The 90 minutes between 1:30 and 3:00 was as intense and entertaining as can be.

I was actually standing next to our Athletic Director, Darrin Mathews when he was in the middle of deciding if our tennis 🎾 courts were playable or not. 9 contests were in the balance this afternoon and at the end of the decision window seven games advanced.

The two tennis 🎾 teams will be forced to schedule make up dates 📅 against the Cougars but the other seven are set to go.

Taking a look 👀 at the five teams heading up Highway 100, the amount of moving pieces was incredible.

Our JV Softball team !

The three diamond 💎 teams were loading multiple vehicles with one full of equipment that will have to drop things off at three separate places.

The amount of coordinating was impressive to say the least.

Shortly after 3pm the trio of vehicles began to pull out.

Varsity Softball in the small bus..

Coach Rick ” I’m an excellent driver” Nester. Quote from Rain Man for those old enough.

Sometimes I make up reasons for me to end up hanging out with the man I call Brandi’s Dad 👨. That would be Ron Cochran to most folks and Nancy’s husband to others.

Ron is quite possibly the person that comes closest to having the same disposition as me and if anyone asks me to get involved with the production of something my answer is anything we do runs 🏃‍♂️ through Ron’s shop.

I have met a number of people when I am in there and each one of them have a story. A few weeks back I was in there, had been for hours, when in walked a lady named Delilah Brady.

I will sneak in a note 📝 about perception and will use Shannon Dalton as my example. The amount of things that Mrs.Dalton and I work on together one might think we are long time friends when the reality is we have been in the same place once or twice.

Another example I will use is Shawn Montgomery. I have said many a time that I don’t think we will ever end up at a Bowling alley together but I’m blown away by everything the man does.

Let’s get back to Ms Brady now, the extent of our conversation was probably just three or four minutes but her level of passion left a lasting impression on me. The passion she has for her efforts with Carroll County Digital History.

I actually mentioned to her that I wasn’t aware of her group or their efforts nor was she with mine at OneofUs.Care. After our brief exchange I grabbed one of Ron’s ink pens 🖊 and started jotting down notes 📝.

From there, the research began and I tried to educate myself on what her group was working on. Made a phone call to my chief of background information, Greg Talley and offered some more information.

My goal here is to have Carroll County shine in anyway imaginable. There is zero desire to change anything on my end, just trying to create Community Pride.

We have so many things that divide us, including my handicap which is length of residence here.

Democrat vs Republican, Hokies vs Cavaliers, Rich versus poor, Duke vs UNC, religious preferences. All these things ➕ many, many more make it easy to fight amongst ourselves and our goal is simply to create things we can agree on and share joy about.

One of the greatest things that I believe that Carroll County has is its heritage. I returned to US-58 in rural Virginia because both of my Parents were born and raised on this Highway.

Who we are and Who we were is the greatest asset Carroll County has. It would appear to me that Ms Brady and her friends are working hard to preserve something that I think we should treasure. We made a donation to her team as quickly as I could grasp the goal.

Today I say Thank You to Delilah Brady and if she will send me the names of her team I will add their names to the Thank You.

So once again, I will clarify that I don’t see us becoming lunch buddies but I’m a true believer in her efforts and look forward to see where the future goes in regards to protecting our past!

Varsity Boys 👦 Basketball Coaching Staff for 2023-2024.

Coaching is a fraternity, at any level and tonight we add one brand new member in Martin Mckenzie and another one that pops up from time to time in Ben Tickle.

First of All, Welcome and Welcome back !

Coach McKenzie has taken over the Girls 👧 Tennis 🎾 program and like his Boys 👦 counterpart Greg Talley, he will be coaching a team that includes one of his children.

I have yet to meet Coach McKenzie but I hope to have the pleasure later today. The intent being to say Welcome and let him know about the options that we make available to each and every Coach and program.

Every so often I will be asked why our coverage appears to be slanted in the direction of one team or program?

It appears that way because it is. We have 11 teams competing every spring which means we have 10 coaches (Coach Shawn Montgomery does double duty with Track and Field, coaching both Boys and Girls).

10 different Coaches means 10 different personalities and 10 different agendas. We offer a platform to all 10 to promote, market and bragg about their assistants (if they are fortunate enough to have one), players and if there’s reason to, their parents. If your team had a fundraiser and Joe Smiths parents sold the most cookies 🍪, you can publicly say Thank You.

We have no control over the level that any one Coach decides to get involved. One can just put the platform out there for folks to use at their discretion.

Parents of the Student Athletes are also invited to be active participates in our coverage. Every event that I attend I see a multitude of people taking pictures 📷 and if anyone wants to share a few they are welcome 🙏 to do so. There is zero cost to any part of this and any photo posted is free for the taking !

Now that we have welcomed Coach McKenzie let’s turn our attention to Coach Tickle. If it appears that Ben Tickle is everywhere it’s because he is everywhere. I don’t know if I have met many people in my 60 years that operate at the speed that I do but Ben Tickle certainly does.

Eight days from now we will be taking part of our Banquet to honor 🎖Ben Tickle for being the Humanitarian that he is. My only hope is that he can slow down long enough to chew his food and enjoy the praise that we want to cover him in.

The reason I knew that I had chosen the right person for the honor was when I informed Ben about it his response was why would you do that for me ? You know that you’re saying Thank You 🙏 to the right person when they are just doing what they believe to be the right thing to do.

The next 36 hours will prove to be quite challenging. It starts with being down at Cavalier Park when our Softball programs head off to Dublin. Stop ✋ 2 will be at the Tennis 🎾 Courts and Stop ✋ 3 will be to say hello to Coach DeHaven at his Park before heading over to the Soccer ⚽️ pitch to assist Coach Tickle by announcing his Home Opener.

Next will come a four to five hour window where I will gather up all the information that folks send in and frame it up for them.

After a Nap/Sleep 💤 its off to Tazewell for the first portion of the Varsity Softball jamboree. Why travel up there when its not even a real game is because I will have missed two straight games in order to help other Coaches with events. Don’t want it to be three straight after having not missed one in a couple of years. From Tazewell its 1 hour, 20 minutes up to Beckley, West Virginia where I will be announcing a College Baseball ⚾️ double header for our Golden Bears 🐻 (West Virginia Tech University).

Then there’s the matter of a Basketball 🏀 game being played in Christiansburg at 6pm. This game includes a few things that are important to us. First, its the Fellowship of Christian Athletes ✝️ and second, its Katie Lam and Alyssa Ervin playing together for the next to the last time.

My spring time would be much easier if I only tried to juggle Rick Nester softball and Lawrence Nesselrodt baseball. But if part of your platform is inclusion then you best be trying hard to include !

Tonight is a night where 9 of our 11 teams are competing. It’s the end of a work week so hopefully the parents can enjoy some down time watching their children do their best while wearing our Colors.

Best of Luck to everyone tonight and feel free to ✔ in afterwards.

Have a Blessed Day !