Greg Talley had the time of his life last year making the rounds with his Son Jabin as the two traveled the Eastern Seaboard looking for the right landing place for his and Jessica’s Son.
We had fun following along as Greg always sent in pics and storylines from each stop ✋. When the Music 🎶 stopped playing, Jabin landed on the Campus of Southwest Virginia Community College in Cedar Bluff, Virginia.
Classes are going great and College life is agreeing with the CCHS graduate 🎓 and the long awaited start of tennis season has finally arrived.
One of the key 🔑 ingredients in telling a story is picking the correct spot to put pen 🖊 to paper 📃. This story will be best told at the end of the season but with that said, we don’t want to appear to be ignoring the journey all together.
Jabin Talley and his teammates did finally get to play a Tennis 🎾 Match as the school hosted Ferrum at the end of February. SWCC lost the match 7-0 but the victory came in the form of actually playing the match.
Talley found himself facing the #1 player at Ferrum, who happened to be a Division 1 transfer. Talley fell in straight sets but did manage to steal a few games in the 3-6, 0-6 setback.
Jessica and Greg both are leading the cheering section 👏 and we will continue to share the updates. When the time is appropriate, we will tell the story about his Freshman year and how it will prepare him for his Sophomore year!
The game will be played tonight and there are so many different ways to look at it, from a Carroll County point of view.
I can remember back two years ago when Northside ended our Softball season in the Regional tournament and then went on to capture the State crown 👑. I thought it was kinda cool but I wasn’t sure if anyone else really noticed?
Back to tonight, you have the two teams that tripped up our Cavaliers and our Dream Season. So here is the Poll question, if you will.
A. I am pulling for Spotswood both tonight and next Saturday so we can say our last loss was to the State Champs 🏆
B. I am pulling for Northside High School because they are from our Region and I hope they win a 3rd straight State Championship.
C. I simply don’t care. Our season is over and we have moved on to the next phase of our lives.
D. I wish there was some way that both teams could lose tonight but since that’s not possible, I would prefer that_________ wins.
We lost to a pair of teams that both were led by a pair of Division 1 players. In both cases we were up against players that had a higher gear ⚙. In both games, our players went toe to toe with them and gave Head Coach Anthony Barnes everything they had and then some.
Tonight should be a get your Popcorn 🍿 kind of a game, just now sure if it matters to us ? Maybe Kris Richardson and Bill Gallimore will shoot me an A,B,C,D for an answer.
7:45 – on the Network, 6pm if you want to watch Chris Dodson coach up his Ladies in the opener.
Anthony Barnes says he is in column B but thinks Hopewell will wear the Crown 👑.
I am also in Column B and if Hopewell is better than both, Wow !!!
Kris Richardson says B but also offered a different take on my version of C !
For those of you reading this that aren’t as familiar with what we do when we frame a story, here’s how this works.
We start by establishing the frame, just as a contractor does when building a new house 🏠.
Ethan Richardson is a resident of Laurel Fork, Virginia and is a Student Athlete at Carroll County High School 🏫. Not only does Ethan excel in the classroom, he is a three sport Athlete with Swimming, Basketball and Tennis being where he shines.
Ethan is the Son of Kris and Paula Richardson and has two Sisters, Ashton and Gracie. Ashton also played Basketball 🏀 on The Hill and captured two straight State Championships during her final two seasons as a Cavalier.
Back to Ethan, we are going to focus on one 72 hour window that should show his level of commitment to himself, his craft, his teammates and his School 🏫.
Ethan spent his day Sunday at our Banquet, patiently awaiting his turn to speak about his Love and Respect he has for Paula’s Father, Paul Nester. Sometime after 9pm he delivered a well crafted message about his Grandfather, which was no surprise because he applies himself in that manner in everything he does.
Monday morning it was off to School and once he had met all of his requirements (except Tennis 🎾 practice) he climbed into a Car 🚗 with his teammates, while hisParents and little Sister drove the family car and everyone headed off to Richmond…
As you can see, Richmond is not exactly right around the corner. The State Swim 🏊♂️ meet had been set to take place over a week earlier in nearby Christiansburg but Mother Nature had other plans.
Tuesday Morning begins before the crack of dawn and under the guidance of Head Coach Joi Ogle. Ethan had performed well enough to qualify in a handful of events, including multiple relay races 🏁. Once a team reaches State they aren’t allowed to substitute team members so if Ethan had skipped the event all together, his relay mates would have missed out on their opportunity to participate at the highest level in High School.
[ We will plug in as much of the live time moments during the Swim session here once we can get them in the correct order]
Once the morning Swim 🏊♂️ was over, it was back to the Richardson Family 👪 Bat Mobile.
Drive #2 of 3
10:52 was his last event. It was the 400 free relay. They were finished at 10:56. The first half of the meet was over at 11:05.
Final lunch with team at Zaxby’s at 11:45
2nd lunch at Ouback at 12:40.
Stopped in Harrisonburg to let Gracie have some fun at a local park since she has been couped up all day at 3:50. ( Caring Father 👨)
Arrive at Spotswood H.S. at 5:22.
[The four hours and 18 minutes inside of the Penn Laird School will go here]
Left Spotswood at 9:40. Got home at 1:20 am
540+ miles all together
__________________________________________
Those were some of the notes 📝 that Kris was able to share with me as I had mentioned before hand that I think the effort warranted a Time Line type story.
Going back to the Baseball ⚾️ Alumni game that Casey Burcham and Steve Combs hosted last year, people were still sharing their thoughts two full weeks later and it created the most read two weeks in our 17 years of having our site.
The run 🏃♂️ that the Carroll County High School Boys 👦 Basketball 🏀 team just completed was Magical. The journey wasn’t a 3 month journey, it was a 10 year journey. The ride itself is over but the story telling is just beginning.
This portion of the story is at best 15% complete. The fill in the blanks begin with the two parents, the two Coaches and Ethan Richardson himself.
Maybe we can even talk with his Tennis 🎾 Coach who missed him at practice during that time???
Each member of the group deserves to have their story told, if they want it told. Ethan is just first and we are just scratching the surface on it.
We might even pay tribute to the Coaching staff, Nathan Jones as the Trainer and Samantha Reed as the Score Keeper.
Hopefully, the Easter family 👪 sees this one because the second one will focus on the efforts of their Son.
