Cross country, yes!

Today Andrew runs his last race of his high school cross country career.  He is happy to have qualified for districts and will be running at the Giant Center in Hershey.

I would like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the sport my eldest has chosen and to tell you why I think cross country is most definitely the best high school sport.

Reasons Why Cross Country is the Best High School Sport

1.  No one gets cut from the team.  You can have as many or as few runners as you like.

2.  No one sits on the bench.  Everyone runs, every time.  Even if you're injured, you don't sit on the bench because they don't in fact, even have a bench.

3.  Meets are quickly canceled in case of rain or threat of rain or a course that is too wet from yesterday's rain.  The runners may not really care what the field conditions are, but this mom is thrilled to watch a (mostly) fair weather sport.

4.  There is no overtime.  Meaning that those same spectators that do not have to stand or sit in the rain, also do not have to spend extra time at the field.  The gun goes off, you run, you finish.  Period.

5.  There are no fights in cross country.  Coaches do not yell at coaches.  No one argues whether a ball really went through the goal posts or not because there is no ball.  No one accidentally or on purpose gets a stick too high because there are no sticks.

6.  There are no expensive pieces of equipment that one must buy, other than sneakers.  And some teens are quite content to run in regular sneakers or hand-me-downs.  No pressure from coaches to spend lots of money.  No pom poms, shin guards, mouth guards, etc.

7.  There is no concession stand so this parent doesn't have to take a turn pretending to be friendly to a bunch of moms that I don't know.

8.  The end of year banquet is a quick, over and done deal.  And it's a pot luck at my church.  So I don't even have to buy a ticket to attend.  No tears, no long soliloquies.

9.  You can participate no matter what your motivation is for participating.  Don't plan to try for a cross country scholarship in college?  No problem.  Don't plan to ever attend a summer cross country training camp?  Who cares.  Never plan to give it all for the team?  Doesn't really matter.  Here to lose weight or work toward a healthier lifestyle?  Sure.  Running just to stay in shape for the sport that you really love?  Come on out.

10.  And the best thing about cross country is that it's the only sport I know where the person who comes in last gets more support and cheers from the crowd than the person who came in first.  Effort is valued.  That's my kind of sport.  Someone should have told me about cross country when I was in school.

My apologies to my second born who had the misfortune of choosing mascot as his school sport, a sport that didn't make it to the number one spot on my list.  While I considered making it my favorite high school sport, having to serve in the concession stand left a bad taste in my mouth.  But never fear, school mascot is definitely my second favorite high school sport.