It's easy to feel like you're a part of a family when you see its members day-in, day-out.
Sports families are no different — in fact, at the high school level it is a bunch of actual families that make up the "sports family." That's how it's always seemed to me at East Wake.
I cut Turkey weekend short to hit the slowest, darkest highway possible (501 toward Virginia) en route to Roxboro to see the Warriors play in the Thanksgiving tourney. Of course, given the time and location this might not be the best example, but there were a handful of usual East Wake fans, some parents of student athletes, that were sincerely happy to see me make the trip.
It's no different when I walk into the gym on any given Thursday and the athletic director tells me I'm at the school almost more of the time than he is.
But looking from the outside in I get to see how it is so much more those parents and fans that make up the hospitable, we-care setting it has become, and I stress that the setting I am referring to follows the teams no matter the location. I see the same trainers, the same teachers, parents and flat-out fans that don't really have to be at the games, but show up to every one.
The final thought here is that it is more than just nice to see such a love for a school on every account. It is great. And I say to those individuals just what I told the athletic director — as much as I truly do enjoy the sports, the kids in action, the connection with the school and all who are involved, I'm still getting paid to attend the games. It's the regulars that make up the heart of a program that has meant so much to so many over the years, and they're the ones who deserve the pat on the back.
