There are a total of nine Colleges and Universities that I interact with on a weekly basis. Each one has one common denominator – marketing / branding.

Head Coaches Forrest Johnson and Adrienne Harris both lead Soccer ⚽️ programs at Carroll County High School. Both of these youngsters have impressed me with their knowledge and passion for a sport that they treasure.

They both face the same challenge, getting people to take an interest in their programs and here are a few reasons why. First, in the Spring, Carroll County High School has 12 teams competing between Junior Varsity and Varsity. The population of the County doesn’t increase in the spring so the “Pie ” that is support has to be divided by 12.

Second, Soccer ⚽️ is still relatively new to most people in our Country and our County. Most folks that have lived here most of their lives simply didn’t grow up on the game.

Third, more often than not, scoring is very limited which means less entertainment to the casual audience.

  The hope is this – Sponsorship for each home game. The sponsor would get acknowledged throughout the night, present the game ball, take home the game ball and get their photo taken with the teams.

  We did this every game when we owned a baseball team for a year and called it Be the owner for a Night. We set up special chairs 💺 and called it the Owners Box.

Tomorrow night is the test balloon 🎈and Paul Nester and I are sponsoring the two nights. I have been working on things like this for decades and believe in this idea 💡, but then again, I am partial to all of my ideas.

  If we draw a large enough crowd to the two games Wednesday night, it will create a buzz. A big enough buzz turns this into our Athletic Director having the option of using it all season long. This would give all four teams an opportunity to play in front of fans each time they take the Pitch at Tommy Thompson Field.

Using a number, say $250.00 per night, a business would get Red Carpet treatment from start to finish and at the end of the night, they go home with a keepsake, a memory and the joy of having made a difference.

  This is all hyperthetical but I feel better for having put the thought on paper so people can understand why we are trying this.

  I will be out there both nights because I believe in these two youngsters, four, when you include Jeremy Puckett and BrittanyKinney, our JV Coaches.

If you are looking for something to do Wednesday night, stop ✋ by and check out some Carroll County Soccer ⚽️

  Varsity Baseball ⚾️ 12, Floyd County 2 in 5 innings.

Junior Varsity Baseball 11, Floyd County 1 in 5 innings…

Floyd County Varsity Softball 9, Carroll County 2

Floyd County JV Softball 11, Carroll County 3.

Stories will follow but wanted to get the finals out there….

Carroll County JV Baseball ⚾️ wins 11-1 in five innings at Bill Worrell Field over Floyd County, remaining undefeated on the season.

At Cavalier Park, Floyd County JV Softball defeated Carroll County 11-3. The Lady 👩 Cavaliers did close out the contest with a 3 run 7th inning. The Omega Office 🏢 and OneofUs.Care Foul Ball contest winners 🏆are pictured below.

Varsity Baseball ⚾️ – 👔 at 2, Top 3rd

Carroll County 8, Floyd County 2, end 4th

Varsity Baseball ⚾️ 12-2 in 5 innings.

Both teams are set to defend The Hill !

The reason why the partnership between long time Coach Rick Nester and I belong together is based upon our desire to Win whenever possible and even when we don’t, we want to be as classy as humanely possible. Somewhere between 8 to 10 times a year we team up to try to play as good of a game as we can and at the same time, try and create God’s own atmosphere 🙏.

Last night our Lady Cavaliers played really well and defeated a much improved Galax team 5-1. We are now 4-4 on the season, with three current players unavailable. Our team is young but they play hard and are incredibly coachable.

I just finished up with the game story from last night 🌙 and its up on our site. Shortly, Allen Worrell will have it available on-line at The Carroll News.

Now, as Paul Harvey loved to say, here’s the rest of the story. The one about our other Team, the one that I’m privileged to work with. Why and how it happens and exactly why its so important to me that it works and last night it WORKED as well as it can.

God’s own Wingman, Kevin Burress and I both arrived at Cavalier Park having already had less than ideal days. Burress and his part of his day is his story and not mine to tell but once upstairs, Kevin was Kevin and at the top of his game.

My day started in Beckley, West Virginia where I was helping host a seven game College Baseball ⚾️ marathon. To make matters worse, I had walked into a piece of furniture at a bad angle and busted up my hand ✋ before Game 6. Bandaged up, I headed straight out to the car 🚗. As soon as the final out was recorded.

  The personal battle or crusade that is OneofUs.Care, it’s based on kindness and the Nights at Cavalier Park present a Golden opportunity to display this. So, overly tired and a sore hand ✋ will not prevent the show from going on, not even a little bit.

  Once in the parking lot, here’s the list of things that must happen. Visit with our Tennis 🎾 neighbors and if they are hosting a match, invite them over to be acknowledged afterwards.

Then its time to get the tickets 🎟 numbered for our Foul Ball contest that Ron Cochran at Omega and I team up on each time we play at home. Take a photo of the person that has ticket 🎟 taking duty and Thank them for their time.

Next up, stop at the Concession Stand to do the same thing. Ms Rose and her group are a big part of our process and I believe everyone appreciates being appreciated.

Then its onto meeting up with the visiting Coach to go over the correct way to pronounce his or hers players names. Last night was fun because Galax Head Coach Katie Belton is a former Lady Cavalier. Neat, Neat Lady.

Kudos to Assistant Coach Travis Leath for having our lineup card already upstairs. It allowed me the time to catch up with our Ceremonial First Pitch guest, Mr Paul Nester. Paul was at the tennis 🎾 match watching one of his numerous Grandchildren, Ethan Richardson, compete for Carroll County. We were able to invite Gracie to join Paul on the mound for the first pitch.

We were honoring Paul for all that he did during the off-season in regards to our efforts with Cavalier Park. Paul and Donald built the brick wall that surrounds our new seats 💺.

Next up is to make sure that we have our part of the batting order in place so when the umpire meeting is over, we hit the ground running 🏃‍♂️.

1. Introduce Paul Nester and walk him through the First Pitch.
2. Introduce the Galax coaches, subs and starters. We pride ourselves on treating our Guests with great respect. Yes, we hope to defeat them but they are our equals.
3. Carroll County coaches and subs.
4. The coolest part of the night for me is running out our Lady 👩 Cavaliers to their position on the field in the order they are batting.
5. This leads to the playing of our National Anthem with our players in the field.

The final touches pre-game start with Play Ball ➕ time and temperature 🌡 for the actual first pitch. Last night was 79° and 4:58 pm.

Why is all of this so important ? Life is tough and our parents work for a living and then they race home from their jobs to the highlight of seeing their daughters play a game they love. Pay to get in and more importantly, purchase the equipment needed to play the game.

  At the end of the day, most want to enjoy their time with Family 👪 and friends, enjoying their quality time. If we can make that time more enjoyable for them, then that’s a Victory for everyone !!!

Why is it so important to treat the visitors with as much respect as we do ? They have worked all day as well and then drove a considerable distance for the exact same reasons. They shouldn’t be subject to negativity while in our Park.

Do onto others is the correct verbiage here. We have a showcase facility and have created a showcase environment to accompany it.

During the game we have a normal half inning routine that includes honoring Veterans, welcoming former players back home, acknowledging special guests and even singing Happy Birthday 🎂 ( Today is Emma Harman’s big day and Kevin and I enjoyed singing to her.

We give updates on all other Cavalier sports playing games or matches at the same time and list future opportunities to see the teams in action 🎬.

Tammy Tobler is our third in the Booth and she is near and dear to all of us, even if she doesn’t want to sing with us. Tammy keeps the official score book 📖 and helps us orchestrate our efforts.

Last night 🌙 we were able to begin the process of rolling out our fourth member of our team. Macie Adkins ( Class of 2023) is going to become our ESPN version of sideline reporter.

We started out slowly as we look to build this to the point of her interviewing both head Coaches during the games. Our former player is currently attending College at Southwest Virginia Community, where she sits on the Dean’s List. Macie plays Softball for the Flying Eagles and will be finishing up down there later this month.

Nester & Leath are there to be leaders of young Student Athletes and to compete with the visiting team.

Our group is designed to both keep you informed and entertained.

Both groups are built on CLASS and it adds to our beloved Cavalier Park on The Hill !