Thursday, May 6, 2021

Sports Are Fun, Even Remotely

 I have two favorites when it comes to spring spectator sports - high school track meets and soccer. The soccer might be youth soccer or professional soccer - just soccer.

When our son and daughter were in high school, both participated in track and soccer. One of my favorite things as a parent was going to the high school track meets, especially when both were on the team.

I was looking forward to repeating this pleasure with my grand kids. Isaac ran track his first two years, and we loved watching him and his teammates. Last year Irene was a freshman and ready to join the team. They had their first practices and the first meet was on the schedule when Covid wiped it all out. School was shut and sports were gone.

Now, a year later, Isaac and Irene are back in school two days a week. Isaac is a senior, 18 years old and has a job. When he turned 18 in January he was promoted to shift manager at the Papa Murphy pizza shop where he works, has been able to buy a car, and is now just treading water when it comes to high school. He was accepted at Western Washington University in December. When track season started he opted out. He would rather work.

Irene is now a sophomore. She has several years of high school to look forward to. She played soccer on the school team this winter and is now running track.

We wanted so badly to go and watch, but alas, the stadium is closed to spectators. Jill got around that by volunteering to help at the home meets. I asked why the track meets weren't being live streamed like the soccer matches were.  When she asked the athletic director, she was assigned the job. So Wednesday Jill and one other parent, using iPads, broadcast the track meet over the school network set up for that purpose. 

We got to watch Irene! She ran the 300 meter hurdles, the 100 meter hurdles, and the lead leg of the 4x400 m relay. And when Irene was competing, Jill was there to take photos and video with her phone while her videographer partner took over the live streaming. 

Live stream set up in our family room.

Irene Gibson, winner of the 100 M hurdles. 
Irene Gibson, winner of the 300 M hurdles
Irene running the 400 m relay. The other school didn't have a relay team, so they won that too. 

We loved being able to watch!

Our other team, the Seattle Sounders, are now into their season too. There are 35,000 season ticket holders and only 7000 are allowed in the stadium, so we were not among the lucky ones to score a seat. but while we miss going to the stadium, we are quite comfortable watching at home too.

The Sounders so far are at the top of their division, There is another game Sunday. I'm not sure if it's at home or away, but it doesn't matter. Right now they are all "at home". 

Sports are fun, even remotely. 


13 comments:

  1. It's wonderful you were able to see your granddaughter participate, even if you weren't able to be there in person. Congratulations to her!

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  2. Wow, Irene is really doing wonderfully. How neat that you can watch her compete remotely. What a blessing.
    Congrats to Isaac for his promotion, car and college plans. You must be so proud of those kids.

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  3. Congrats to Irene! And your grandson already planning for college! Slowly, we are getting back to what used to be. That will be wonderful - except I don't enjoy the traffic on our streets that are back to normal.

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  4. How wonderful that you were able to watch Irene become a track star! And I am thrilled that things are working out so well for you and your grandchildren.

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  5. Wow! Congratulations are definitely in order for Irene. She's quite the runner.

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  6. Great that you supported your kids and grandkids in their school activities.

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  7. Great Job Irene! So glad they chose Jill to set it up virtually! :)

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  8. What a great way to feel part of the action! Creative solution to the situation too. Congratulations to Irene on her success. Two of my cousins went to Mt. Rainier HS. The older one played basketball and I went to watch a couple of her games. I love high school sports.

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  9. I has been hard to see my grands do any sports. The eldest has outgrown them and is now building computers! the middle one, a girl does Cheer, but her shows are a looong drive and usually very crowded. The youngest is just in training for soccer and with COVID that has slowed down considerably. I am not a sports person, but do love watching my grandchildren.

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  10. Congratulations to Irene. My granddaughter is going to try out for the high school soccer team this fall. Maybe, she will try out for track, too. Who knows?
    So glad that Isaac is going to the university in the fall. Way to go, Isaac!

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  11. Wow! You go, Irene! And Isaac -- an adult already!
    I know so many grandparents have been missing the opportunity to see grandkids' sports events. What a time we have all been through.

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  12. I had all of my four sons in soccer and tried to go to all their games on different fields at different times. Also one son did basketball. Sports is a healthy hobby and builds all kinds of skills and abilities.

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  13. It just boggles my mind every time I see your gorgeous grandkids. We've been blogging together for so long, I've watched them grow up. And Isaac is 18!!! A senior! Oh my gosh! Congratulations to Irene!!! Wow!

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