Listen to “Sports Best Left to SSAC” on Spreaker.

Average. Not a star. Not one to ride the pine either.

That’s not a knock – just an honest description of my time as a high school student-athlete. Never the fastest. Never the guy you called on in the clutch. But also, never one to quit or to do anything halfway.

And truth be told, most of us live right there in the middle of the athletic bell curve.

It was clear early on – clear to anyone watching, and especially clear to me – college athletics, much less the pros, wasn’t the future. But the lessons – the real value – those took root.

Persistence… when hustle is more abundant than talent and moving forward means hitting brick walls.
Leadership… getting the best out of others, even when they don’t always want to give it.
Teamwork… learning your success depends on more than just you. Helping others reach their goals brings you closer to your own.
Smarts… finding an edge when others rely on raw ability that you don’t have.
Failure… learning to lose with grace – and maybe more importantly – losing the fear of it altogether.

But somewhere along the way, those goals have become more like a consolation prize than first prize itself.

That’s why what the legislature just did matters.

After some back and forth, lawmakers returned control of high school sports to the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (SSAC). The governor signed the bill, and rightly so, even if he wanted a clearer picture of the emergency rules first.

Plainly, the people closest to high school sports are the best ones to govern it.

Parents move? Let the kid play. No reason to stand in the way of opportunity.

But transferring just to chase a better team, a better program? That may be understandable, but it’s not always beneficial. And sometimes, it comes at the expense of the very lessons sports are meant to teach. What we – the adults – should value more than winning.

Because life isn’t simple.

And these young men and women need the chance to face adversity. A chance to work through it and to grow from it. One day, real life is coming and it doesn’t ease you into the game. It hits like a Mack truck.

Many kids, often the ones who don’t play because of one struggle or another, are forced to face life well before childhood is over. Another commentary for another time, but what those children wouldn’t give for the escape of sports or the coping mechanism it provides – the relief of a game and time with friends sometimes capped with victory or not. All over when a buzzer sounds bringing the reality of life once again with the challenges of abuse, addiction or hunger.

Absent realities from the conversation in the past few years.

Indulge a story that comes to mind.

A pastor once had a son – gifted, naturally athletic. The kind of talent that could’ve taken him far.

But the boy didn’t want to play. He’d toss a ball around for fun, sure, but his real interest was elsewhere. He felt called to something bigger. Like his father, he had a gift for words — a powerful voice, a sharper pen. While others practiced on fields and courts, he wrote sermons and practiced oratory.

A coach once asked the father, “Why aren’t you raising him to be an athlete? He’s got the talent others don’t have.”

The father’s answer was simple, but perhaps remarkable for these times.

“I’m not raising him to play ball. I’m raising him to be a man.”

And for that young man, the path to becoming one wasn’t on a field or a court. It was in a pulpit. Dad knew that.

The path won’t be the same for everyone. Some will learn life’s lessons in sports, clubs or volunteering. Others, still, will find them elsewhere.

But the point is this: the goal isn’t a championship or playing at the next level. The odds don’t lend themselves to that. It’s raising young people into capable, grounded adults.

That’s what was missing from this long-running transfer debate.

And now – with the SSAC back in charge – there’s at least a better chance we focus more on that than we do now.