The Writer's Pen

Some things in life just seem to run their course. I don’t know why that happens, but it does.

I’ve noticed I have a lot more aches and pains as I age, and things just aren’t as important to me as they once were. With those thoughts in mind, I decided not to work at high school track meets anymore.

I’ve always been a sports fan and have enjoyed watching sports on all levels. I didn’t participate in many sports growing up, simply because organized sports weren’t part of the curriculum at the parochial school I attended. I didn’t think I was bulky enough to play football in high school, but since I was tall, I tried playing basketball. It turns out you need more skills than just height to be successful at that sport! Knowing they were planning to use me as a distance runner, I declined going out for track. Though I wasn’t terrible at baseball, it was a summer sport, and I was a farm kid needed at home.

When I got out of high school, I attended Worthington Junior College. I became a college sports fan because of the time I spent there. I sat beside a Junior College All-American football player in one of my classes, got to know several other football players, and attended a couple of their games. I also attended a couple basketball games because I knew some of those guys too. I regret not attending any wrestling meets since Worthington had a great team, and even hosted the NJCAA Wrestling Tournament. Some of the guys placed nationally and their coach was named “Coach of the Year.”

A couple years later I got married and moved to Spirit Lake. My wife, Rita, and I decided our kids needed to experience sports at a young age. We were both farm kids, so it was harder for us to participate in sports at a young age. Our kids could decide what they were interested in when they got older. They tried most of the sports available and found time for other activities with their friends and family. As parents we did what we could to support and enhance our kids’ experiences – coaching and umpiring baseball and softball, coaching basketball, attending numerous track, football, wrestling practices and games, and buying treats afterward.

When our kids got to high school, they chose the activities they were interested in: Our son, Justin, participated in band, chorus and class plays; our daughter, Melanie, decided she wanted to earn money to buy things; our youngest daughter, Hillary, was our athlete. They all kept us busy since we both had full-time jobs in addition to chasing them around. Somebody was always going somewhere!

When Hillary started playing high school softball, I was asked to get my certification to umpire games. I declined, partly because I wanted to watch her play and partly because I had just gotten bifocal lenses. Later, when she started playing volleyball, I declined an invitation to be a line-judge for the same reason. I did, however, consent to help coach her traveling freshman basketball team, and also worked at the scorer’s table on occasion. When she started running track, I bought a stopwatch, but was not an official timer, just a dad – I was wearing bifocals, you know.

After high school, Hillary played two years of volleyball at Iowa Lakes Community College. We attended as many of these games as we could. She transferred to UNI in Cedar Falls, but only played intermural sports there. Rather than having it easy, though, we now had three kids in three different colleges. Justin was attending ISU in Ames, and Melanie was attending BVU in Spirit Lake. Later, when our life finally settled down, I volunteered to work at our high school track meets.

Electronic timing wasn’t being used when I started working at the track meets. There were lane judges and pickers that all had to synchronize their stopwatches. I felt I would do better working at a field event, measuring rather than timing. I worked in the discus area even though I didn’t know a thing about throwing a discus.

Track meets held in April and May are always challenging. The wind and cold are unpredictable, at best. You never know what to wear – at 4 o’clock it might be shorts weather, and by 8 o’clock it might be parka weather.

I remember one time asking a friend if he had an extra pair of gloves. He said he didn’t, but he would share. He handed me one glove and said we could switch when my other hand got cold. Another time it started raining, but the track meet kept going. I not only didn’t have a raincoat, but I didn’t have a way to keep my score sheets dry. We were near the school’s shop building so I went inside to get a scrap of plywood to use for the official score sheet.

I usually enjoyed track meets and worked at them for 15 years. I normally was able to watch a few races when the discus events were done, though sometimes I couldn’t wait to get home to warm up or dry off. Doing the math, I’m old enough to be the great-grandfather of most of those kids. Also, I have grandkids of my own starting to experience sports and I need to watch them when I can. So, even though had a great run, I think it was time to pass the baton and measuring tape on to someone else.

Roger Brockshus and his wife, Rita, live in Spirit Lake. They are mostly retired, and try to spend time with their kids and grandkids when they can. Roger is a member of the Hartley Writer’s Group and Hartley Poetry Group.