As I sit down to write this column, there are exactly three weeks until the start of high school fall sports practice.

There are still a few summer events I have to cover before I turn my attention to high school football, soccer, girls golf, volleyball, tennis and cross country.

Soon the weather will start to turn. There will be a chill in the air as teams suit up to compete for conference and divisional championships. Soon we will be wearing long-sleeve shirts, sweatshirts or coats as we watch our favorite teams give everything they have night in and night out.

But before we get to all that, I want to talk about my favorite part of fall sports.

You may not believe this, but I enjoy the first couple of weeks of practice. The smell of freshly mown grass with fresh white lines on the football and soccer fields. The smell of the new varnish put on the gym floor for the volleyball teams.

Those simple things get me geared up for another year of covering local high school sports. It is something I have done for more than half of my life and it is something that I consider a great honor to do.

Are there more glamorous gig in the newspaper business? Of course there are. Those people who tour the country following a sports team as their beat have it pretty good. But I would not trade my job for the world.

You may think I am crazy, but let me tell you, there is nothing better than watching these kids grow up to become good athletes. Not everyone can reach the heights of some of the kids I have covered and that is alright. Not everyone can be a star.

And some of the “role” players I have covered have been every bit as important to the success of a sports team as the so-called superstars. Heck, some have been even more important because they were the glue that held the team together.

I enjoy watching how coaches interact with the players. I watch how they handle each individual and how they deal with their entire teams. The great ones know just what to do to get the most out of those players for the collective good of the teams.

The ones I have seen struggle and fail to enjoy success are usually the ones who think that all you have to do is yell a lot.

Another thing I enjoy is getting to know some of these players and their families. That is a lot tougher nowadays because I oversee six high schools, whereas, in the old days when I was just covering one or two schools, I really got to know them.

Not every day is fun. There are days that I have to stand out in the rain or the cold to cover sports or swear I am going to melt inside a gymnasium. But those days are far and few between.

The one thing that usually ruins my day is one where I see a parent screaming at their kid during games or after games about mistakes that they make, or fans who think because they paid their $5 they can belittle an official or go after a coach.

Those are days when I wish I was somewhere else. I still want to be doing my job, but I just want to be on another field or in another gym so I do not have to see and listen to it.

Maybe it is because I am getting older, but my level of tolerance for those types of people is getting shorter. I am afraid that as the days go by, this problem is getting worse and worse. Players, coaches and officials are walking out from the game because they have had enough.

I do not think it will happen in my lifetime, but something will have to change and people will have to learn to behave themselves or sports as we know them will no longer exist.

There will always be sports, do not worry about that, but they will not exist as we know them. There may come a time when there are no longer high school teams because you will now be able to find coaches or officials willing to put up with fans. There may only be club teams where families pay for their children’s playing time.

I hope I am long gone before either one of those things happens. But in the meantime, we should get out and enjoy high school sports the way they are now. Most of the kids still play for the love of the game, which is what athletics is supposed to be all about.

I know I am ready to get out there and cover another season.

Scott Novak is sports editor for Leader Publications. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com