Our town’s population may not have increased a whole lot since the 1960s, but we’re witnessing an exponential rise in sports interest and participation. 

Rye has always had more than its share of remarkable athletes, but they embraced and excelled at one sport, not three or more as they do now. At advanced ages, we’re trying new sports and loving them. We’ve discovered that we can roll out a surface in our driveway and play pickleball at any time of the day. Our children and grandchildren love the unusual scoring and have mastered the underhand serve. 

We watch in wonder as children play rugby, flag football, and paddle tennis, in addition to the panoply of time-honored youth sports. 

Having grown up in an era in which softball was the only organized sport a girl could play until she reached high school and keeping in fighting trim meant cutting back on the number of Oreos you scarfed down at snack time, these truly are the wonder years. 

Here’s to the love of the game, any game! 

• Robin Jovanovich, Publisher