I can add some insight my thoughts. I do think I am qualified to your role as a parent prior to the as an expert on the subject. I coach start of the season. Why does your both of my sons on Super League child play? Do you allow them to teams; I also coach and run the city have fun in doing so, or is it way recreational leagues. I umpire college too much pressure? We come off an ball, allowing me to see where these outstanding effort by our high school lucky few really get to and where it teams in 2006 where the boys and girls takes them. teams both won state championships. Some of my best memories as a To them I say, "Congratulations, you child came while playing baseball represented us well." Not every boy under the lights of the Pony Field or girl will win the championship, at Russell Swenson Memorial Park many won't even make the teams that — the lights, the smell of the they dream of playing on. So it is of grass, the cute girls that great importance to allow other hung out by the dugout. forces to drive our kids, let Boy it was fun! Did I other skills be learned mention the drive to play, that will be helpful in to compete and most of life. all to beat my friends who played for the As other teams? I and remember facing GregLindsey, Robbie LJ^mm—Lmm Reid and Jason Albee as they tried to strike me out. Once we got to high school, those three prayed that I would catch fly balls hit my way. They didn't have to worry about my stick. We didn't have super league, and things worked out. Our team won the second State Baseball Championship that SFHS added to the tradition. I think the only way our current boys and girls will face each other is on the recreation diamond. Can Andy Perkins get a hit off of Hayden Nielsen when the cards are down? There is only one way tofindout. You see, these two play on the same Super League team and do not face each other in games. The lOu Sugar Kings have one of the best pitchers in the state for that age group. I know this because I coach that team. Nic Roberts is the Roger Clements of lOu Super League. All the kids that age know it and talk about him and his arm. Dallin Shepherd also plays on the Sugar Kings. In City League Dallin plays for the Mustang Mets. I watched him go two-for-two off Roberts last year in a City League game. He is the only kid I have seen do that in over 30 games, recreation or Super league. I use these example for one reason. Our boys and girls want to play against each other. Most of the time it is more fun than Saturday games and brings less pressure. My second evaluation may be more valuable than childhood dreams or friendly competition. I watch all of our local boys play in these high-stakes Saturday games and tournaments. The pressure that is put on them by coaches, parents and opponents is amazing. I can recall a couple of times when I have put the pressure on my team or sons. Now that I am past the moment I ask myself, "What were you thinking? Was it really that important?" The answer is no. In the recreation field, I continue to receive education by way of experience, but the studies that I look into are far more valuable. It is amazing how many kids quit playing any type of sports due to the lack of fun and too much pressure. If you wonder about these studies, take a look at our Spanish Fork City Leagues in any sport, any gender. Kindergarten to second grade are the largest leagues in all sports. Third and fourth grade is the point where we start keeping score, and coaches start wanting more in terms of dedication. These numbers of participants are still quite high. Fifth and sixth grade is where the first major drop-off as to participants happens. The kids quit due to lack of skills and success at this point, but they quit more due to lack of fun and support. Seventh grade is the edge; the fun is gone for many and they find other things to do that they enjoy. The same is the case in accelerated sports, just at a faster rate. I think that many of us as parents need to ask and listen to our kids as to sports — not just do what we want or think they want. I believe that the majority of boys and girls will continue to play both leagues when given a choice. I remember two or three teams over the past years that have decided not to play recreation ball. Week after week two or three of these boys would sign up late. They decided they wanted to play after all. I can tell you they missed something. It wasn't the competition that they missed; it was the fun they saw others having that they wanted, too. City league is fun. I encourage you to let your child make the choice. Accelerated coaches should not make this decision for your child. The choice to play will have another hurdle this year as we, Spanish Fork Parks & Recreation have added a Monday Night league for Accelerated teams. City League will play Tuesday-Thursday with some Friday games as well. It will be a lot of baseball for some, five games a week. I wish I had an option to play five games a week when I was a kid. More games, less practice — what could be better? Oh yeah, a ball park burger and holding hands with the lifeguard from The Sandlot. Letter to the Editor George Washington — God's Greatest American Years ago when I went school, George Washington, the "Father of our country", was fondly remembered as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countryman." First and foremost among my heroes is George Washington, who left us a priceless legacy of righteous government and freedom. During my younger years, he was every school child's hero, but he is seldom mentioned in our humanistic times. Because of political correctness, the greatest American of all times has become just another dead, white male. The historian James Flexner called George Washington the "indispensable man" regarding the founding of this nation for the following reasons: (1) holding the ragtag Continental army together for eight long years, (2) presiding over the Constitutional Convention, (3) serving as our first President for eight tedious years setting an example for future presidents, (4) voluntarily giving up power both as a military commander and a political leader, (5) most importantly, providing by character and example, a model of republican citizenship. Of unselfish George Washington it has been written, "In all history few men who possessed unassailable power have used that power so gently and self-effacingly for their best instincts told them was the welfare of their neighbors and all mankind." The reason America did not follow the usual path of revolution to dictatorship after the Revolutionary War was the result of the character of George Washington. Washington could have easily made himself dictator, and many of the officers in his army wanted him to do so. However, Washington's character would not allow it. One of his favorite scriptures was: "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn." (Proverbs 29:2) President Abraham Lincoln was Convention, he stated to the one of Washington's greatest delegates, "Let us raise a standard admirers. He wrote in 1842 that to which the wise and honest can Washington's name was "therepair. The event is in the hand of mightiest name on earth — long God." since mightiest in the cause of In his masterful Farewell civil liberty; still mightiest in Address, he stressed the moral reformation... In solemn importance of religion and awe pronounce the name — and morality in the nation, Washington in its naked, deathless splendor wrote, "Of all the dispositions leave it shining on." and habits which lead to political After taking the oath of office prosperity, religion and morality at his Inauguration, George are indispensable supports... And Washington added the words, let us with caution indulge the "So help me God" and kissed the supposition that morality can be Bible. In his Inaugural Address, maintained without religion... he acknowledged the hand of reason and experience both God in the founding of the United forbid us to expect that national States. He stated, "No people can morality can prevail in exclusion be bound to acknowledge and of religious principle. It is adore the Invisible Hand which substantially true, that virtue or conducts the affairs of men more morality is a necessary spring of than these of the United States. popular government." During his Every step by which they have presidency, George Washington advanced to the character of an emphasized to the American independent nation seems to people that religion and morality have been distinguished by some were the great pillars of human token of providential agency." As happiness and freedom. President of the Constitutional Founding Father Noah Webster wrote of George Washington, "The greatest political leader of his time and also the greatest intellectual and moral force of the Revolutionary period. He was also the most voluminous American writer of his period. His principles of government had a greater influence on the development of the American Commonwealth than those of any other man." George Washington gained something far greater than the power any king possessed. He became the father not just of what would become the greatest and freest nation in history, but of the greatest experience in freedom the world has ever known. He was the living embodiment of what it means to be an American. There will never be another George Washington, an American hero that deserves our greatest respect and who should be foremost in our minds when we think of the freedom we enjoy in America today. Art Larson Springville |