#BeTheLightMN commemorates spring sports season

Students nationwide are missing out on their spring sports events, and seniors are missing the final season of their high school careers.
Luverne coaches and administration are coordinating with more than 170 districts across Minnesota to light up track infields, tennis courts and ball diamonds once a week.
The movement, #BeTheLightMN, calls for schools to light up their facilities for 20 minutes and 20 seconds at 8:20 p.m. once a week for the Class of 2020 athletes.
In Luverne, the first “light-up” will be Wednesday, April 8, according to Tim Jarchow, vice president of the Luverne Baseball Association.
“We’re doing it to show unity,” Jarchow said. “It commemorates our seniors who are missing out on lots of events in the spring of their last year of high school.”
This week would have been a full schedule of sporting events, had it not been for the coronavirus shelter-in-place order.
Instead, at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday stadium lights will flood the diamonds and infields to remember what could have been.
Jarchow specified that the weekly lightings are not intended to be events for gathering.
“If you want to drive by or walk by, that’s fine, but we can’t have people gathering because it wouldn’t be safe for social distancing,” he said. “Please do not gather.”
The fields will be lighted weekly through the end of May and will be shared on the Luverne Baseball Association Facebook page and on other social media.