☀️Sporty Sun
Friday, September 16, 2022 - Vol. 01 No. 17
It’s Friday, which means the week is rounding third and heading home. Here’s the Sun to keep you company.
☀️Play ball! Or something!
Whether you like it or not, you should like local youth sports.
Pick a sport. Just do it. Yes, there are other things in life than balls and bats and goals and mats. But let’s take time today to appreciate the athletic opportunities that abound all around our city.
Sports and teams foster friendships. They teach us how to work toward a common goal. They help us learn strategy and sacrifice and endurance. They develop our losing muscles, not because losing is the new winning, but because going back to practice after a loss is a key part to winning in life. If none of the above relates, go watch some five year-olds playing soccer. It’s cute.
School sports are fine. The problem with public school sports is the school part more than the sports part. Teaching kids that there are no gender rules all day while expecting them to care about the boundary lines for their tennis balls after school is at least inconsistent. Rewarding disrespect in the classroom in the name of self-identity doesn’t promote love of neighbor on the ball court, a virtue that used to be known as sportsmanship. I can find some reasons to be thankful that the county is helping cover the costs of some middle-school sports in Marysville. It’s all the misspent dollars before the final bell that’s less good.
“Select” sports are also fine, though they are notorious for taking on idol status. Traveling is fun, but how many weekends away from home does it take to become a professional? Everything has a cost, but when fees are counted in by the thousands, let alone adding gas and food and hotels and hours, how sure are you that Johnnie’s career will be such a great return on investment?
City sports, that’s the winner. At least it could be winning with the right efforts by parents and the Park’s Department.
The renewal of Cedar Field in 2020 was an effort worth celebrating (even if the first pitch wasn’t until 2021).
More of this, please. In fact, how great would a baseball/softball complex be? Let Marysville be a destination for tournaments, or at least less of a joke to visiting teams.
The Strawberry Fields Athletic Complex keeps getting love, and Amazon’s financial tribute is better than mud in the eye. Get your kids signed up with the Pilchuck Soccer Alliance or Marysville Youth Soccer. Then go stand out in the rain and cheer them on.
How about pickleball? (It’s not only for kids.) Basketball season is coming up (registration is happening now). Interested in something without a ball? There’s all-comers track meets (or at least there will be again next summer). How about Jiu Jitsu (classes offered in one of our city’s suburbs).
I’ve thought for a few years about trying to organize a team of investors/instigators into building a natatorium in Marysville. Snohomish built a nice pool, but the closest 50 meter Olympic-size competition pool is in Federal Way. The pool at Marysville Pilchuck High School holds water, but isn’t much of a desirable destination itself (though the swim club that uses the pool is great, and see the next article for more about them).
Let’s play ball! Or at least play something.
☀️The Mighty Marlins
by Maggie Rothenberger
Elitist swim teams may be a hard imaginative stretch for those not steeped in the world of competitive swimming; however, for those of us who do swim or used to, it does not sound so crazy.
Often, swim teams will split swimmers into respective skill levels, train them separately, cut athletes who are not fast enough, and assign specific, unchangeable hours (Swimmer X may only swim on Mondays and Thursdays from the hours of 5:30-7:00). Faster swimmers are favored with more time and focus from coaches, and some teams are sponsored by various sports brands, which can result in slower swimmers, who have not qualified for big swim meets, to foot the bill on the sponsored merch.
You, the reader, may well be wondering what elitist swim teams have to do with loving Marysville, and thankfully, I don’t think they have much to do with it at all. After all, the competitive swim team I know of in Marysville is rather worth your time.
The Mighty Marlins Swim Club, which hosts most practices at the Marysville Pilchuck High School, is the opposite of the elitist swim teams. Kirby Schaufler, the head coach of the team, made time to answer my questions recently. When I asked, his favorite part of coaching is, “...when kids make a time standard. They often limit themselves even when they can totally do it. That’s the best part of coaching.”
The Marlins have a simple and flexible approach to club swimming that allows swimmers to go as far as they individually wish and are able. With movable swimming hours, you sign up for a range of hours per week, and are allowed to choose which days you come in. The Marlins do not cut any swimmers for lack of skill, which is excellent for beginners or anyone interested in just maintaining regular physical exercise with the benefits of being coached.
However, if you are interested in a higher level of competition, the Marlins are able to provide this as well! Despite being a small team, the coaches are excellent, and willing to work with individual athletes to get them where they want to be. Kirby, with forty years of coaching experience, has coached four marlins over the years to the point of qualifying for Olympic Trials.
Due to the unique policy of not splitting swimmers based on skill level, the coaches work with fast and slow swimmers in the same practices, creating workouts that are tweakable to fit each athlete. The Marlins have also provided a great space to help kids with broken homes, as physical exertion and the camaraderie of teammates is encouraging.
When I asked Kirby what he found positively unique about Marysville, he said it is the people who work to make Marysville better, instead of just complaining about the issues they see, which is precisely the sort of activity this news source promotes!
☀️Coming Up
Coffee with a Cop, Friday, September 23, at The Creamery Co.
Jazz Night in The ‘Ville, Monday, September 26, at 5 Rights Brewing Company. Doors open at 5:00pm, with a suggested cover charge of $7/person but kids/students are welcome for free.
☀️Friday Fun
This art was on fire.
