DENVER — Kids are smart. They figure things out.

What they’re figuring out right now is what politics really looks like. Politics is what they’re seeing right now. It’s what they’re living right now. It’s why they are or are not playing football or volleyball games a few weeks from now.

Politics is not the jibber-jabber on CNN or Fox News. It’s more powerful than that. It’s why some states are playing high school football in the fall, and others, like Colorado, postponed the football season until the spring. The next generation of voters has been afforded a front-row seat in the most impactful type of class: real-life experience.

Maybe you’re one of those trying to come out of this coronavirus pandemic with something to show for it. Maybe drop a few pounds, build some garden beds, teach your dogs to spot trout. (It’s not working. Yet.) But if I had one post-pandemic hope for the teenagers who soon will turn 18, if they haven’t already, it’s this: Register to vote on the very first day you are eligible to vote.

Then vote.

Because politics no longer affects somebody else. It’s no longer the dinner-table talk that signals it’s time to go play Xbox. If you’re one of the 140,000-ish kids who participate in high school sports in Colorado, politics directly impacted you. Politics are why the Colorado High School Activities Association revealed last week it’s obliged to split 26 sports into four “seasons,” moving fall sports like football, volleyball and boys’ soccer to March, shortening championships and reducing state qualifiers.

This move will be described and remembered as CHSAA’s decision, but that’s not accurate. State officials, namely Gov. Jared Polis, directed this decision. Those are CHSAA’s words, not mine.

“Their timeline is our timeline,” CHSAA commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green tweeted.

Telling. This was a decision made by politicians — the ones you soon can vote for or against.

Otherwise, how do you explain this: of the 26 states led by Republican governors, 24 elected to hold football in the fall, one moved football to the spring, one hasn’t made a decision yet. Of the 24 states led by Democrat governors, seven elected to hold football in the fall, 11 moved it to the spring, six haven’t made a decision yet.

It’s Aug. 9. The “no decisions” scream “spring.”

As a big data guy, I submit the above data as the best proof yet that politics are driving these decisions. How else do you explain 50 rulings that mostly fall straight down party lines?

Oh, I suppose there are alternate explanations. Maybe the government officials directing these decisions interpret their own coronavirus data in unique ways. Or maybe it just so happened Republican-led states are more comfortable handling the inevitable COVID-19 outbreaks than Democrat-led states.

I suppose those are valid explanations.

But come on. Let’s be real about this. 24 of 26 will play in the fall? 11 of 24 won’t? Those numbers are too different, too clear, too obvious. One party took a cautious approach, one charged ahead. Maybe you appreciate the caution. Nothing wrong with that. Or maybe you’re ready to lace ’em up and tackle somebody. Nothing wrong with that, either.

The cool part is these 15-, 16- and 17-year-old kids soon won’t be kids and will have a say in these kinds of important matters — if you vote.

What an incredible right to possess. Use it.

And they are important matters. Where some folks see it’s just a game, one coach in Colorado Springs sees six of his players who will transfer to a state that’s playing football in the fall as planned. They’ll leave behind lifelong friends to pursue a college scholarship since national signing day precedes Colorado’s new football calendar. Where some folks see a safe, healthy compromise with a spring football season, another coach sees a rash of injuries from overuse as inevitable.

“Going straight from wrestling to football to baseball, no days off, it’s unavoidable,” he said.

No matter your political leanings, every government or civic studies teacher in America should have the ears of their classroom, in-person or virtual. This is how politics works, kids. Now it has directly impacted your life.

Soon as you can, vote.