But can you throw a stick?
You know what I did for fun as a kid?
I threw sticks.
There was nothing else to do. If you were lucky and lived near a body of water, you could throw sticks in the water.
I didn’t live near a body of water. There was a little creek near my grandmother’s house that flooded when it rained, but I wasn’t allowed out in the rain. And by flooding I mean, “Look, the ground’s wet.”
Every once in a while one of my friends would throw a stick and shout something like, “Cool! My stick bounced!”
My sticks never bounced. Every once in a while I’d throw my stick and one of my friends would say, “Aaaaah! You put my eye out!”
I wasn’t a very good stick-thrower.
Just ask my one-eyed friends.
Yes, there was Little League Baseball. That cost money. I didn’t have money. I had sticks.
At some point — too late for me, of course — adults the world over realized it was better to have kids playing “organized” sports of some type for free so they wouldn’t be running around in the woods throwing sticks.
And there are a lot of organizations providing that — athletics for free. There are a lot of those in Anderson County, and my hat’s off to them.
But … If you are a kid like I was at the time, playing any kind of sports was not an option. As a child, I wasn’t what you would call blessed “with ability.” I mean, I couldn’t throw sticks without putting my friends’ eyes out.
As a side note: Did you know that break dancing is now an official Olympic sport? Seriously.
I would have been great at that as a kid. When I danced I broke stuff. If it wasn’t stuff in the room, then it was parts of my body.
If I knew break dancing would become an official Olympic sport I could have started my training sooooo early. As it is, I have a lot of catching up to do.
OK, back to what I was trying to get at.
Free athletics, kids with no ability for athletics — I’m talking little dudes and dudettes who have not mastered the art of running, yet. Some of us are just late bloomers.
But then you get something like the Clinton City Schools Blaze programs.
Yes, there’s basketball and soccer and track and dance and soon-to-be tennis. Clinton Baseball Inc. has the market cornered on baseball, I think (which is very all right) and …
Are you ready for this?
Programs for the little dudes and dudettes who are like I was when I was a kid.
The Blaze has math clubs and reading clubs and even a ukulele club. A ukukele club!
If there is a kid with an interest in something, the Blaze has a club for it.
And if they don’t have a club for it, they’ll start one.
Seriously, this is awesome stuff.
That’s how Clinton City Schools Blaze received the TSBA Award for Excellence in Education Program.
If you see a kid with a Blaze shirt on in Clinton, he or she may be an athlete. Or they may be good at math. Or maybe even be awesome at picking out a tune on a ukulele.
And know this: This kid will be well-rounded as he or she grows up and will have the confidence to take on anything.
I’m going to get with Clinton City Schools Athletic Director E.T. Stamey and offer my services.
Although “athletic director” is kinda misleading. He’s more like “activities orchestrator,” but AD E.T. Stamey sounds better than AO E.T. Stamey.
I’m going to offer to instruct a break-dancing club. Parents can bring stuff to the practices they want broken. And we’ll get a Clinton City Fire Department EMT to come in, too, for those of us who may break a body part.
Could be a future Olympian in the crew.
Or I could offer to hold a stick-throwing camp. I got pretty good at the stick throwing as I grew older.
Still can’t make one bounce, though.