The editor:
Okay, I have tried to rid myself of the one-liner I heard a few months ago, and I haven鈥檛 shaken it off yet, so I鈥檓 invading a page of the Mercury to do a little remembrance bit. So please forgive me, because this 鈥渢hing鈥� happened some time ago.
In fact, it was the first game of that weekend girls鈥� basketball Shoot for a Cure tournament in Estevan. Spring had not yet sprung, but it was certainly sending good vibes.
At the last minute, I decided to attend the opening game between the Estevan Elecs and Weyburn Eagles.
I hadn鈥檛 missed the bit of controversy that surfaced regarding the cancelled McLeod Series and some criticism that had been levelled at ECS, and so I was a bit curious about spectator behaviour as well as players鈥� and supporters鈥� attitudes.
I sat for a while in the well-populated Weyburn supporter section and then wandered over to take a seat in the lower level of a growing Estevan sector.
The game was tightly contested with a few exchanges of the lead in a game that Weyburn eventually won by one point.
But that鈥檚 not my point.
As the game worked toward conclusion and the gymnasium rocked with a bit of bedlam, a few players from another team (remaining nameless) wandered into the gymnasium to catch the action.
A couple of these girls found a perch just below the area where I was seated and I had the opportunity to watch and accidentally overhear some conversation.
Two girls in front of me turned and checked out the spectator numbers and noise level. They then watched and heard the Elec cheerleaders do a well co-ordinated stunt, followed by a tightly rehearsed and choreographed cheer that earned them the attention of the crowd that responded with applause during a brief time out.
Then more noise, more basketball action, another huge cheerleading stunt.
One of the girls turned to her teammate and said, over the noise, and with more than a little awe in her voice, 鈥淲ow, I wish our school had spirit like this!鈥�
Simple line, singular voice, but it made me smile and think, well, ECS, things can鈥檛 be so bad after all. Sometimes we may need to have someone with a neutral stance inform us of what we鈥檙e doing and sometimes the assessment may be pretty okay.
Things are never going to be perfect at ECS or at the leisure centre, Affinity Place, Estevan Motor Speedway, Woodlawn Regional Park, art gallery and museums, or downtown or at the Market Mall, but this is what we have and it seems at least a few visitors may see the things we have become accustomed to ignoring while they are right in front of us.
Let鈥檚 just enjoy Estevan and what we can bring to the party. A little imperfection once in awhile can鈥檛 hurt us. It seems we have a lot of spirit. That鈥檚 a good thing isn鈥檛 it?
Norm Park
Estevan
