Community spirit vital in tragic time

Commentary by Richard Froese

Death and tragedy is something we all face in our lives – in the past and in the future. When tragic news that seven players of a high school basketball team from Bathurst, New Brunswick and the coach’s wife were killed in a highway crash early Jan. 12, on icy roads, shock waves and sorrow quickly spread across Canada. While the tragedy occurred several thousand kilometres away in the Maritimes, no doubt many people across the country could probably empathize and identify with this tragedy, with all the community and high school sports teams who travel to many points to compete in sporting events. No community wants to go through what Bathurst is experiencing. As sad and unfortunate as it sounds, tragic and sudden death usually brings people, families, and communities closer together. Incidentally, images of the crash scene showed that the team van struck a commercial transport truck with the motto “Making difficult lives a little easier”. That phrase was minor compared to the magnitude of the grieving and mourning for the families of the victims and the entire community of about 12,000 people. Dealing with the death of a loved one is always difficult to cope with and comprehend. But when so many people such as this team of young healthy and vibrant lives, are suddenly snatched from life, it will no doubt take years, and perhaps generations,to grieve. All of our communities like Slave Lake, High Prairie, and Falher and McLennan and the smaller surrounding communities have experienced sudden and tragic deaths of a single person or multiple tragedies. Grieving expresses the true love and support of a community. Schools, school divisions, and sports teams are committed to protecting the lives of their students, players, and coaches, and drivers, by driving far distances only when road conditions are ideal. We trust that all school and community sports teams and organizations travel – especially during wild winter weather – in only good road conditions in safe vehicles with safe and responsible drivers. With all the thousands of kilometres that local community and high school sports teams travel in northern Alberta and other rural and remoted parts, particularly in unpredictable and wintery slippery and snowy road conditions, it may be a wonder that more of these tragedies don’t occur in Alberta and rural parts of Alberta and Canada. However, this is not the first time that travelling tragedy has struck sport teams, including high school basketball and volleyball, junior hockey, and other community sports organizations, that many of us can remember over the past decades. Sports teams can bring community closer together – in victory and in tragedy. Play it safe.

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