The other shoe dropped.

It was seemingly inevitable in recent weeks and especially Thursday when Gov. Tom Wolf announced he was canceling school for the remainder of the academic year.

Sports are over.

No more jump shots.

No more mad dashes in the pool for the wall.

No fastball sizzling through the crisp, spring air.

No volleyballs spiked.

No backhands smashed.

No lacrosse goals scored.

No tape broken on the track.

Thursday was a sad day.

It wasn’t completely unexpected.

The coronavirus pandemic has changed everything. It has infiltrated ever aspect of life.

I write this column while wearing a mask.

The things that console us in times of turmoil have also been ripped away from us.

Like our sports.

Professional sports are paused. No one knows when (or if) the NBA, NHL or Major League Baseball will return.

Now high school sports are gone until at least the fall.

Thousands of student-athletes across the state were holding out hope that their seasons would be saved.

It kept them swinging a bat in the backyards. It kept them running trails and roads to stay in shape.

Now they have to face the reality that they were already beginning to reconcile that there won’t be a season.

Even though they knew it was most likely coming, it didn’t lesson the feeling of loss.

They ache for their lost campaigns.

Deeply.

But in talking to so many of them, I know they will be just fine.

They will be OK because they are far more mature for their age than I think anyone would realize.

They all have handled these unprecedented times with grace, class and uncommon wisdom.

I am amazed by them.

I think back to when I was a teenager, going to school and playing sports.

To have something like this happen when I was that young would be unimaginable.

I wouldn’t have handled it so well. I would have kicked the dirt and pouted. I probably would have looked back a bit ashamed at how I would have reacted.

These young men and women see the bigger picture.

They know there are bigger things at work here than school and sports.

For that they should be applauded.

That is a bigger achievement than any gold medal in track, state championship in basketball or home run or no-hitter in baseball.

These young people are displaying their true character now and it is reassuring.

When this is over (and it will be over), our future is in good hands with this generation. I have no doubt of that.

Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle.