Thanks to community for supporting kids

Today marks the second day of the Northern Lights Conference basketball tournament at Wasilla High School.

Sixteen teams from eight schools across Southcentral Alaska will battle for conference supremacy.

During this three-day festival of hoops, champions will be crowned and tears will be shed. But when all is said and done, only two teams — one boys and one girls — will officially be champions.

But this weekend, the Wasilla High gym is full of champions — those who have championed the effort to make this type of opportunity possible deserve credit and applause as well as the student-athletes who play on the hardwood for a conference title.

Winning a championship is rare, but simply participating in extracurricular athletics and activities also is an opportunity not everyone has.

Athletes may spend countless hours, days, months and maybe years in gymnasiums, working to get to this point.

But it’s not an individual effort that brought any of these athletes to the court, and it’s time to recognize those who helped them get here.

Parents, coaches and teachers, siblings or friends, the family — both on and off the court — have all played a role. What these student-athletes accomplish on the court would not be possible without adults to coach these teams, parents to drive students to practices and games — and pay the participation and equipment fees — and proud friends and community members to fill the stands and cheer.

Any success on the court is fueled by countless hours of hard work put in by coaches, who receive small financial compensation for their work, if any. This is a good time to thank the families of these coaches, too. We know that many nights your dinner tables have empty seats because dad or mom is still at practice, working.

And there’s the community. Student athletics depend on the continued financial support of local businesses. Because these are public schools, we all pay a share of the costs and we all own a share, win or lose.

Basketball is a team sport — five players on the floor and relief on the bench, working toward a collective goal. But it’s harder to tally all of those who have contributed to their success along the way.

This weekend some may take the floor for the final time. For others, it’s their first time to play at this level. Win or lose, all will leave the court with memories that will last lifetimes.

These are memories of the success that comes with hard work, and our community can take pride in the knowledge that we all have a share in that.

The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman wishes the best of luck to the student-athletes and congratulations to all who helped make this weekend of champions possible.