Dear Editor,

I was in journalism school when I first heard the famous quote from Earl Warren, former Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

鈥淚 always turn to the sports section first. The sports page records people鈥檚 accomplishment; the front page has nothing but man鈥檚 failures.鈥�

As a sports writer I used to hold this quote tight to my chest, thinking that the feel-good stories of the sporting world somehow provided more for our communities than just their entertainment value.

In the March 25, 2021, edition of the 91原创 Advance Times I was taken aback at the news in the first few pages.

The front-page story relayed updates to the government鈥檚 efforts to get COVID-19 shots to first responders.

But it turned dark after that.

鈥� OPINION: 鈥楥ircuit breaker鈥� was too long coming

It wasn鈥檛 until page 14 that I saw something that triggered some optimism for me and my family.

Brent Larsen, a 鈥減arent and coach鈥� and also former school trustee candidate, created an online petition to pressure the public health officer to let kids play organized sports games again.

While I have no illusions that this online petition, with a goal of only 700 signatures, will actually garner change, I am ecstatic to see other community-minded individuals standing up for the physical and mental health of our youth.

We are just recently starting to hear from major media that, perhaps, pandemic-related restrictions have had negative effects on the well-being of our children.

Sadly, this is something that has been known for a year, but was ignored in the government鈥檚 narrative, because of the tunnel vision of SARSCoV-2 mitigation. There is ample observational data to show that non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as closing businesses and restricting activities, do not significantly decrease respiratory disease transmission or infection rates.

However, there has been some optimism recently, with the public health officer hinting that children may be allowed to play meaningful games again, and I think a lot of parents and young athletes are crossing our fingers.

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Over the years I have grown more aloof to sports as entertainment, finding more joy in helping coach youth sports than watching the pros.

And that鈥檚 why I feel Earl Warren鈥檚 quote is as relevant as ever.

Let鈥檚 go to page 3 of the recent issue of the Advance Times. It鈥檚 filled with examples of vandalism.

Though there is absolutely no way for me to know, I鈥檓 going out on a limb and suggesting these may be related to the way we鈥檝e isolated our youth over the past year and given them minimal activity outside of school and home.

Our kids have energy they need to burn, and if not guided towards character-building activities, well, most people reading this have been teenagers themselves, or raised them too, so you know what a lack of direction can do to a young mind and idle hands.

Perhaps, now more than ever, we need sports in our community, because it will help keep the pages of our newspaper free of 鈥渕an鈥檚 failures.鈥�

Alex Joehl, Murrayville

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