Growing up in Yale, Trevor Sugars never thought about playing high school hockey. He bounced around Sanilac, St. Clair and Lapeer counties finding house leagues to stay involved in the sport he loved, as Yale didn’t have a team.

But a year ago, thanks to an expansion of the Port Huron Unified cooperative team, a new option arose, and Sugars has taken full advantage.

Participating in sports provides so many benefits to kids and teens. There are the obvious benefits of physical fitness and promoting regular exercise. Then, there are also the character-building lessons learned from being part of a team, working hard toward a goal, celebrating tough competition and gracefully accepting defeat.

But sports don’t come without some risk.

Matchups of a number of the state’s anticipated girls basketball best topped a weekend list full of high achievers with hockey, bowling and swimming & diving also contributing to the headliners.

Given the increase in school-related shootings since the Columbine massacre 20 years ago, perhaps it is not surprising that these acts of violence are no longer confined to regular school hours.