Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

A couple of thoughts before I jump into the Christmas wish list for prep sports this holiday season.

USA Today reported earlier this year that 27% of Utah high school students participate in athletics (29.6% boys, 24.2% girls). That ranks 43rd in the country. By comparison, the study reported that 58.6% of high school students in Idaho participate in athletics, second-best in the nation. No. 1 is Maine (62.1%).

I found that interesting. It’s not easy balancing school work with extracurricular activities. Crack on, then.

Also, since I’ve been covering high school sports for more than 40 years, I recognize that the reality is only one coach in each classification in each sport gets to make the “Good job, guys, we won!” speech at the end of the season. The other coaches all have to find a way to help their players realize that all of their sacrifice and hard work was worth it, even though they didn’t win a championship.

That’s the measure of a good coach, not necessarily wins and losses.

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

Anyway, some Christmas wishes for prep sports are coming now.

1. A way to get recruited

All of the changes in college sports (NIL, transfer portal, etc) have created fewer opportunities for high school athletes to get scholarship offers. Really good players are having to walk on, go to a lower division or junior college or forget about playing college sports altogether. The irony is that college programs benefit greatly from an athlete spending four or five years on campus, but the transfer portal is just too tempting. Let’s hope that there is a better solution than what we’ve been seeing.

2. Better parking at state championship events

I can think of multiple venues in this state that have much, much better parking situations for fans and media than Rice-Eccles Stadium for football and the Huntsman Center for basketball. Kids don’t really care where they play the state tournament, they just want to play. Making everyone compete with thousands of University of Utah students for parking and walking a mile or more to the venues seems like cruel and unusual punishment when better options are available. I have to admit, this is a bit self serving because I want to park closer to do my job better. Maybe that’s selfish, but I always say this: I never take myself seriously but I always take my job seriously.

3. Dropping down to five classifications instead of six

Having spent a good number of years covering high school sports, I understand the logistical problems of setting up classifications for competition. The schools in the state are spread out in an odd way with the bulk of the larger schools in the middle of the state. But I’ve always said six classifications is too many. Being the champion of 18 or 19 schools isn’t that big of a deal. I do like that the UHSAA has adjusted the way they set up the football classifications because that sport is probably the toughest one. And I understand that more classifications gives more schools a chance to win a championship. But I still would like the other sports to be in five classifications.

4. A taste of greatness

I never won a state championship in high school. Illinois Valley High School in southern Oregon (enrollment 400) never had much chance against opponents twice our size in most sports. My senior year in basketball we went to state for the first time in nearly 20 years. We lost our opener, won a consolation game and lost another, but it was an amazing experience nonetheless. It wasn’t until my wife won a girls basketball state championship in 1995 at Timpview that I got a chance to share in a state title. It was something I’ll never forget. I sometimes run into girls (now women in their 40s) who played for my wife while covering high school sports as their kids participate. I tell you, it’s like no time at all has passed. I love talking to Amanda, and Julie, and Mary, and others that I spent time with at practices and games or traveling to tournaments back in the day. So I wish that more first-time winners get to take home a gold trophy in 2025 and gather those glorious memories.

5. Better behavior from parents and fans

Darnell Dickson, Daily Herald

To be honest, I haven’t noticed bad behavior as much lately, but that may be because I’m focused on shooting photos and writing a story. Whenever I do see someone acting out, I recall an episode from my own life. My wife, Barbara, was a high school girls basketball coach in the 1990s. One night at a state tournament game, her team was losing and I was riding the referees pretty hard from the stands. Sitting near me were three college-aged girls. Finally, one of them said, “Why are you such a poor sport?”

I think I told her to go fly a kite (or something else equally rude) but on the ride home from the game I realized she was right. I was a poor sport. I committed to focusing on cheering for the girls instead of chirping at the officials and my enjoyment of the games increased tremendously.

So Merry Christmas to everyone … even officials.