Bozeman was Fun But I am Glad to Be Home

I had the honor of seeing the North Country Mavericks take third place at the 2023 State C Volleyball Tournament in Bozeman this past weekend.

Last year, I missed the 2022 State Volleyball Tournament where the Mavs earned third place and made history as a co-op with their first state trophy in the sport. I thought I could have eye surgery and then drive to Bozeman a few days later. I was wrong.

As most of us that have been around know, a state trophy in volleyball is unheard of in this part of the world. Their outing was truly a display of talent mixed with fine coaching despite the fact that North Country is a basketball team in volleyball uniforms.

A few of the teams at the very top in every class had dedicated volleyball players, who travel to play AAU volleyball and attend summer tournaments. Still, North Country rose to the occasion and beat a couple of tough teams and fell to some pretty great teams.

I am proud of what the girls did out there on the court. Their performance was amazing. It was inspiring. And now I am definitely ready for basketball!

As you may recall, many of the girls from North Country were state champs in basketball last year. The Malta Mustangs took home second at state in Class B and the M-ettes were in the mix but fell short of bringing home a trophy.

While seeing many other teams around the state, I noticed their crowd sizes and the amount of students on their bench. I noticed that we have had a lot of transfers wearing new school colors. A few of our local basketball teams have struggled with only one or two reserves on the bench.

While other parts of the state seem to be booming, it seems that we only boom when it’s hunting season.

I did notice that Bozeman is bigger than when I had last been there for the State Basketball Tournament in 2022. There was way more traffic, places to shop, and places to eat than before. The shopping mall wasn’t only open, it appears that it is thriving.

I even had conversations with locals, saying that there are way too many people in Bozeman.

I was not mad at the food that I ate there but I found myself quickly wanting to get home to my family in our small corner of the world.

I said all of that to say this. Our pool for student-athletes isn’t as big as Bozeman, or many of the schools in the south and west but our schools do continue to have success in athletics. We have a few former Phillips County athletes seeing success in collegiate sports.

Of course, athletics aren’t everything. Education is key. Thankfully, I have seen many students have success in athletics and then success in life after sports. I know successful people from every school in the county! This tells me that our educational system in Phillips County is second to none.

To me, this also shows that teachers and parents are doing a good job preparing students for life after sports.

I am thankful for and proud of all of our Fall sports teams. To the student-athletes; continue to learn and grow in your education because it will bode well for you in the future after the lights go out and the cheers fade.

To the educators in Phillips County; I am thankful for you and admire the hard work that you continue to bring, not only in the school year, but all year around. We can not thrive as a society without you. Things may get tough and may already be tough, but stay encouraged. The impact that you make in the lives of our youth makes a difference.