Life is a journey that we all do our best to navigate, and amazingly, the Harris family begins and Third Act 🎬 tomorrow.

This week has been a busy one for the Ferrum College Lady Panthers volleyball 🏐 team. It began with the annual Black – Gold scrimmage, then last night 🌙 it was a scrimmage up in Salem at Roanoke College, and then tomorrow, they will open their season by hosting a day long tournament.

A volleyball 🏐 team playing three times in a week is hardly a breaking news type story, but the fact that Marion and Sheila Harris are experiencing the thrill of watching 👀 one of their children begin a college career as both a student and as an athlete.

A few years ago, the marketing team working with the NCAA created a campaign that highlighted just how small of a percentage of collegiate athletes actually go on to the professional level.

While there is a higher percentage of high schoolers that  get the privilege of being an athlete at the next level, the odds shrink dramatically when you look for siblings that team up to create a one-two punch 👊.

Mr and Mrs Brad Nester managed to go back to back out here in Laurel Fork with their son and daughter. To double up is quite a feat. Let there be no doubt it.

We will have the entire season to acknowledge the efforts of the youngest daughter, whom we affectionately call Half Pint. So, let’s take the time to offer a tip of the cap to Mr and Mrs Marion Harris.

With the day to day challenges that face parents today and there are plenty, the most important task you have as parents is to do your very best to put your kiddos  in a position where they can succeed.

You wake ⏰️ up every day, get dressed, and go to work all while spending every spare second with your children. There are no shortcuts when it comes to raising your children.

What does it take to accomplish the Hat 👒 Trick that Marion and Sheila Harris have pulled off ?

First, you have to raise a minimum of three children.

Second, you have to convince them that education is an important part of life. For  the majority of people growing up, twelve years of schooling. Being teachers might have helped a bit here because to play college sports, one has to first be accepted into a college.

Third, your children have to have an interest in sports. The saying about the lottery – you can’t win if you don’t play.

Fourth, you have to teach your children how to be coachable. This one might be the most difficult one on the list because you can not do it alone. A mixture of God, grandparents, family members, and teachers combine to set the table for High School 🏫.

Fifth, you have to instill character in your children in hopes that they can grow into being great teammates.

Sixth, at the end of the day, your kids have to have ” game.”

In fifty years around ball diamonds 💎, I have only truly had one ” Baseball Hero,”  and I still remember the speech that Greg Maddux gave the day he went into Cooperstown. Maddux took the time to thank the Little League coach, who taught him to throw a curve ball.

Tomorrow morning 🌄, Callie ” Half Pint ” Harris will lace up her sneakers 👟 roughly one hour East of The Hill. This will complete a HAT 👒 TRICK of biblical purporuance, and everyone who touched this story about three amazing girls 👧 should take a second to appreciate their role in the process.

From Principal Chuck Thompson, both Athletic Directors and every coach who invested their time and energy should take a moment and smile. It’s not every day that a family goes 3 for 3…