Bill Reynolds on school sports

 I just read Bill Reynolds' column: " Local college sports

        now in 'don't count' category."  Just last week I learned that my

        niece, Beth Covil, was the winning pitcher in a game -her first ? -

        played out at Rhode Island College. She's there -and playing on the

        girls' softball team - with the help of an athletic scholarship.

               I was proud to hear this, of course. But aware of the " don't

        count " status of most college sports, I wondered if even the school

        paper reported their own victory !

              When Beth was a star athlete at Coventry High -now and then getting

        a headline in local paper - I asked her to e-mail me her playing

        schedule. But she never got around to it and I never saw her play even

        one game.

                Often I have longed to see these " don't count " games on high

        school or college  playing fields. On an early spring or New England

        fall day they can be a sensuous delight. I recall the French writer

        Albert Camus writing in his " Notebook " that he could still feel

        "innocent " watching young people play with so much heart on the

        athletic field. Perhaps Youth and Hope and Energy IS everything !

               One reason school games are poorly attended is that would be fans

        such as myself often do not have a clue about the WHERE and WHEN of

        them. Also many school playing fields cannot accommodate more than a

        few dozen spectators. They should also pay more attention to little

        things like available rest rooms and more appealing SACKS .

               And  adequate parking !

            Even the most homely school athletic field is still a " Field of Dreams ".