Fielder’s Choice

As we left the Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Overall Track Meet Saturday at Jackson Prep, my tired ninth grader Erin said, “Well, that’s the end of all sports for this school year.”

Pam and I sort of breathed a deep sigh of relief. The parents were tired, too.

Thanks to the youngest of our three children and her involvement in so many extracurricular activities, we are making the rounds once again. And we have three years left.

It was a fun trip to the state meet, one we had made with our son Andy several years back. And it was good having all the family together to watch Erin and other members of the Marshall Academy track team. Emma rode down with us and Andy, who lives in Canton, joined us.

Just a few miles away, at Pearl, Marshall County was also well represented last weekend in the Mississippi High School Activities Association State Track competition.

I didn’t participate in track as a high school athlete.

But it has become one of my favorite sports to watch. The competition is intense – athletes pushing themselves as individuals and as members of teams to do their best.

There were some MAIS records broken Saturday at the Overall Meet – one I believe that was set like 30 years ago – and most likely there were some shattered at the MHSAA meet, too.

As The South Reporter crew (myself and Willie Ann Shelton) puts a wrap on sports for the 2017-2018 school year, I want to say thanks to everyone who helps us pull our sports coverage together.

First and foremost, I thank the athletes.

It’s always nice to go to a practice or a game and hear them shout, “News­paperman, take my picture” or “Hey, he’s the man who put me in the paper.”

The coverage is all about the student athletes. I still have newspaper clippings from my days as a high school athlete. I hope the young people of today or their parents are creating a scrapbook of their own.

Thanks to the coaches.

This past weekend I had coach Chris Daniels at H.W. Byers and coach Jamarr Walton from Byhalia texting me photos from their state meets.

And that’s just a couple of examples of the help the newspaper receives from coaches at all the schools throughout the year.

Our sports staff is small. Without their help, we could not pull off the sports pages each week.

But the coaches aren’t the only ones who assist. There are parents and grandparents and teachers and administrators and the list goes on and on. We appreciate all of you.

At Potts Camp this baseball season, as an example, Cana Minor never failed to send me the stats after each baseball game.

And we get tons of help in the way of sports photography – from Dillon Day, Ronnie Day, Penny Lomenick, Theresa Bolden-Devore, Linda Mc­Kinney, Janice Wagg and more (not meaning to leave anyone out).

We can’t be everywhere but it’s our goal to give the student athletes of Marshall County the best possible sports coverage.