We have a lot of perspectives being shared about Riverfest and its athletic events and changes. Changes are complex for everyone, and we understand this, but change is a part of life, and in many cases, change creates many new traditions and perspectives. The Riverfest game was changed to Thursday this year for many reasons - to be a better community partner to the city and its people, to accommodate and share crowds on the first day events, to be the only event in town and draw big crowds to support and showcase our talents on the field, on the sideline, and in the stands, not to have to split our already very limited boosters staff between two sites, and ultimately not have to resource share between admin, teachers, staff, police, city employees, fire, public works, vendors, etc. Mother nature had a different plan and we cannot control this.
Now, I know not everyone will agree with these points for change, but that is the transparent facts on answering the why, and this change creates excitement, opportunity, and growth. If you do not like it or do not agree, I encourage you to get involved, the city has a RiverFest planning committee that people can be a part of, join it and share your perspectives and understandings, get involved!
Regarding the current situation involving the movement of games and information pertaining to this, let me answer some questions - Football is unique in that it is played 1 game a week and typically that is on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday - it does not typically operate into the next week for player recovery, player safety, and for game setup - this means it operates in a very limited timeframe. Why can't we play on Friday or Saturday? Friday does not have a single available official for a game in the Northern and Central part of the state available - have an issue with that, become an official and help out. Saturday we have no facility as we are hosting numerous events at OTHS and more importantly we would be missing 2 coaches, putting us at a huge disadvantage. Sunday - MPA does not play on Sunday. So with all that information, what would you have done?
In the end folks we made decisions based on the best interest of our school community, our home community, player safety, coach availability, and most importantly the betterment of our Coyote Nation as a whole. I encourage everyone to see the bigger picture of what goes into your community and how people spend countless personal hours in planning, preparing, and executing for your enjoyment and involvement. If you do not like something, get involved and be apart of tradition or change or at least reach out and have a decent conversation with those involved.
I hope everyone has a great Riverfest, I know I will because I choose to and choose to find the good!
Gooooooo Coyote Nation!