Greene’s Gripe: Help me celebrate Priest River senior athletes

PRIEST RIVER — For the last few weeks, I’ve been working on a series called Senior Spotlight to highlight and recognize the local spring senior athletes who had their seasons cut short or canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

I’ve done seven so far on Sandpoint athletes and did my first Priest River athlete feature last week on Jantzen Lucas.

I’ve shared this message once already but I want to make sure the athletes and families in Priest River see this message as well.

In an attempt to give the senior spring athletes something to remember this season by, I’m trying to write a feature on every single one of them.

It’s going to take a lot of time and effort but it’s what they deserve. They gave everything they had to be ready for this season and now they’ll have nothing to show for it. But I’m going to make sure they get recognized for the dedication.

If you watched SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt last month, you saw him dedicate five to 10 minutes every night to honor seniors around the country who had their seasons cut short or erased due to the coronavirus pandemic. He called it “Senior Night.”

That’s how the Priest River Sports section will look for about the next month and a half as I try to get in touch with every single Spartan athlete who lost their final season.

For each feature, I will talk to the athlete, their coach and the one person that has had the biggest impact on their life. If they say both their parents have had the biggest impact on their life, then I’ll talk to both of them.

I’ll want a photo to go along with the story as well so each athlete needs to send one in.

I’m also including a portion called “In their own words” within the article or at the end. This is basically a letter. The senior can write about whatever they want.

This is a chance for them to say farewell to the community, school and team that has had such an impact on their life. There is no minimum word count but there is a max — 250. I don’t want this to turn into another homework assignment they dread writing. I want them to have fun with it.

To make this possible, I need help from the family, friends, coaches and loved ones of the Priest River athletes to get in touch with them. Email me at dgreene@bonnercountydailybee.com and send along a phone number I can contact them at.

Please help me make this possible. If there is one thing I can promise seniors it’s this: you will not be forgotten.