The Advance

Issue date: 10/26/07 Section: Features

Media Credit: Jarrett McDonald 'Little ones' play an intense game of soccer.

The YMCA had a 45-minute lightning delay early Saturday morning before starting the games.

It was a nice cool morning at the Salina Family YMCA. The YMCA staff seemed to be in a chipper mood until lightening struck.

The staff immediately went from "game mode" to "safety mode."

Staff member Leo Alvarado grabbed the air horn from the shed and started blowing it to signal for the referees to get the people off the fields.

Some of the coaches weren't too happy that their games were getting canceled because the lightening was off in the distance. Staff members reminded the coaches that "It's all about safety first."

After they told them that, there were still some unhappy people.

The staff members told the coaches
about a tragic accident that happened
last year.

They said "At of the YMCA's in Omaha, NE, two kids were playing on the fields during a lightening storm and they were struck and killed."

After hearing that story, the coaches realized that canceling the games was the best course of action for the safety of everybody involved.

The first games to start after the lightening storm were the 9:30 a.m. football games followed by 9:45 and 10:00 a.m. soccer games.

Everybody was happy that they didn't have to cancel the rest of the day. The rest of the day went off without a hitch.

Due to the first round of games being
canceled, the youth sports department
is busy this week with a lot of make-up games.

There were a couple soccer games that were played on Monday night.

The next three nights are even busier with both soccer and football games being played.
YMCA Fall sports season wraps up its season this Saturday.

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