The captured moment had all of the makings of a good Knock Knock joke – Coach Tompkins has been coaching for a long time. How long, you ask ?

So long that nobody is exactly sure on the number of years ! Coach is off to retirement now following a highly successful season as the Lead Assistant Coach to Alexis Dalton’s Junior Varsity program.

The Ceremony was a part of the Softball programs end of the year gathering held Wednesday night in Hillsville.

The gentle Giant will be missed going forward!

Rick along with his Son and Daughter-in-Law from the end of the JV Basketball 🏀 season at Floyd County.

Coach Nester was interested in making the experience of playing Softball for him more enjoyable this season. His desire to enhance the atmosphere lined up perfectly with my desire to show that positivity can make any event more enjoyable for everyone involved.

For years Coach Nester had the reputation for being a hard nosed, no nonsense type of Coach but he was beginning to soften up ever so slightly as long as didn’t take away from the actual game itself.

For Nester to turn over the majority of his Game Day operations to a person he had known for less than a year was a Brave step to take to say the least and after our 21 game season ended in the Regional Semi-final (at the hands of the eventual State Champion Northside) I was able to look back and feel great about the end result.

The team received Game Day coverage for all 21 contests, 20 that I wrote and the 21st by the man 👨 that was willing to print the first twenty, Alan Worrell. Every word from start to finish put the team in a positive light and every Night 🌙 that we played Softball at Cavalier Park we did our best to make the game into an experience for everyone in attendance.

We made the most of the Greatest tool 🔧 in Softball which is the Ceremonial First Pitch. Each of the 8 Seniors and their families shared in this plus one night 🌙the Cavalier Mascot and finally we wrapped it up by inviting Elijah Smith and Corrie Delp to do the honors 🎖 before the Track and Field State Tournament.

Each home game also included the Omega Foul Ball Contest which Brandi’s Dad 👨 gladly sponsored. This allowed us to have crowd participation throughout the evening, again adding a Minor League ballpark feel to the contests.

DJ Debbie, a dedicated Mother 👩 and School 🏫 teacher helped us try and make the Junior Varsity games a little more fun when they played ahead of the Varsity.

We held a Ceremony to celebrate the JV team after they won 🏆 the District Championship and another Ceremony to Salute the Parents as a way to make sure they felt they were appreciated for their dedication to both their Daughters and their team.

While it was somewhat disappointing that the season ended one game shy of the State Tournament to most, I have to look back and smile about the efforts this group oof young Ladies put forth each and every time they took the field.

Tonight is the Final official activity for the season when Coach gathers his team for their end of the Season festivities which made it the perfect time to say a huge Thank You to a veteran Coach for seeking me out with the goal of making the Park a place to be !