Day: July 15, 2024

The Boys 👦 are Back in Town ! Head Coach Anthony Barnes and his crew are gearing up for his latest version of Next Man Up

Anthony Barnes with Assistant Coach Kris Richardson to his left and 1,000 point scorer Bryce Smoot.

The Hill – The pride for one’s program is no greater than the love that Cavaliers Basketball Coach Anthony Barnes has for his program.

We know that the season is getting closer because it is Camp Week for the Boys Basketball 🏀 team. Day One was today and Coach Barnes checked in with great news. Once again the program drew over 40 campers but that’s only half the joy for the head of the program. The biggest difference in Coaching at the High School 🏫 level is some folks Coach a team while others try to build a program.

One of the easiest ways to tell the difference between the two categories is the number of former Student Athletes that return each year in hopes of keeping in touch with their former program. While the 40+ campers delight Barnes he draws equal pride from the number of former players that are in place to assist with the up and coming Cavaliers.

Each year has been another step up the ladder despite losing key pieces from the previous years squad. Two years ago Elijah Cox was the unquestionable team leader and the team claimed a long-term goal of both hosting and winning a Regional tournament game.

Cox then moved on to become the first Cavalier to sign a College Letter of Intent under the regime of Barnes and Assistant Coach Kris Richardson. Barnes challenged his next team to collectively step up to the challenge.

This past season was one of the greatest in recent years and without a doubt the squad that played an unselfish brand of team first basketball 🏀. The season was derailed a bit in the post season after an untimely knee njury to star Davis Reitzel.

Now the challenge for Barnes and Company is to replace three Seniors, including Reitzel. Reitzel has graduated 🎓 and will be missed for a number of reasons. Reitzel might have left The Hill as one of the Most Popular Student Athletes in recent history.

Also gone are Jabin Talley and Noah Manning. Talley was in the starting lineup from beginning to end and brought a level of defense intensity and leadership when on the floor. Manning saw less floor time then his classmates but played Barnes style of ball whenever he was on the floor.

This season stands to have eight rising Seniors and Isiah Easter from the Junior class. Here they are pictured by class prior to last season.

Barnes and Richardson will have to fill in the balance of the roster and then turn Bryce Smoot and Ethan Richardson loose on both ends of the floor. Smoot broke the 1,000 point threshold late last season and then this season he figures to be joined in the starting lineup by his twin brother Brayden Smoot. Richardson plays the game with an impressive Basketball 🏀 IQ.

Cody Reece will need to continue his rise up the food chain. Reece went from an afterthought during his Sophomore season to a main cog during his junior campaign. In his Senior campaign he needs to lead the front court.

The team will remain undersized so they will continue to rely on speed and durability to wear down their opponents.

Easter could very well be the key component to the teams success if the Junior to be continues his rate of improvement on both ends of the floor.

. The team will have plenty of time to build on their chemistry ⚗ between now and opening night 🌙. This week their focus is on being Camp Councilors along with a few of their former teammates.

The camp continues through Thursday, running 9-3 each day in the High School 🏫 Gymnasium. Barnes has the Camp tournament slated for Thursday afternoon.

Whether you prefer the original version by the band Thin Lizzy or the cover years later by Huey Lewis and the News, the Boys 👦 are Back in Town !

Prelude to a Full length Feature story on our Adrienne Harris as she steps into a Classroom and into the role of Head Coach of the Lady 👩 Cavaliers Soccer ⚽️ team.

Photo 📷 Top – Adrienne Harris alongside Ben Tickle

Photo 📷 Bottom – Marion Harris (Father), Adrienne Harris and boyfriend Brandon McGuire.

It was been a whirlwind couple of months for the oldest of the three daughters belonging to Marion and Shelia Harris, Adrienne. Playing her final collegiate Soccer match, graduating from Emory and Henry, accepting the offer to become a teacher in your hometown and then being named Head Soccer Coach of a program your Father help create (JV portion) from scratch and until just recently, was the All-Time scoring leader.

Parts of this story will sound familiar to the paths that both Brandi Cochran – Mitchell and Kayla Nester followed. Both of these impressive young Ladies starred as Lady Cavaliers on the basketball 🏀 court, earned their way to playing College ball while earning their Degrees before immediately returning to their Hometown to help teach and Coach the next generation.

The difference this time around from my perspective is Harris is doing this in live time for me to have been able to witness. Harris is as impressive as she is competitive, enough so that it was fun to tag her as “Our Future”.

Looking to give Harris any advantage that I can, I set out to create a memorable way for her to express herself to anyone that is not familiar with her or her mind set.

Sunday afternoon we set out at Olde Mill Golf ⛳ Resort to play 18 holes of Golf while asking one question per hole along the way. I gathered questions from a handful of different people to add to the collection that I created myself so that they would come from a number of different perspectives.

I would also like to say Thank You to Bo Goins and Olde Mill and my neighbor Brenda for helping make this happen without a hitch.

The story itself will be laid out in parts, six or nine holes at a time in hopes of making it more enjoyable for all.

Mr and Mrs Harris raised an exceptional daughter and now she has returned to her roots in hopes of being a presence in the lives of both her students and her Soccer ⚽️ players.

I will get the first part of the feature out there as quickly as possible !

Editors Note 📝 :

The Girls Varsity program started in 1998 and Jv Girls started when Adrienne was in 6th grade (2013).

Mid – July reset to help new readers understand more about what they’re looking at….

Photo 📷 taken at Lake Junaluska, North Carolina.

Getting to sit down recently with new Cavalier Head Coach Casey Burcham was both a treat and it brought a few new readers to the site. The hope is that some of them will stick around for a while !

Its always fun to use a Top Ten List, per David Letterman back in the day, to help explain a thought process so let’s share 10 things that a new reader might not know.

#10 – Everything that goes on our site has to be 100% positive. There are so many places out there used for evil 😈 and demeaning of people and stories that our way to battle back is to just share Positivity.

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#9 – Love where you Live – this line was actually on the back of a young man’s T-shirt 👕 the other night at the Soccer ⚽️ Banquet. There are so, so many things that happen in our County that we can be proud of so the goal is share as many as possible.

My personal tag line on the matter is Duke, UVA and wherever I Stay. Everyone should be proud of where they call 🏡!

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#8 – What’s up with all of the emojis?

They are my way of keeping my thought process grounded. A fun reminder that our goal is to keep it light as we all struggle with the day to day.

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#7 – Where did the name of the website originate ?

The site has been ours for almost two decades and is near and dear to us. Around the Valley in 60 Days was a promotion that we created and ran for the Valley Baseball League ⚾️ in the Shenandoah Valley.

We change the subtitle, in this case, the Carroll County Sports Report, based on where we live. This is Year Four of being residents of Laurel Fork, Virginia.

I could see the next name being the Laurel Fork Coconut 🥥 Telegraph as a show of Love 💘 for the late, great Jimmy Buffett.

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#6 – Why would there be a new name in the works for the site ?

The goal originally was to build a Network for the Community that would have people across our Commonwealth trying to figure out what in the World 🌎 was going on down in Carroll County.

Sadly, for a large number of reasons we never came close to achieving our goal in relationship to that. This presents two options – stop ✋ all together, calling it a day or rebranding and work with what we have under a different title.

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#5 – What is the deal regarding the use of Social Media ?

Since the creation of Social Media I have believed it to be the Devil. Not everyone involved is the Devil but the goal here was to create a safe space where a resident or former resident could go to in the morning with their Coffee or Orange Juice, click on one site, completely void of drama and check out what is taking place in their little corner of the World.

No ads, no negative, nobody telling you how to live your life. Just uplifting information about our Community.

The stories that I create are personal and more often than not they are designed for one person or one group. I encourage the people that the story is about to share it in any manner they see fit.

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#4 – What is something that enters into the daily thought process ?

We live in a busy, busy time. The idea 💡is to keep each story readable in under two minutes. We are not trying to make it feel like a homework assignment. If I know in advance that a story is longer than normal I will note 📝 that at the Top.

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#3 – What is the biggest obstacles involved in trying to build something like this from scratch ?

One of the things you have to do and quickly is meet as many people as you can and then Guage their interest in participating in what you are trying to get out there. It varies by a WIDE margin.

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#2 – How do you decide where to point your focus towards from Day to Day ?

The ultimate goal is to create two things – inclusion and equality. In High School more often than not the majority of the attention goes to the Football program and one other team. In our case that’s Girls Basketball 🏀. So the natural thing to do is try and promote EVERYTHING else so it can be viewed as equal.

In a perfect World 🌎 everyone should feel just as relevant as the Varsity QB or the Homecoming Queen 👸.

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#1 – Please give one example of something that you / I feel would be the next out there to accomplish…

Yes, when you interview yourself you risk talking 👄 in the 3rd person.

Our Volleyball 🏐 Coach is closing in on a piece of History. Cindy Edwards is quite possibly going to Coach player or players this season that will be on the court when she records her 500th victory.

You create a photo 📷 shoot using say Dakota Walls race 🏁 car with Cindy holding a helmet ⛑️ ( full racing gear would be amazing) and each member of the program surrounding the car.

The caption would read – Join us for the Drive to 500 ! Print some posters and have the girls sign them one night and give them away to the fans in the Gymnasium.

It both honors Coach Edwards and gives the group of young Ladies that compete with Football a moment of their own.

Hopefully that gives any new readers that have stumbled across what I call the Best Kept Secret in Carroll County!

Have a Blessed Day !

Weekend full of overly Sunny Weather and a treasure chest full of memories took place in South Hill, Virginia this weekend. Photo 📷 credit : Natalie Burress

First there was the long drive 🚗 across US-58 over to South Hill, followed by not playing on Friday as scheduled and when our ever so little future Lady Cavaliers did finally get to take the field it was blazing hot.

But I’m sure that none of that took away from the Love 💘, Pride and Joy that the Parents and siblings have after returning home from Mecklenburg County late yesterday.

Game 2 (Sunday) saw Carroll County take an early 5-3 lead before eventually falling 11-5. Kevin Burress is a great job describing the playing condition in regards to the extreme heat.

We are so proud of everyone involved with this team, Coaches , players and Family 👪 support. Congratulations 👏 on reaching the State Tournament and representing our County.

If anyone has any photos or stories about the weekend or the season we will happily add them to this post 📫.