Colorado is home to some of the largest weather variation of any state in the country. When rain, sleet, and snow starts pouring down, not only does it cancel the school’s sports games, it cancels out the school spirit and sense of normalcy for both players and fans before competing in the game.
When sports games get cancelled, it affects everyone involved with the game, including fans, staff and players. The effects of weather cancellations have been shown to affect many athletes and fans at Liberty High School, with many wondering how cancellations and delays can be prevented from happening in the future.
Teams have been reported to lose revenue with every cancellation, and cancelling or even delaying these sporting events that are meant to bring the community together often leads to upsets and disappointment.
Liberty football player Nehemiah Gordon knows the importance of a cancelled game. Nehemiah states, “Missing out on one game is awful because it ruins my mental planning and preparation leading up to the game, and it’s just a missed opportunity.” It is a bad thing for players to miss a game as it ruins their preparation and all of a sudden they are moving on and preparing for the next opponent.
While these cancellations take a toll on sports teams, they also lead us to discover how resilient the community is to still show support when the games are cancelled. It also shows how students and staff spend their time doing alternative activities, and how the cancellation opens their schedules a little more, allowing for a longer rest and preparation period between games.
The cancellation of these games has much more than just an impact on the field. It can be a missed opportunity for social connection and school spirit, and staff members can face the disappointment of not being able to get their team out there on the field. But, this also gives schools a chance to find alternative things to do with that time, and reflects the value of sports that schools have. Ultimately, a game cancellation shows the resilience of the sports community to still come together.
