Like the entire nation, Brandon senior baseball player Nick Emery is keeping tabs on the war with Iraq.
While the upcoming sports season gives Emery and the rest of those students playing spring sports in Brandon and Goodrich something to focus on, their thoughts are never far from their fellow citizens serving their country.
“We pray for them and wish the best for them,” he said. “It’s always in the back of your mind that people are out there at war.”
Teammate Andrew Foyt, also a senior, said he realizes the country’s soldiers, past and present, have fought to preserve the rights of their fellow citizens. “There are people out there sacrificing for your freedom,” he said.
Goodrich senior Michael McCormick, a captain on the Martians baseball team, is another person who has been following the war closely.
“It really hasn’t affected my concentration in school, but I think about it,” he said. “We don’t get to watch it in school, but I watch it when I get home.
McCormick said being on the baseball team provides a respite from the war coverage. “If I didn’t play sports, I’d be sitting at home thinking about it,” he said.
As with the players under their watch, local coaches are impacted by the current world situation.
Brandon coaches Don Peters and Greg Hyde are taking two different approaches to talking with their respective teams about the war with Iraq.
Peters, the team’s softball coach, is not aware of anyone on the team with any relatives serving in the military. However, he still believes the war with Iraq has some valuable lessons to teach his players.
With that in mind, Peters talked to the team before their scrimmage March 22 at Saginaw Valley State. He focused his talk on how many people, past and present, have sacrificed so student-athletes can enjoy the freedom to take part in high school sports.
“There’s a lot of people that did a lot of things for that to happen,” he said. “It didn’t come easily.”
By contrast, Hyde, the Blackhawks’ girls track coach, hasn’t brought up the matter with the team and doesn’t plan to, unless they bring it up with him first. He said the students have discussed the situation in their history and civics classes at school.
He said the team, which competed in its first meet of the season at the Saginaw Valley State University Invitational Thursday, March 20, has been focused solely on getting ready for the season.
“The girls haven’t mentioned it to me at all,” Hyde said. “I didn’t see any anxiety or fears with the war with Iraq [during the March 20 meet].”