To the Editor:

Born, raised and coached in a small-town community, I can imagine no different of a childhood for my kids. My passion for our community and her athletics is incomparable.  We have all observed the modern struggle of holding county sports together amidst the epidemic of travel teams, busy lives, over-committed kids, and frankly, under-committed parents.

A core poured their hearts into reestablishing the fervor and love for the local game, and yet the actions of many are contradicting the very cause.

I want to win a game as good as the next, but not at the expense of a kid unfairly not getting to play a game.

Every day we are faced with choices and the choices we make affect our kids, who by the way, don’t get a chance to vote.

I challenge each of us, individually, and collaboratively, to put our adult differences, parent egos and hidden agendas aside and do what’s right for the kids, when if fact, that’s who we do all of this for, right?

I have had to remind myself over and over the past few days that the way I as a parent react to such situations will impact my child’s life MORE than whether he wins or loses a ballgame.

So parents, let’s just ….

• Put God and family first in everything we do (Matthew 6:33.)

• Trade the time we spend on the couch, the phone, Twitter and Facebook, for throwing some ball in the backyard with our kids … where the most precious memories are made and the most valuable lessons are learned.

• Teach our kids to respect those who are sacrificing to make them a better person.

• Hold our kids accountable and raise the standard so they don’t crumble when coached by the same philosophy.

• Enjoy the game instead of sitting on the sidelines hoping the opposing team’s starting pitcher exceeds the pitch count so we can protest.

• Give a kid a baseball!

• Get along while we can, ‘cuz we’ve got a long, long way to go!

• Always give love the upper hand

• Paint a wall

• Learn a dance

• Call your mom

• Buy a boat

• Play a game

• Sing a song

• Go to church

• Make a friend

• Can’t we all … just get along?

Anrae Applewhite
Capron