Coach's Corner, September 24th: Belated Summer
Balmy days have arrived, but the timing leaves something to be desired. Here I sit, in my cubicle in the English office, wondering if I should remove my shirt and work in my undershirt; a latter-day Stanley Kowalski! Outside, the sun blazes and the humidity rises. If summer vacation had only had mild weather like today. Instead, we suffered through a July that barely required us to open windows, let alone employ our air conditioners. It seems unfair.
Most English teachers like me spend their every waking moment in September reading their first sets of papers and writing copious comments on every page. Imagine undertaking this formidable task in a stuffy work room whose temperature lingers in the upper seventies. I am tempted to remove the screen on the nearest window, stick my head out, and scream "Stella! Stella!" Fortunately, I appreciate my new classes and new students; grading their work is the cross that I must bear in exchange for the pleasures of the classroom. So it goes.
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The view out that window reveals a softball field with new sod- real grass. I had labored under the mistaken notion that all of the sports fields would receive artificial turf; apparently not. The football field, to be sure, is now covered in artificial turf, and the track will have a safe, rubberized surface when completed. With piles of dirt and a dozen trucks still in plain sight, it is safe to assume that much work remains to complete the other fields. The tennis courts, in contrast, are all but done. Now don't expect the puddles and the depressions to have disappeared because they haven't. The cracks are gone, praise the Lord, and the blue and green colors blend gloriously with the azure sky and the omnipresent sunlight.
Having mentioned tennis, I would like to announce that our veteran seniors, Mika Braginsky and Katherine Man, will be varsity captains this coming spring. Mika has played varsity since freshman year, and the courts lie practically outside her front door. Come April she'll have a tough time escaping the endless season. Kat emerged last year as an outstanding doubles player when paired with Hannah Konowitz, who now studies at Richmond College in Virginia. She suffers doubly this year, being enrolled in my senior English class as well. Too much of a good thing, I guess. Seriously, I respect these two young women and count on their carrying on our many traditions in their roles as co-captains.
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