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Number one son Mark here ….

Number one son Mark here …. Number one son Mark here ….

Number one son Mark here again this week. Dad has returned from spring training, but we will give him a chance to settle in before he returns next week.

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The end of an era can be tough. It looks like Granton and Greenwood high school athletes are reaching the end of an era in some team sports.

None of Granton’s neighboring districts look ready to take the enrollment class bump needed to partner in sports like basketball and football. As the editorial pointed out last week, the solution to Granton’s problem is enrollment count, not financial. The district has always been one of the smallest in the state, and competing in strong conferences like the Cloverbelt and Marawood make it tough. We are seeing similar issues now in districts in Park Falls, Phillips, and Tomahawk, as massive enrollment drops separate them from traditional rivals.

In my sportswriting days, one of my favorite stories was Granton’s girls basketball tournament, run in the early 1990s. It came within a few seconds of winning the sectional. The school had the right combination of attitude, talent, and coaching in the era. It didn’t always win, but it was competitive.

Greenwood and Gilman have strong traditions in football, including multiple state titles and professional players, but declining enrollment and other factors brought an end to 11-man football at the schools.

My last assignment as a sportswriter was covering state championship games for the Greenwood-Granton cooperative team and Colby. It was a great bookend to my days highlighting the local teams.

In addition to last week’s Granton news, I was reminded last week of good memories from covering Greenwood football games in the 1990s. The obituary for Bob Vesel told about his life of giving and getting fun times throughout his sporting life. I was glad they mentioned his days on the football chain gang. As a photographer, I tried to tuck into the chain gang for the best angles - and the good humor Bob, Frank Arch, and the others enjoyed during the game. Many of those men were also part of the local American Legion honor team. In my Highground days, I could always count on them to bring their community spirit and good humor to the events.

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School leaders and other adults are looking for ways to preserve the best of what we remember from school-aged athletics. The lessons remain vital in my life and I’m sure many of yours. Still, if we let the kids find new paths, they can be just as successful.

My own children belong to two different eras of youth athletics. My son is an eighth grader and his class is the enrollment bump in Medford. They are big and boisterous, and should have some of the best team success in school history. My son reminds me of some of the athletes I remember from my era. He enjoys adding depth to the basketball and soccer teams. He doesn’t need to be a superstar, and he makes the team better by his participation.

His current sport is archery. He belongs to the school team which competes in the National Archery in Schools Program. As a competitive opportunity and physical education classroom component, it provides a way for kids of many ages and all shapes and sizes to learn a new recreational sport. In addition to so many kids, it is a great match for many parents in northcentral Wisconsin.

His sister has embraced a modern path to athletic success. She is rapidly moving toward her senior year and then a college swim team opportunity.

She enjoys and has been successful with the high school team, but it all builds from her club team. She swam with the local club, but realized her goals would only come through a Wausau club.

She follows a new model, but it might be the one youth athletes find most common in future years. The wrestling and volleyball families of TRG land are already seeing this.

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