May merry, but very, very?busy for athletes

Now begins the second spring sports season, and it couldn’t come at a worse time. It happens that way every year, and there isn’t a thing that can be done about it.

Just as high school athletes are about to begin playing the biggest games and participating in the biggest events of the spring, and, for some, of their high school careers, they are also faced with the busiest and most challenging time of the school year. For seniors, May can be the busiest and most challenging month of their high school careers. This is the time of year when it all hits the fan - finals, school projects, proms, SATs, college acceptance (or rejection), summer job hunts, awards ceremonies, school plays and more.

It is also North Coast Section time, when everything teams and athletes have been playing for come down to one game or one event, each more important than the one before.

Here in Petaluma, we have become accustomed to participating in NCS playoffs and events. For many teams, it is a forgone conclusion. The truth is, reaching the NCS in any sport is a major accomplishment. We are so used to being included, it seems to be a right, more than a privilege. On the diamond, Petaluma has six teams - Petaluma baseball and softball, Casa Grande baseball and softball and St. Vincent baseball and softball. Of those six teams, only one, the Casa Grande softball team, will not be a NCS participant. And, the Lady Gauchos were not that far away. They got off to a great start, but stumbled in a talent-loaded North Bay League, losing several close games they had a real chance of winning.

To digress just a moment, it is interesting to note that both the Petaluma baseball and softball teams have chosen to “play up” to NCS Division 2, when both are Division 3 teams. Both Petaluma baseball coach Paul Cochrun and Petaluma softball coach Kurt Jastrow believe their teams can compete with the larger schools, and both prepared for the post-season by playing larger schools in their out-of-league games. With Petaluma baseball choosing to play Division 2, there is a chance that the Trojans and Casa Grande’s North Bay League champion Gauchos could meet somewhere along the playoff trail.

Back to the main topic of too much crammed into too few days as the school year races to a conclusion, young athletes often have to make difficult decisions. Once again, Petaluma high school graduations - Casa Grande on June 5 and Petaluma on June 6 - conflict with the CIF state track meet. This isn’t unusual and, once again, a few athletes will be forced to choose between graduation and the biggest meet of their careers to this point.

It isn’t only track that is affected. I’ve seen seasons when limos would pick up girls following a softball game and whisk them away to their prom.

More athletes are impacted by simply having to prepare for academic, social and sports responsibilities simultaneously. Somehow they manage.

There is no real solution to the conflict. High school athletes, with the resiliency and resourcefulness of youth (not to mention a lot of help from family, friends, coaches, teachers and administrators) somehow make it work. It is why they are called student athletes.

(Contact John Jackson at johnie.jackson@arguscourier.com)