Photo Credit : Loving Mother 👩
Martinsville : If someone asked me what I did for a living, my answer would be that I’m very good at reading a room and then devising a plan to correct the issue I see.
Last week, we ( Carroll County High School volleyball 🏐) played a Monday night match at Pulaski County, and we lost to the Cougars, dropping two straight after opening at 7-1.
Not wanting to see the losing streak reach three in a row, I coordinated a Cav Man drive by on US-58 in Laurel Fork. The fact that two of the owners jumped in bumped it up a notch or two.
Both reams defeated Bassett that night to my job was done ✔️.
Fast forward to a couple of days ago when the team was headed over to Martinsville to face the Lady Bulldogs. My first thought process was to recreate the Cav Man scene, but there was no way that would make a big difference the second time around. The ladies might be young, but they are bright 🌞.
First things first, there was minimal chance that we were going to lose to the ‘ Dawgs so the focus was on making the players smile and laugh in between Coach fussing at them..
My wife watched me create little cheat sheets for both rosters because while I think that I know all 30 players without help, that is not a chance you take.
During the JV match, I took the time to count every single person in the gym who wasn’t wearing a VB jersey. Sadly, the answer was 29. The JV match felt like it was being played in a library, and at any minute, some lady with glasses was going to come by and shush us if we cheered at all. It was kinda sad, to say the least. The JV swept, and then I crossed the court to chat with the Boss !
The level of trust and appreciation that Cindy Edwards has for my efforts is the key 🔑 to our partnership. The conversation was a short one, and I headed back across the gymnasium.
What Cindy Edwards and our Lady Cavaliers needed was a full-blown cheerleader, and that was within my wheelhouse. But, late in the first set, Ali Wright went up for a kill and sadly rolled her ankle.
The older of the Wright Sisters was done for the evening, and my attention turned to their Mother. She was sitting just behind me, snapping pictures 📸 with her trusty camera. Ali went to the bench and iced 🧊 her ankle for the remainder of the match.
Carleigh is a freshman, three years younger than her Big Sis. She has been part of the program for a bit now, but this is her first at the top level.
Now, you shift gears ⚙️ a bit by cheering harder and keeping an eye on the younger Sister.
While this story is about Mama Bear 🐻 and her two Cubs, it would be wrong to not acknowledge that the injury slid Raylee Goins into a different role and Patti’s Kiddo excelled in the attack mode slot. How high was she jumping, asked the audience ???? High enough that Howard Mayo would enjoy watching 👀 the game film 🎥!
Hi – D Pain- ter, 👏👏, HI- D Pain-ter was one of many chants that I came up with, Alyssa Law-Son was another. Cheering every good play and serve, remaining quiet when we scored points off mistakes made by the home team. Toss in some encouragement when we made an error.
Little Sis had a rough serve along the way, so when luck had her on the service line trying to complete the sweep, my brain 🧠 raced for the home run cheer.
It went like this – take us home, Carleigh.
Home turned into home run, then a glance at Mom staring at her older Cub, who was still icing her ankle across the way. I immediately thought about the scene in The Pride of the Yankees ( 1942, Gary Cooper as Lou Gerhig ) in which a little boy dying in the hospital is promised two home runs.
I look at Lil Sis and shout out, ” Win this for your Sister “. She then served our 24th and 25th points, and we all went home happy 😊
Now, the odds that a group of teen age girls 👧 would know a famous baseball scene from an 85 year old movie is minimal at best, but I promise you this thing for sure. Half of the group might have appreciated it, and the other half might have found it embarrassing, but none of them left there talking about the saddest, quietest volleyball 🏐 match in the history of the world.
The things that you do for other people’s kiddos……
We return to action on Tuesday night on The Hill, where all I have to do is hold a 🎤🎙🎤.
Two more closing thoughts – first, while I didn’t grow up in Carroll County, the part of US-58 that runs between Martinsville and Buggs Island Lake is where I spent my youth. That is where my father grew up and we couldn’t afford vacations so the only place we ever went was to my grandparents’ little country store.
When the match ended, I went over and thanked their fans for being gracious about one person who wouldn’t stop making noise. Not one time did I cheer against them, just for us. I ended the exchange by inviting them to visit us on The Hill, and if they did, I would make sure that they felt welcome 🙏.
There was one final Wright Sister smile or two cracked. I had asked little Sis if she loved her Big Sis she half smiled 😃 and half blank stared me, like what is his deal ?
As we were about to leave, I asked Ali if she knew her Sister loved her ? I added, she told me so….Ali responded back, ” She lied to you……”
Circle Back 🔵
- I am an exceptional cheerleader
- Carroll County swept both matches
- Ali Wright is recovering nicely
- Raylee Goins has made Hops !
- Our unofficial record is now 14-5
- Mama Bear 🐻 raised two neat young ladies.
- Half Pint Harris made an appearance from Ferrum
- Travis Osborne has a nest set of In-Laws
- Cindy Edwards enjoyed me chanting Cin-D Ed-wards over and over.
- Scratch that #9, but Coach knows that I have her back 100%, so she has learned to tolerate me !
Some of Cindy Edwards players went on to play College VB. Others took a different approach….
Carroll County High School volleyball, coming to The Hill on Tuesday night !!!
