For the past few weeks, a variety of foreign words and phrases have been running through my mind.

How do I say what I have to tell you?

I was looking for a specific word or two that would summarize what, to us, translates into a few sentences.

When I consulted colleagues who knew what I was trying to do, they said, “Joni, just say it. In English.” They were right.

So long, good sports.

I’ll see you again. Very soon.

But not from here.

The column you are reading in this space, today, is my last as a member of the Bangor Daily News Sports Desk.

On Monday, I move across the aisle to become a member of the News Desk.

I am ending one great adventure to begin another.

In a few short weeks, on a most appropriate day, I will resurface in my new role: writing a column that focuses on community events and activities.

As I write this, I feel much as I felt 15 years ago when I joined the sports staff to write six columns a week – one for each day the NEWS is published – about girls and women in sports.

I am excited, nervous, happy, a bit scared; eager and a little sad.

The sadness is as natural now as it was then, as I come to the end of a phase of my life I enjoyed so much, and which returned that joy to me 10-fold.

Fifteen years ago, I was leaving the comforts of home and family as a housewife and mother to become a full-time member of the work force.

Today, I am leaving the comforts of the Sports Desk to assume a new position.

I feel much the same as I did then, because the Sports Desk is my second home, its members my second family.

It makes me chuckle that I am experiencing some of the same emotions that star athletes who I’ve covered feel when the final whistle is blown, when the last game has been played, and when it is time to move on.

It is fun. But it is hard, too.

It has been my distinct privilege – thanks to the opportunity provided by my late editors, Bud Leavitt and Bill Warner – to help lead the Maine media into the world of women’s sports.

Were it not for Bud’s bold step in hiring a woman and guaranteeing NEWS sports-page readers space for, about, and by a woman – on a daily basis – I’m not sure even this paper would be covering girls and women as it is today.

Were it not for Bill’s guidance, encouragement, and support of what Bud and I were trying to do, and his decision that the new male reporters would share some of the responsibilities I had assumed as the workload increased, I believe you would not be reading the fine reporting about girls and women you are reading today.

We who care about female athletes in Maine owe Bud and Bill a deep debt of gratitude.

But change is what life is all about. Those who do not change do not grow.

It is time for me to move on.

I leave this desk confident that those who remain will continue to feature girls and women prominently in this section.

Heaven help them if they don’t.

That I am leaving the Sports Desk at this time, shortly after Bud’s death, probably comes as a surprise to most of you. But, I assure you, it is purely coincidental.

Bud Leavitt was my mentor and my friend. We had several talks about this change. Our last visit together, the Saturday before Thanksgiving, was particularly special. We knew, in our hearts, change was coming soon – for both of us.

He was as supportive of what I am about to do as he was of what he asked me to do when I came to work for him in 1979.

In my new position I will be expanding all of our horizons: writing and seeing more of you than I did as a member of the Sports Desk.

In my new position, I plan to carry forth the standards set by those I followed: writing well, as Bill taught me; and writing about our readers, as Bud taught me.

“Remember the people, Joni,” he said. “Always remember the people.”

I look forward to seeing you again, very soon.

Thank you, female athletes of Maine, for letting me speak for you.

Thank you for letting me tell your stories.

I will treasure our years together forever.

Our new lineup

With the departure of Joni Averill as a sports columnist, the Bangor Daily News has revised its lineup of local sports columnists.

Old Town native Gary Thorne, a television broadcaster for ESPN and the New York Mets, will be added to the lineup Tuesday mornings with a column that gives a local slant to the national scene.

Mike Dowd, winner of numerous national and state awards for sports journalism, will be featured four days each week instead of three. He will be published Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.

Tom Hennessey, who will continue to write three outdoors columns each week, will be featured on the front page of the sports section on Thursday mornings.