Kindergarten

When I was a little boy, about the age of 5, I attended Langdale Kindergarten. The Kindergarten was located adjacent to the Langdale Elementary School (where I started school), just in front of the Langdale Swimming Pool (where I swam), and just across the “underpass” from the Langdale Mill (Where my Great Grandfather, Grandparents, Father and later I worked). A few hundred yards south of the Langdale Kindergarten was the Langdale Methodist Church (where I worshipped), and a few hundred yards north of the Langdale Kindergarten was the Langdale Barber Shop (where I got my hair cut) and the Langdale Drug Store (where we got our medicine).

Do you think I may have lived in a very small village?

One other tidbit of trivia….this was the very same kindergarten, in the very same building, that my father attended when HE went to kindergarten. Today, it is called the Cotton Duck.

Kindergarten was a place where we played, sang, scratched, fidgeted, laughed, cried, caught every one else’s cold, got in trouble for throwing toys and unrolling all of the toilet paper the bathroom had to offer (that’s one I did and still remember), and generally took that huge step from being mama’s baby to elementary school student. It was an in-between time. Mamas didn’t want to let go….children didn’t want to sit still…and nature didn’t want to stop us from growing up. (Some of us grew up much faster than others….and SOME of us…this writer included…may STILL be more kid than grown up!) But the best thing about kindergarten was that it was a safe, protected, controlled environment that allowed children to make the transition with the least amount of conflict and pain.

Kind of like a red-shirt. I mean, that’s really what a red-shirt is, isn’t it? A year for the 18 year old high school graduate to mature, learn what college is all about, learn how to live away from home, learn how to study, learn the offense or the defense in a controlled, safe and protected environment? And do all of this with the least amount of conflict and pain, so that later, when they “move up” to become “upper classmen”, they have made the transition from high school to college and are equipped and ready to contribute at a high level.

But what happens when a program can’t afford to let its athletes go to “kindergarten”? What happens when you play 3 true freshmen on the line…a true freshman at quarterback…true freshmen at wide receiver and kicker and defensive secondary? They have to grow up fast. Really fast. And it’s hard….really hard. It’s not a safe environment for them…it’s not a protected environment…and it’s certainly not a controlled environment.

In the heat of battle, when the score is close or when the team is behind….it’s hard to remember that a lot of these kids should be in red-shirt kindergarten. And when kindergarteners get booboos and skinned knees, they need more attention than the older kids.

On Saturday, our youth brigade invades a swamp of gators, waiting to bite. The kids are a 20 point underdog. Every logical position one can take when looking at this game would tell you that this could be a massacre. That a 20 point spread might be conservative.

But there is one thing about kindergarteners. They can say and do the darndest things!

Even win games that no one else thinks they will win. And when they do…..all we can say is, “I’ll be darned”.

And then unroll all of the toilet paper the bathroom has to offer and look for the nearest tree.

War Eagle!

WJLaneSr