A time of transition

The calendar says spring begins March 21 or thereabouts, though Mother Nature

generally has other ideas. One can usually count on it being early May before it truly feels like spring. This year has been no execption.

I tend to chart the changing of the seasons through sport. There are more and more sports these days being played both indoors and out but, to me, spring means the first outdoor soccer games, with the promise of baseball not far away.

I dropped by the season openers for a couple of the Valley United Tier 1 soccer teams over the weekend. The Valley teams don’t always win – though four of the five that played this weekend did record victories – but they are more than competitive with teams from the more populated HRM and elsewhere.

Now that soccer is a year-round sport in Nova Scotia, it is possible for Valley youth to sharpen their skills on an uninterrupted basis - just as they do in HRM, Truro and now Pictou County, other areas with indoor soccer facilities.

In terms of a team sport, soccer is one of the best. Players have to work together to achieve a common goal, and while there is glory in scoring, the player whose pass or block sets up a score is often just as important.

In a sport where even the most exciting matches can end in a 1-0 score, the importance of defense - and a talented goalkeeper - can’t be underestimated either.

Meanwhile, as mentioned before, baseball season is fast approaching. The senior Wildcats open their season May 21 – a season that could be interesting, with two spots up for grabs at the 2009 national championship being hosted by Dartmouth. New Wildcats’ head coach Jeff Lockhart feels there’s no reason one of those teams can’t be Kentville, which will have most of its veteran players back for 2008.

Kentville, in the NSSBL final the past two seasons, should be among the league’s top teams again this season. The Wildcats’ veterans know how to win, and how to position themselves so as to make their wins count in the standings.

On the minor baseball front, Kentville and New Minas minor baseball have amalgamated, a move that should be good for both sides. It will give New Minas youth a team to play on, and provide the amalgamated association with extra fields for games and practices.

It appears Kentville will have mosquito, peewee and bantam teams this summer, as well as T-ball for age six and under and rookie ball for ages six to nine. On the negative side, it doesn’t look right now as if Kentville will field either a midget or junior team again this summer.

Another sure sign of spring is local schools preparing for the NSSAF track and field season – first indoors, then outdoors when the weather gets more springlike. The district track and field meet, always an exciting couple of days of competition, is in Kentville May 20 and 21. The regional meet is also in the Valley this year – May 30 and 31 in Bridgetown, with the provincials June 6 and 7 at Met Field in Sackville.