District tourneys benefit us all

We hope plenty of folks got to enjoy the divisional basketball tournament last week in Ronan. It was competition and school spirit at its best, and the Ronan Event Center was the perfect spot.

While the athletes got to shine in front of mostly well-behaved fans, we wanted to take a moment to recognize the numerous community volunteers and school administrators who helped make the basketball tourney in Ronan and the divisional wrestling tourney in Polson a few weeks ago a big success.

When schools are chosen to host a divisional tourney, it is an honor. But for the school principals, superintendents, tournament directors, athletic directors and countless volunteers involved, hosting a tourney can be, well, a lot of work.

There are things you can control, and then there are the unknowns. The "unknowns" include the behavior of 100 percent of the fans 100 percent of the time, accommodating the requests of the many visiting teams and their preferences, ensuring that the officiating crew is happy and taken care of, and making sure your school district, as host, has a chance to shine.

When we walked out into the foyer at the Ronan Event Center to grab a hotdog last week, one of the first things we noticed was that you could still watch the action courtesy of the numerous TVs set up around the complex with live-feed coming straight from the court.

That's class.

Before the divisional wrestling tourney in Polson last month, a group of parents got together to make a premier lighting setup for the championship rounds. When the final matches rolled around, the lighting was lowered, creating a perfect spotlight on the mat, allowing for better viewing, photographs, and a more exciting and professional wrestling environment.

That's class.

These are just two highlights of tourney action that many people probably took for granted. However, it was the more mundane tasks — sweeping the Event Center stands after every few games or ensuring there was a full buffet for coaches and officials at the all-day wrestling tourney — that go unnoticed.

Polson also played host to the district Class C girls and boys tourneys last week and are hosting the divisional B boys and girls tourney this week. The host? The Polson Chamber of Commerce.

Whether the school districts or local Chamber of Commerce host these events, they provide valuable revenue for local hotels and restaurants. How many times did you see a tour bus in the parking lot of a local restaurant last weekend? Even if you aren't interested in sports, the entire community benefits from these events.

Best of all, from our perspective, these tourneys went off without a glitch, and for that the Ronan and Polson school personnel and volunteers who made that happen deserve a big "thanks." We hope you'll remember to tell them that at the next athletic event.

They made us all look good.

Best of luck, too, to the Polson Lady Pirates and Ronan Chiefs, both of whom earned spots at the state basketball tourneys. We know you'll represent us well.