There’s an old technique teachers use to demonstrate to sensitive students the concept of listening and paying attention to what others are saying.
You are given a piece of paper with random instructions written on it, except that if you take the time to read the first instruction, “Do not read beyond this sentence,” the instructions are no longer random.
As one of the students who skipped the first explanation at Harvey 1000 years ago and felt embarrassed but instantly wiser from that lesson, this lesson strengthens my listening and comprehension skills.
As we begin a new school year in this space where I will be sharing my thoughts each week on a topic surrounding the world of high school sports, this seems like a great place to start.
By the way, the theme of this year is one that hopefully ends better than last year, as you may remember that for the 2023-24 school year, we tried to tie together the beginning and end of the year with a symbol of support by placing a fallen tree on top of another tree that still stands along Oak Leaf Trail in the Gerhardt Road Preserve in Lake Metroparks.
That’s right…last month’s historic storm brought tornadoes and days of power outages to thousands of people in the Cleveland metropolitan area. Trees were both knocked down by the wind and are now lying on the ground, not supporting anything.
Considering how busy the past year has been, perhaps such a fate is to be expected.
But that aside, we will see the usual controversies and have the usual dialogue about them.
Over the next few weeks we’ll be talking soccer, football and more.
Let me address one of the big stories this year, perhaps the most important one: the expansion of divisions in competitive sports outside of football.
Discuss local and national issues.
But I hope that we can listen and understand each other, even when we disagree.
The interesting thing about writing a weekly opinion column for nine months of the year is that I am frequently approached by readers with the same premise.
It’s something like, “I read your opinion column every week, and even though I don’t always agree with you, I listen to what you have to say.”
A willingness to listen to a perspective that may be an opposing view to some is a compliment that can never be taken for granted.
One of the things that stands out about high school sports is the passion people have for them.
For example, it’s truly amazing to see people in Ohio talking about the upcoming high school football season in December.
With that much investment, it’s inevitable that strong opinions will emerge.
I’ve learned in my years of doing this job that if we’re being 100% honest, and we’re all friends here, there are some subjects that are intractable.
One of the hottest issues right now is a controversial one that should not be addressed at all, since trying to address it would achieve very little.
I have opinions about certain aspects of high school sports that I would never venture to address in public.
This also applies to patterns of behavior of groups and specific people throughout the high school sports world based on years of experience. Generalizations are possible and tend to be the only way to get a point across without causing offense, but specific “naming and shaming” does not result in any productive outcome.
It’s not that I lack courage – there have been times when my school and certain people have expressed anger and made it clear to me years later over opinions I have publicly expressed – nor do I express harsh opinions simply for attention.
It’s about knowing the limits and knowing where nuances can come into play.
With the notion of limitations in mind, we must continue to eagerly seek and be grateful for opportunities when and where we can actually listen and understand.
Perhaps some of you have never thought about the disparity issue in the football playoffs.
Perhaps someone has a clearer perspective on the expanded sector.
Perhaps the eternal debate of public versus private will play out in ways never before heard or seen.
Perhaps there is an idea somewhere that could solve the alarming shortage of umpires once and for all.
perhaps.
Apparently, that’s the perfect place to start a new year, for you and for me.
We may have opinions about how things should be or how they should work.
But if there is room to listen and understand others, you should take advantage of it.
Because there’s no telling where simply listening and understanding someone who doesn’t fully share your opinion will lead.
So let’s talk about everyday things.
Controversial issues will be addressed within reason.
We speak of tragedies and losses that, unfortunately, we can never escape.
It makes you laugh and cry.
But above all, I hope it gets us thinking.
I pray that the solutions we seek to today’s problems in high school sports are not beyond our reach.
They can lead to conversations (easy or not) and solutions that can make this part of our daily lives better.
Because that is what we all ultimately want in our own way.
One thousand years ago, that day in a second-floor classroom in the old Harvey Schoolhouse, that student learned something impactful about listening.
It became part of the foundation for some of the best questions I’ve asked coaches and student-athletes in this job years later, and it led stories and moments in unexpected directions, but it wasn’t because of me, it was because of them, in other words, because of something.
Listen. Understand. Think.
There’s no telling what topics will be covered in the coming months.
But the optimist in me truly believes that, like every year, we can all learn something. Together.