If you haven’t caught a high-school playoff game in a while, you’re simply missing out.

State championships have already been played out in indoor track, swimming, skiing and wrestling. Basketball is wrapping up this weekend, with hockey following in early March.

While many may think high school athletes are somehow not worth watching or as entertaining as the professional or Olympic-level athletes we see on TV, watching a game will quickly cure that skepticism.

For example, last Saturday night’s bout between Bonny Eagle and Portland in the Class A boys basketball regional final was a battle royal. Though they didn’t come home winners, the uber-talented Scots played the top seed to an admirable result. It isn’t only basketball that sets the winter ablaze for these kids and their fans, however. The fierce competition is played out in numerous sports across multiple venues. The athletes have trained hard, are in excellent shape after a season of preparatory contests, and their skills are on full display, oftentimes in front of a gymnasium full of people. If they win, their athleticism is awarded immediately with a nod to the next stage of the competition.

But what’s admirable about high school sports, and what separates it from other levels, is that the teams also represent a small geographical area. A resident of Cape Elizabeth or Windham or Westbrook may not know anyone on their high school team, but if the team wins the state championship, you can be sure everyone in town will feel some amount of pride. Even the Red Sox don’t demand that universal appeal. (Those darned Yankees fans have infiltrated all of our towns, unfortunately.) The high school athletes represent not just the school, but also the town or city they hail from. That’s why capturing a state championship is so special. The kids who put themselves on the line know the pressure that can come from representing more than just themselves.

There’s a double edge to representing a larger community, however. Because the student-athletes represent their towns, they and their community get the glory when the team wins, but if they get in the news for something less noble, the whole town suffers, as well. There are numerous examples of athletes behaving badly, unfortunately. But most of the athletes step up and represent themselves, their teams, their schools and their community admirably. And for that, these young adults should be praised.

The kids are learning life lessons out there. Their coaches, therefore, deserve praise, too, for helping to form these young folks. Coaches are integral to the development of the athletes’ mental and physical stamina. Even a perennially losing team wins if there is a coach who teaches the team how to handle the self-doubt and internal angst that comes from losing. On the playing field, the athletes learn lessons of a different sort from what they learn in the classroom. They learn about doing their best, not giving up, how to handle the emotions of winning and losing, and how to treat their teammates and opponents. And those lessons will help students persevere in the work world, where competition is a driving economic force.

If you haven’t caught any championship action yet, tune in to MPBN this weekend for some championship basketball games. You’ll learn a lesson or two as well about how impressive our student athletes truly are.

–John Balentine, managing editor