You know you’re doing local news when you’re rewriting a press release on Turbo the extreme sports slug.
Yes, Turbo came, Turbo saw, Turbo kicked butt, but such is the dog days — or slug days — of August.
The Lefties wrap up their season Thursday. They struggle to win, but they’re a fun team to watch and as they showed Sunday, they never gave up, losing only because a game-tying drive fell six feet short of the fence.
I got the schedule Monday from Peninsula College showing that fall soccer is returning with scrimmages next week and nonconference games in just two weeks.
In about 3½ weeks, there will be return of prep sports on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Wow, summer flew by. Just two more weeks, and we might return to some semblance of normal in local sports coverage.
This spring was … interesting to say the least. It was fun at times, very stressful at others, but it was definitely not normal, with “winter” sports being played in May and June, while Neah Bay was playing football and Peninsula College was playing both basketball AND soccer simultaneously.
I say “some” semblance because, unfortunately, COVID is still with us, still stopping us from fully returning to normal. I’m concerned how the rising numbers might affect the return of prep sports, though I haven’t heard anything coming down the rumor pipeline. I’m hoping the recent spike in COVID cases is convincing some vaccine-hesitant people to finally get the shot. The fastest way we’re going to completely return to normal is if everyone gets vaccinated. There’s no other way.
This is a good time to take a break. I’ll be going to Bend, Ore., for several days, hoping the smoke and fires stay away. Banff was in the plans for a long time, but being a Canadian citizen with multiple passports and with the confusing American border COVID rules, I decided to put off a trip to Canada until at least next year.
Remembering ‘normal’
We have two or three weeks to catch our breath and remember what “normal” for us feels like. A lot of late nights, new coaches to meet and scrambling to put together schedules and keep them up to date.
Frankly, it’s going to be weird trying to remember what I used to do in the middle of the week. I’ve been spending weekdays hiking in Olympic National Park, collecting hundreds of mosquito bites on the Hurricane Hill trail (Not an exaggeration, it’s been a terrible year for mosquitoes up there). It’s been 18-plus months since I really worked on a Wednesday.
I’m looking forward to it. I’m ready for a return to normal. I’m sure the coaches are. I’m sure the kids are. I think we would all love to see a return of actual playoffs. That was the biggest shame last year, wondering how far the Peninsula soccer teams could have gone in the postseason, how far the undefeated Port Angeles girls basketball team could have gone in the state tournament.
The kids all maintained a positive attitude, remembering to be thankful for what they had and thankful that they were able to play sports at all. But I know it had to bother them how much they were still missing.
Let’s hope the Class of 2021 is the last class that has to lose things to COVID-19.
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Sports Editor Pierre LaBossiere can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or plabossiere@peninsuladailynews.com.
