Every time we get to mid-July, it’s easy to imagine for a moment what the lookout on Christopher Columbus’ ship felt like when they spotted land after weeks spent at sea.

The vast ocean of a summer without meaningful games is mostly behind us. Just over the horizon is the promise of a new land, a new season full of opportunities.

We’re only three weeks away from the first high school softball game. After the MHSAA-mandated “dead week” July 7-11, practice for the “fall” sports — which actually are mostly played in summer, but that’s a whole other rant — begin in earnest.

This week and next are a chance to dream about the future and take one last moment to relax before working to make it a good one. First, though, there’s one piece of business to attend to.

The Vicksburg Warren School District is trying to start girls flag football teams at Vicksburg High and Warren Central. The inaugural season will not begin until March 2026, but creating a program from scratch requires a lot of steps before then and an important one has a deadline that is fast approaching.

The Mississippi High School Activities Association has asked all of its member schools to send out a survey gauging interest. It’s a wholly procedural step, but a necessary one. While feedback to the MHSAA’s pilot program this spring was positive, and VWSD athletics director James Lewis said there has been excitement from local athletes about playing, it’s best to make sure before everyone spends thousands of dollars on a new endeavor.

The MHSAA’s deadline for schools to submit the surveys is in mid-July. Recently, the VWSD sent out a flyer containing a QR code linking to it — it can be found attached to this story — so students can fill it out and submit it.

It’s a few basic questions and will only take a minute or two.

“That’s as easy as that. Once they fill that out it’ll come directly to us and we can see what those numbers look like,” Lewis said. “So we’re urging all female students, if they’re interested, to sign up as soon as possible so we’ll know before we have to make those crucial decisions to move forward with the sport.”

“Moving forward” means other important steps like hiring coaches, purchasing equipment, drafting schedules, and a hundred other mundane things that have to happen before the first play is run eight months from now.

So if you’re a girl at Vicksburg High or Warren Central between grades 7 and 12, you have an interest in playing flag football in the spring, and you haven’t done so already, click the QR code and fill out the survey. It’s the only way to get in the game.

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Ernest Bowker is the sports editor of The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com