Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

I’m not easily impressed.

Generally speaking, I’m a pretty tough critic when it comes to food or entertainment.

Even more so when it comes to sports.

When you spend as much time watching sporting events as I do it stands to reason that it requires an exceptional performance to stand out in my memory.

Even with my usually high standard for athletic excellence I have consistently found myself marveling at area athletes since I started writing for Your Prep Sports.

Last month I used this very column to reminisce about how I was wowed by the winter sports seasons from Your Prep Sports area teams.

With some of the very best spring sports teams and athletes in the state residing in the Your Prep Sports area (more on this in some future stories) I was prepared to be awestruck by stellar showings again this spring.

A global pandemic may have shut down sports but the coronavirus has not prevented athletes from continuing to impress.

Less than two weeks ago Your Prep Sports asked area seniors participating in spring sports to fill out a questionnaire.

The idea was to highlight seniors that were having their spring sports seasons affected by COVID-19.

As I often am by the athletes I cover at Your Prep Sports I was immediately impressed.

Truthfully, I’ve been blown away by the response.

Almost immediately the responses began to come back in.

The number of athletes that have already taken time to complete the form has exceeded my initial expectation.

That alone has been impressive. So too have the notes that have accompanied the completed sheets.

Nearly every email containing a finished survey comes with a short ‘Thank you’ for thinking of the seniors.

Each one of those notes gets me in the feels every time.

What has been most impressive (and enjoyable) about the sheets I have received is the answers themselves.

There has been some serious thought put into the answers on the form that includes questions about favorite books, classes and hobbies.

I’ve enjoyed reading about who has influenced the lives of the athletes I covered and smiled at the selections of foods and movies of choice.

I love the transparency in the answers, especially about favorite foods, where responses like

“I am not picky I like all food!” and “I love all carbs” are extremely relatable.  

Reading the completed surveys showed me another side of the athletes in the Your Prep Sports area and outlined just how truly talented these seniors are.

I would have never known there are senior golfers, track and field athletes and soccer players that ride horses, raise livestock, do stained glass art, play cello, guitar and ukulele and pickleball.

A spring without sports isn’t what anyone wanted but we have area seniors that have still found a way to be impressive.

I applaud those seniors making the most of a tough situation, that’s an ability that will serve you well in life.

Thank you seniors for taking the time to make me smile.  

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