By Steven Serafini
Sonoma Valley Sun Sports Editor
It’s been 10 years since I retired from being Sports Editor at the Sonoma Index-Tribune. I withdrew from the field, so-to-speak, so I could put all my energies into the life-long passions I’m always working to fulfill – total dedication to my growing Italian-American family; and putting more time into my creative and communicative arts career of writing, music and film.
As for my third passion, the world of sports, I’ve been dedicated and involved in it most of my life, in multiple ways: As a natural-born athlete who has played and competed in a wide-range of sports at multiple levels, fueled by daily workouts, gaining ever more knowledge and skill in each sport, to keep improving my performance.
My athletic passions ultimately spilled over into the fields of coaching, announcing radio play-by-play, and sports writing, which I first experienced at my high school newspaper. That skill followed me to college, and culminated in the opportunity to use all my athletic experience to become a sports editor and columnist at the Sonoma Index-Tribune for the next 25 years.
What led me to my un-retiring was a chance meeting at the recent “No Kings” rally on the Sonoma Plaza with Sonoma Valley Sun Editor and Co-Publisher David Bolling, who I worked under and with as colleagues when he was the Sonoma I-T editor and publisher.
When our conversation led to journalism, and what levels he was trying to reach with the Sun, David told me he and the Sun team were going to expand the newspaper’s community news coverage, and that there was a big need to include more coverage of sports.
So we met the following week, and he reflected on my overall knowledge and experience of the subject of sports, and asked about my ideas on covering sports in the Sonoma Valley. And then, he inquired whether I would be interested in writing sports stories for the Sun.
The meeting lasted nearly an hour, and before it was over I found myself feeling an unexpected little burst of passion for writing about the world of athletics I had left behind me for almost a decade. So we came to an agreement, with a plan for covering sports in the Sonoma Valley Sun, and suddenly I found myself accepting the position as Sports Editor.
I have to admit that, after our meeting, I started having second thoughts about getting back into the hectic journalism game of covering a wide array of sports activities, with the accompanying deadlines and responsibilities. But those concerns were quickly dispelled after meeting a pair of fellow community members.
They, like a number of others I’ve encountered over the years in stores, or events, or on the street, stated that my newspaper columns and sports writings were missed and left a void in that area of the community.
So, after what, I admit, wasn’t too long a period of reflection, and with a touch of modest pride and the hope to again provide some community service, I decided it was time for me to pour some optimistic energy, and a positive journalistic voice, back into the world of athletics.
So, I’m ready again to share my sports knowledge, my feelings and perspectives, to those willing to read them, as I cover the sports scene in, and at times beyond, the Valley of the Moon.
Though in going from one twice-a-week publication, to a twice-a-month publication, I’ll have less space to fill with print and photo coverage, I’ll strive to give some amount of attention to the aims, goals, ambitions and accomplishments of the Valley’s sports teams, clubs and organizations.
In the next issue of the Sonoma Valley Sun there will be an avenue to take for providing communications and information on the array of community sports activities in our Valley.
Again I say, Ciao!
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