Athletics about more than who wins and loses

Friday night marked the beginning of high school football season.

At stadiums all across the state and country, fans in local communities gathered to support their athletes on the gridiron.

But it's not just football. There are many other sports, for boys and girls, that help draw communities closer.

Importantly, athletics are about much more than the tallies on the scoreboards and the stats in the books.

For many athletes, sports represent a commitment and discipline aimed at self improvement for the betterment of a team. When training for a sport, a person learns the value of sacrifice, the rewards of pushing forward despite setbacks, and the benefits of forming relationships with teammates of different backgrounds. On a broader scale, the teams give the communities something to rally behind.

A case can be made that sometimes the competitive spirit can be taken too far in high school athletics. But in most cases, there are many more positives than negatives.

High school athletics bring communities together. It's fun to watch and follow the action, and celebrate success, and we enjoy the opportunity to cover local athletes and their pursuit to be the best they can be. We'd like to thank all the coaches who help us cover their teams, as well as the athletes who every year work with us on our feature stories and All-Missourian teams.

Good luck to all of our athletes and coaches. And let's remember to keep sportsmanship and positivity at the fore when we show up to cheer our young men and women who compete for so many different reasons.