Bottom of the 5th inning and both the sun 🌞 and the humidity have dropped a bit. The team that I owned and the one I helped to create are both in the Valley Baseball League ⚾️ but I’m a huge fan of the Coastal Plains League.
They are the kings 🤴 of both fun and creativity. They crossed into Virginia a few years back with teams in Martinsville and the Tri-Cities ( Petersburg, Colonial Heights area).
There was a brief moment where getting involved with Martinsville was in the thought process, but we ended up focusing on things at the High School level.
They are doing something fun every half inning !
Tug of War !
Morehead City Marlins are hosting the Zebulon Dirt Devils tonight, and we are in the bottom of the 6th…
That half inning was 1st base fans versus 3rd base fans in a singing contest ! Great stuff.
7 innings are in the books 📚, the home team leads 5-2, and now we are playing blindfolded musical chairs 💺…
For the past three Springs, I have given everything I had to help Adrienne Harris McGuire and Forrest Johnson with their up and coming Cavalier Soccer programs.
I do believe that my efforts to assist the group has run its course, but I have a plan that would be simple enough to implement and it would solve a number of issues.
6:30 – First Pitch – 78° and Humid here in Morehead City.
Sorry for the pause, but the National Anthem always takes my undivided attention
I am prepared to walk folks my grand plan every step of the way, including where the financing comes from!
First things first, there needs to be one meeting, and we need the following people to attend, either in person or by Zoom.
Chuck Thompson
Kevin DeHaven
Samantha Reed
Forrest Johnson, Jeremy Puckett
Adrienne Harris McGuire +
Marion Harris +
Corey Williams +
The Carroll News
CCHS Social Media liason
Student Newspaper 📰
Martin McKenzie
Anywhere you see 👀 a +, it means others that help them do their jobs.
Later on, I will break down the guest list and why that person is relevant for the plan. Some of them will be self-explanatory, but others will need a little information.
The need is there for a commission for Soccer and the umbrella 🌂 will cover the sport at every level we compete at.
Please see 👀 the success of both Seth Greer and Casey Burcham if you need help understanding how an umbrella is the key 🔑 to long-term success.
There will be 16 seats at the table, one for each guaranteed home game for both the Boys 👦 and the Girls. The buy-in for a seat at the table is $250.00 and that would generate a budget of $4,000.00.
Friends of Carroll County Soccer is an example of a simple enough name for the group. Improving the name is an option naturally.
That should bring us to our first Fork in the road. Your questions should now be the following –
#1 – What does the money get used for ?
#2 – What does a person or company receive for their $250.00 ?
Both of our Varsity coaches are young and energetic ➕️ the main ingredient, knowledgeable about the sport they are coaching for us ! What they don’t need to be doing on game day is worrying about what is taking place up in the press box. Not even a little and they don’t have the built-in resources that some of our veteran coaches do.
Write ✍️ one check ✔️ for $250.00, and you are the Ambassador of Atmosphere at Tommy Thompson Field. Your package 📦 includes an owners box upstairs, 10 free tickets 🎟 for that night only, presenting the game ball to the officials, and the first waving of the oversized team flag. At the end of the night, that flag belongs to you. You get a say in the Dessert 🍨 of the Night ( Thank you, Casey Burcham ).
You get your photo taken with the team, and your banner is included in said photo.
Now, who gets what game ? We lean on the World Cup drawing system. The 16 games go into a hat 👒 and a drawing takes place, so nobody can just say I want the Galax game.
Yes, the coaches lose the responsibility for the game day operation, but it will take some other efforts on their part. What they get in return is a polished night of soccer !
There are three reasons why Principal Chuck Thompson is atop the list. First, its his School, second is he’s a Soccer fan and third, his Father’s name sits atop the home stadium.
Martin McKenzie is the key 🔑 ingredient for this vision to work, and now I will give you three reasons why I like my chances here. One, dude, is a Class Act. Second, he teaches a class that gives us access to some of the students we need to create a Game Day operations team and finally his younger daughter plays the sport !
Food truck 🚚 becomes part of the mix ! Now, I’m prepared with a backup plan if someone tells me that insurance prevents that from happening. We need food and beverages to be available.
Notice the players posing for pictures 📸 with the mascot. Thankfully I have access to what I call an Outdoor Cav Man and a wireless microphone 🎤 that allows us to inject some live fun !
Play by play ▶️ on a stream has to be an option as well as post game interviews.
We have an opportunity to experiment with a state of the art way to handle our soccer. Handled correctly, and we can be the talk of the Region.
How sure am I about this ? Yeah, I’m that sure. Enough to say that Lin and I would take two spots of the 16!
I am fully prepared to have someone attempt to poke holes in it, and I’ve already made peace with it if that’s the case. Just taking three years of doing everything I could to move the needle for two Kiddos that I think are legit !
Kevin Burress – at the game here, when they play the Lee Greenwood song 🎵, the players from both teams remove their caps ! Classy !!!
There are 100 more details about this plan that are locked 🔒 and loaded if we clear the first hurdles. The (Soccer) Ball is in someone else’s end of the field now !
How do you get to compete in an event as famous as the Marion Harris Invitational?
First, there are some rules one has to follow…
#1 – Be at a golf ⛳️ course and have nobody to play gold with.
#2 – You are required to think about Marion Harris on each of the 18 holes.
#3 – You must record a minimum of 5,000 steps during the round.
#4 – You must use EVERY club in your bag, at least once !
#5 – You score one point for every hole that you make par. Double that if you make a 🐦🐦⬛🦜
Chasing birdies
You win 🏆 only if you follow all of the rules listed above, and when you’re finished, drive 🚗 non-stop to the closest McDonald’s and purchase a World Cup Meal !
This Week !!!12-7 victory for Good over Evil, fueled by a very strong 💪 finish !How fast 🏃♂️ did I get to McDonald’s?
Blue Angeles FAST!
What does 150 minutes of non-stop thought process 🤔 about Marion Harris get you ?
Enough for three serious Soccer ⚽️ stories that I will get to shortly, once I figure out who’s on my new Cup 🥤.
If the rules sound to complicated, plan B is have friends to play golf ⛳️ with.
The photo 📸 above comes from Disney when you ask for a cartoon castle 🏰.
The second photo shows you the folks that the castle belongs to at this time. Not evil people, because they have proud parents too. Glenvar Boys soccer ⚽️ just captured their fourth straight Class 2 State Championship.
The JV Highlanders lit up the Commonwealth as well with a couple of exceptions. They just completed their season at 16-0-1 and dump trucked most of their opponents along the way.
See, Jeremy Puckett is a next level Big Game Hunter, and he had a season to back it up !
The trip to Glenvar ended in a 6-4 setback ( April 6th). Why is that worth writing ✍️ about ? Glenvar goals allowed in the 2025-2026 season were in SINGLE DIGITS, and four came in just one match.
Fast forward to the night 🌙 when the Highlanders invaded The Hill, and you will see 👀 a final score of 2-1.
82-9 was the combined score for Glenvar this season, and five of the nine came from our Cavaliers. Pull out the 8-5 score versus Carroll County, and you have 74-4.
Dan Puckett left me with one resounding thought last week when our paths crossed. ” Most folks only have one sport that they truly follow.” I know that is true but it’s fun to acknowledge all of the horses 🐎 in the race 🏁!
Puckett might be the coyote that is chasing the Road Runner, but I’m sure that he is getting closer, but the minute !
The road less traveled ! 