In today’s Society the mentality has become Next Person Up. Coaches talk about it all the time and its easy to use a couple of recent examples.

Darrin Mathews spent the majority of his adult life to the Students at Carroll County High School until he retired. Kevin DeHaven stepped up into his shoes 👞 and life goes on.

Casey Burcham was the next Man up in regards to the vacancy created by Mr. Mathews. Heck, one day Principal Chuck Thompson will retire and either Jay Holderfield or Kristen Quesenberry will step up to take the reins.

Someone should sign Samantha Reed to a 10-year contract as the President of the Carroll County Athletic Association. But things are different with the Carroll County Special Olympics and one Vickey Ritchie.

Fall months are insane for me because of the level of commitments I have. Trying to avoid spreading myself tooooo thin is always a priority but things happen. The first thing that made the Fall harder is just how likable the 2024-2025 Volleyball 🏐 team is. Each year I block off the nine or ten home matches so I can help Coach Edwards by announcing / promoting her team when they play at home.

Next thing you know, an attachment grows and you realize that when they play on the road they will be playing in front of just their parents and the other Cavalier team (JV / Varsity).

Last Saturday at Gate City, Tuesday night at Patrick County and then this Monday over in Marion as examples. One can’t be upset by the fact that people don’t have the time and / or the resources to criss cross the State 10 times in a season to watch someone elses Kiddos play. They have their own Kiddos to do that for and that’s a part time job.

Darn this team for being so darn likeable…..

So, adding as many road Volleyball 🏐 matches to the Home Volleyball matches, the 12 Duke 🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈🏈 games and the Appalachian State University Field Hockey 🏑 games is pushing the envelope. But then the fifth option became helping out Vickey on Sunday afternoons with her Basketball 🏀 practice and / or Game at Hillsville Elementary School.

Every minute that I am helping Vickey I get to feel better about myself immediately. There are things one does where you hope you are making a difference and then there are things where you KNOW that you are !

Vickey is what I refer to as “Our Community Angel 😇”. Watching her every Sunday give every ounce of her being to a group of young Men & Women is breathtaking. The patience and kindness from start to finish truly makes me want to be a better person.

There’s a new commercial out where a guy 👦 is singing into a milk jug, calling it Simply Irresistible, borrowed from a great song 🎵 (Robert Palmer). That quickly becomes Simply Irreplaceable in regards to Coach Vickey. Just not sure who is going to fill those shoes afterwards??

Our conversation this week was about whether or not I could get back from Boone in time to assist her ? Not that she can’t survive without me, but I feel we both find it therapeutic.

Give some thought to who might be the next Coach Vickey because the other thing we have in common is we are not getting any younger.

October 12th is an incredibly important day for All of us in regards to the 5K event that acts as a Fundraiser for the Carroll County Special Olympics. Boo Ridge is open to all Ages and we would Love to have you join us !!

One of the hot topics today is about who should and who should not be looked up to ? Role Models have been swapped out for influencers and people getting rich of off insulting others. Now, I don’t hide from the fact that I’m 61 going on 92 which means I’m comfortable being told my thoughts are outdated.

The search for local people that can be put on a poster and held up as Role Models is an ongoing venture for a few reasons. The main one being that I think that our Youth need it more than ever.

Enter Kalee Bunn, not that Miss Bunn is asking for a platform but maybe we should offer her one to stand on as a way to encourage the current Student Athletes that are struggling to balance practices, Classes, Game Days and Coaches that a trying hard to push them to be the best version of themselves.

At the Home Volleyball match on Monday night both Laiken Burnett and Leny Richter were doing class work at the scorers table minutes ahead of warmups. Being a Student Athlete is demanding and if we could offer Role Models as a means of encouragement, why wouldn’t we ?

Bunn graduated 🎓from Carroll County High School 🏫 back in 2022. This semester she is trying hard to balance playing College Volleyball, taking 19 credit hours and working a full time apprenticeship. How is she doing with this almost bonkers work load – flirting with a 4.0 GPA !!!

I didn’t make the trek over to Ferrum because I wanted to watch Prime Time, World Class Volleyball. Inside of my final six weeks now, I went searching for a Hero. Someone who we can point to and say look what she’s doing and then point out the amount of Grace she is doing it with.

Don’t just take my word on Miss Bunn, being I’ve known her for 5 minutes. Here is the response I received from Coach Cindy Edwards about her former player.

“What can you say about a terrific young lady who is what a great teammate should be .

Always help coaching them on what she see on the court even if she’s not on the court.

Is a player that every coach needs in their program she’s the programs best recruiter. Always encouraging Always bringing energy.

Love her for the young woman she’s turning out to be. . When she graduated from Carroll, we weren’t sure she would go to a 4 year college she is such a family oriented person.

Her family is very important to her, so for here, too, be graduating next year, and going into education is so special, and I couldn’t be prouder.”

Kalee Bunn is not the first CCHS Alum to head off to College and go into education. Adrienne Harris just finished up, Kayla Nester a few years ago and Brandi Cochran – Mitchell a few years beyond that are some more that immediately come to mind. Sydney Nester and Tiff Moore took their skills on the playing field and turned into College degrees that led to amazing Careers.

These folks are all former Cavaliers that could be used as Role Models to the current Student Body.

Tying into the Pipeline between The Hill and Ferrum, I am thrilled to hear that this young Lady 👩 has gotten back to herself because now we might be able to get back to the telling of her incredible story.

Kalee Bunn is going places that are well beyond Schwartz Gym and she will be carrying the flag for Carroll County for years to come !

Hero or Role Model, you’re pick !