Dear Kenston Community,

I miss you!  I miss getting up early on Saturday and checking the fields to see if we can play, setting up volleyball nets, or setting the clock to count down to tip off.

I miss opening Kenston Bomber Stadium for Lacrosse, football or soccer and getting a call reminding me I have to open the bathrooms or walk up the world’s steepest bleachers to open the press box, and thinking to myself “Am I that out of shape?” once I reach the top.

I miss staring at my weather app as the phone start ringing around noon on bad days with “are we playing?”

I miss calling off baseball and having every weather prediction go wrong, the storms went south and at 5:00 it is 75 and sunny.  (I swear it happens to me more than most…)

I miss the rainy cold muddy soccer mornings and tweeting out that we are playing so bring a sheet to cover your car seats. 

I miss buying as many boxes of girl scout cookies and pawning them off at the high school rec basketball games while the kids are cheering each other on as they strive for top dog of the league.

I miss releasing rosters and hoping we got all the car pools right, and cheering when one player needs a Thursday practice and another needs a Tuesday and we can just switch them and everyone is happy.

I miss gently reminding moms that had they told us at time of registration that they needed a specific day for practice to avoid dance, piano or PSR and she promptly replies “I know but dad signed her up”

I miss sending a call out because we need one more coach and someone filling that slot. You can find me doing my happy dance when that happens.

I miss coaching kids, oh boy do I miss coaching your children! Watching them succeed in something they have been striving for all season, teaching sportsmanship through wins and losses.  I miss lining up after a game to thank the other team for a good contest. (I hope we don’t lose that because it is so important)

I miss bringing the parents together during All leagues .  Letting them know that I get it!  I was standing right where they are now, with my children (more years ago then I care to count).  I understand how hard it is to let your children fail, or have something unfair happen to them.  I tell them, I know the first reaction is to fix it, but we must not. It is important to let you child fail and what better place than KCE rec when it does not really matter and you’re there to help them through it.

I miss championship Sunday, when the game is in overtime, and the parents are freaking out and holding their breath at the same time.

I miss the 48 hour rule.

 I miss officiating, when a coach is yelling “and one” on the sideline after a layup when there was no whistle blown because there was no defender near the play.

I miss officiating volleyball and giving a 1st grader another chance to get the ball over the net, and the crowd goes wild when she succeeds. 

I miss opening my office door around 3:30 pm so I can hear the kids getting off the bus at Gardiner center for Engineering, Girl Scouts, Mad Science and more, laughing and chattering with their friends about their day as they walk (or run) by my office.  It made my day when they stopped in to say hi.  I miss giving them a bag a chips or treat that was leftover from some past season concessions stand.

I miss watching the kids walk by my office on their way to Drivers Ed and saying out loud “Oh No! Everyone better get off the road if you are going to be driving soon!”  and wondering where the time went because wasn’t it a couple of years ago that I coached him in coach pitch???

I miss leaving late from the office and having someone proudly show me their art project or science experiment.

I miss giving the speeches at the end of a K-1 basketball season and stringing the medal around  players neck and seeing them later on that day at Giant Eagle with it still on.

I miss Run Club, especially reminding our runners that it’s called “RUN” club for a reason and if they just get down to running, we can get to the real reason they signed up which is playing on the Timmons play ground.

Yes, I miss you Kenston Community, you can be impatient and opinionated at times . Impatient when I mess up the schedule or things change at the last minute, opinionated when you don’t like a call from official or how I set up a tournament .  However you step up when the going gets rough or someone needs an extra hand.  Your generosity is unmatched when we want to send a DI team to states or a young baseball team to Cooperstown, and it brings me to tears when one of our own families get hit by a tragedy, your outpouring of love for one another touches my heart and makes me proud that

You know the true meaning of #Bombersflytogether.

I miss you Kenston, with all my heart. Thank you for letting me serve you,

Jennifer Moore

Executive Director

Addendum after the Governors announcement yesterday:

I was so excited to hear that we can start to open up day camps and baseball/softball! I have received many call, texts and emails after the announcement.  
I am going to take this weekend to review the guidelines and make sure we can follow the recommendations and beyond for the safety of our community. I hope to open registration for some summer activities on Monday May 18th.  Stay tuned!  I am excited that we may begin playing again soon!