COLUMN: Polson a great host for hoops
OK Mining City, aka Butte, you’ve got some big shoes to fill.
The footwear you need to try on and hopefully fill, were provided by Polson High School administrators and staff who work at the Linderman gym. And they were directed by Noxon Athletic Directors Matt Haven and Bart Hatflich, who journeyed from the far northern reaches of Sanders County to coordinate what proved to be a well-run, fan friendly boys and girls high school basketball tournament for the District 14C conference.
It will not be an easy or guaranteed fit for those who work the Divisional tournament in Butte this weekend as the top two teams from the Polson extravaganza pack their bags and descend upon the Maroon Center, which this weekend hosts the Western C Divisional event that will ultimately produce the Western region participants in the State C tournament in Billings next month.
From the sparkling clean rest rooms to the spit-shined (not really spit) hardwood floors to the courteous and helpful staff, Polson and the Linderman crew showed how it could and should be done.
“This really is quite the facility,” Havens said of the Linderman gym setting as the event was about to begin this past Thursday morning. “We think it will be a good tournament thanks to the hard work of a lot of people.”
Havens and Hatflich made the trek from Noxon to Polson as the result of Havens being chosen as tournament director from among the seven 14C schools represented this weekend.
All players and coaches expressed their pleasure with the setting, which would be the envy of many small college facilities throughout the country. Linderman is on a par, at the very least, with the Ronan Events Center, a thought the Polson partisans would make them smile and dispute in their favor, parish the thought of being second to rival Ronan in anything.
Located just south of the Lake County Courthouse, the gym sits amid a small-town residential setting. Surprisingly, the facility has an abundance of parking in the lots and around the block on which the gym was built.
It is the jewel in the first-class Polson indoor sports facilities.
With several good restaurants and motel accommodations for an event the scope of the 14C tourney, the town and the facilities were a good fit.
Some questionable on-court officiating and a non-stop yapping spiel by the public address announcer aside, this was an example of class all the way around.
We’re talking about Montana style class, you know, the kind with actual hospitality and good folks in charge.
The building’s locker room facilities are also top flight.
Even the event program, a must-have for a sports writer/fan like me, was well-done and affordable at one thin dollar bill.
The concessions were nothing super fancy, but they had all the basics at a good price. I can attest that after having a bag of popcorn Thursday afternoon, a low-priced sporting event staple, I came back for more. Friday and Saturday with the popcorn has me searching for a popcorn addiction helpline.
So as the two boys and two girls teams who finished one-two in this tournament, along with their parents, fans and school officials pack their bags for Butte this weekend, the city with the “environmentally challenged lake”, has a big act to follow. The games themselves were pleasantly on schedule and the competition was really fun to watch.
The Berkeley Pit will never be Flathead Lake, thankfully, but Butte and crew, I’m sure will do their best.
Meanwhile, the Montana High School Association (MHSA) deserves a pat on the back for selecting Polson as a first-round site. Hopefully the town with the breath-taking views of Flathead Lake and the Mission Mountains will be in the mix again real soon!