Why is High School sports so important for small town America?

There are many reasons, and I will line them out to you in this article.

When you grow up in a small town, especially in Montana, community is everything.  The community supports your endeavors as a kid, they cheer you on in every activity that you participate in and they financially support ever fundraiser that you knock on their door with.

Small town America is there for your graduation, your wedding, the birth of your children and your funeral.  They come over and help when you are branding or shipping or harvesting.  They are also there when you have a celebration or an event that may be a bit more somber.

In other words, the community is your friends and neighbors, your family and sometimes rivals.

Basketball Picture
Randy Bogden
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Basketball Picture

Picture of a Basketball and referee whistle

How did everyone get so close?  School sports!  Many of the people in your small community you played elementary basketball, softball, baseball or any other number of sports.  By middle school, those competitions extend well beyond your small community to other small communities. By the time you are in High School you have competed with or against some of these athletes for 5, 6, 7 or more years.

These are the people that will be in your personal community for the rest of your life.   Yes, some of these people will move out while some new folks will move in, but the fact is, this is your community.

Back to the original question

Why is High School sports so important for small town America?

Fall Sports- This is a 1 or 2 night each week event that gives two towns a chance to come together, reminisce about the good old glory days while attempting to dominate your friend/ rival. Everyone comes together for homecoming with parades, pancake feeds and general camaraderie is enjoyed by all. I get to work with some great broadcasters as well.

Photo credit- Christine Kelly
Photo credit- Christine Kelly
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KMON Broadcast crew

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Winter sports is the same until tournament time. That is when it gets fun. Back in 2002 Montana changed the basketball season so that girls and boys played at the same time.  With this change, tournament time is now a huge event bringing entire towns to a location where friends reunite and old rivals try to remember who bested who……like they truly don’t remember…..right!

Coming from Cascade, the District, the Northern C and the State C tournament is filled with people I went to school with or competed with or in some cases dated.  Many memories and a true joy to be able to be a part of.  I didn’t play high school basketball, but was at all of the tournaments as a member of the pep band.

Photo Credit Randy Bogden
Photo Credit Randy Bogden
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Class C Basketball

Everyone wants to play Saturday Night at the tournament

Tournament time is always a tough time of year. Ranchers are calving, roads can be dangerous and taxes are almost due, yet the stands are full for the games.  The community comes out in support for a 8 am loser out on a Saturday as well as the championship game on Saturday night.

Photo Credit Randy Bogden
Photo Credit Randy Bogden
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HS Basketball Sports

Running plays and scoring points

Stop by the booth if you see me, as always it great to catch up on how much moisture you got in the last storm or how many calves are the ground, even though you’re supposed to start calving in early March!

So, why is High School sports so important for small town America? Because, we are family, even if we get together to cheer on our kids and yours.

Safe travels and Good Luck to all of the teams!

Click HERE to see an update on the scores from the District Tournaments that are in the Northern C.

If you have a story idea or something you want to learn more about, give Randy a call at 406-788-3003 or send me an email at randall.bogden@townsquaremedia.com

Check Out the Best-Selling Album From the Year You Graduated High School

Do you remember the top album from the year you graduated high school? Stacker analyzed Billboard data to determine just that, looking at the best-selling album from every year going all the way back to 1956. Sales data is included only from 1992 onward when Nielsen's SoundScan began gathering computerized figures.

Going in chronological order from 1956 to 2020, we present the best-selling album from the year you graduated high school.

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