A word about community support

Sixty years ago (Oh my gosh, can it be that long ago?), Cody hosted Torrington in the state championship 3A football game in a November blizzard, 38” deep snow and 10 degree temperature. Most who braved the conditions have ever after described the conditions as the worst ever for a championship game. As a Blazer, I was doubly miserable because though we had the better team, the conditions took us out of our game. There were a total of two passes thrown that day...both incomplete. The canyon was closed and we spent a miserable night in Thermopolis.

This isn’t a story about that game, though I’d love to make it so. No, what I want the reader to know is what happened after that game. The next day, after a slow and equally miserable ride across the state, we arrived at Lingle (12 miles from home) to find about a 50 car caravan waiting to lead us on to Torrington where we were met by all our parents and another 200 to 300 people who were clapping, shaking hands (high fives were still a generation away) and hugging which was new to some of us but really welcome that day. The grief of loss and the despair of failure declined and became bearable in the sunshine of smiles and pats on the back and the realization that our efforts were still appreciated even in the loss. Nearly thirty years later, when I visited with my coach, Jim Wiseman, he talked about how that had encouraged the coaches as much as the “kids.”

That’s community support.

Times change, parents become grandparents and great-grandparents, but the hearts of the youngsters who represent their peers, loved ones, school and community still yearn for the appreciation and affection of those around them even if it isn’t “cool” to show that need just as it wasn’t 60 years ago either.

Activities director, Brandon Deromedi, plays a major role in dealing with the problems common in smaller school districts. Teachers move into and out of the area on a regular basis. Sometimes new staff members have new ideas and methods. And, sometimes parents and supporters forget that competition isn’t only about winning. Granted that the most important factor for any school district is equipping its students with a quality education to meet the challenges of their future, but we also know that many of our youth thrive in that process only because there are a variety of sports and other extracurricular activities maintaining their interest and attendance.

Though Deromedi has an official title, the impetus for quality staffing of the many activities offered to the youth of Thermopolis is to be found in the support for those activities by the members of the community...parents through great-grandparents, and those of us who are earnestly trying our hardest to maintain the energy, enthusiasm and vitality in ourselves that we see in that young, vibrant crowd just rounding the corner into adulthood.

So, the challenge for those of us who can still remember what it’s like to be young is to interact with staff, or a program’s participants, or an administrator who gets heat for coaching changes, or the school board which allocates all that money to provide the programs that keep those students getting up early to practice or participate, and who stay late to practice some more.

That’s community support.