Reporter Editorial: Playing proud for Shelter Island
Robert Lipsyte, author and Island resident, in his book “Sportsworld: An American Dreamland,” published almost 40 years ago, took a close and unsparing look at what big time sports was doing to American culture. One reason the book is a classic is it’s a work of prophecy. Lipsyte’s insights into his subject then are validated everywhere now, even for the casual reader of the back pages of big city newspapers or viewers of the sports reports on the six o’clock news. It’s A-Rod and Lance Armstrong doping and lying all the time, thugs free to be thuggish in the locker room and separate police blotters just for jocks in hot water. Amateur athletics is becoming a misnomer when it comes to colleges using sports programs as cash cows at the expense of true education.
What’s especially gloomy is to see this trend spiraling down to high school sports and even to kids on a lower level, where the doctrine of “winning is everything” is drilled into children.
That’s why considering the 2013 Shelter Island girls volleyball team, in comparison to so much of organized sports, is a refreshing reminder of what athletics should be.
Because of dedication, talent and superior coaching from Cindy Belt, the 2013 volleyballers were one game away from reaching the New York State finals in their division .
But winning doesn’t build character; understanding the meaning of competition and fair play are the tools needed for that. As Ms. Belt simply and eloquently put it: “I will miss this band of sisters who fought hard, had fun and played well.”
The team had a mantra they would sing with the line: “I play proud for Shelter Island.”
We can express pride, too, in these young people who represented their school, their home and themselves so well.
Season’s end
Another season — as in the “budget season”— ended at Town Hall on November 8. Supervisor Jim Dougherty noted at the Town Board’s meeting that afternoon before taking a vote on the 2014 budget that the process had considerably aged him and his colleagues . It was a throwaway bit of humor that brought smiles to the board, while expressing the results of the ongoing debate between board members and town departments.
All members were in agreement on the basic result of the budget, that taxes have to go up by about 5 percent over last year for the town to provide necessary services to residents. Last year’s takeover of the Ambulance Corps from the Red Cross, plus rising insurance costs, were just two reasons why the tax bill had to go up.
The budget season ended with a unanimous vote for 2014’s financial plan. If there were bruises taken by individual members in the battle, there was no blood spilled. That alone seems like a victory, considering the stress and strife of putting together a budget of $9.5 million.
