Welcome Back Spring Sports

Just as we edged closer to the start of spring sports last season the world was thrown into chaos. A virus spread like wildfire around the globe and in mid-March led to the cancellation of not only the partially completed state basketball tournament, but also the entire spring sports season. Prom, graduation, the last two months of the senior year for the Class of 2020 were just a few of the many milestones which fell victim to the spread of the coronavirus and the rise of COVID-19.

Now, a year later, the picture looks much brighter.

Fall and winter sports were completed - not without hiccups and cancellations - and by all accounts the outdoor sports of spring appear primed to go forward with limited interruption thanks to the release of multiple vaccines and a consistent drop in confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Let me just say, “Thank, Goodness!”

While the cancellation of spring sports led us to produce a comprehensive Spring Yearbook to go along with a “what might have been” look at the 2020 spring season, it did little to soften the anquish for so many athletes and families who look to the first blooms and buds of March as their favorite sports season of the year.

But now, where once there was stress and sadness, stands optimism and excitement.

At Kansas Pregame we hope to contribute to that excitement with our third annual spring issue, this time previewing the 2021 season.

Baseball, softball, and track & field each feature a unique set of sights and sounds to usher in springtime. The crack of the bat on a cool spring afternoon and the piercing pop of a starting gun driving the sprinter out of the blocks. The smack of the ball as it hits the catcher’s mit and the guttural groan of the shot putter completing a heave at the edge of the ring. The smell of hot dogs fresh off the grill or the dust of newly crushed peanut shells cracking under foot.

Spring, for athletes of all ages, is a truly special time.

Our hope is that the Class of 2021 won’t suffer the same disheartening cancellation to their last hurrah on the diamond or track as those seniors of a year ago and the coronavirus challenges continue to diminish. Not just for high school sports, but in all areas of our lives.

Good luck to you all!

*Note, while we do plan a second annual Spring Yearbook, it will have to wait until later this spring, as the massive publication of a year ago was just too much to finish in time to both preview spring sports and take a look back at the fall and winter.