No. 1 Monday night head Pioneer football coach Matt Turner drove his trailer to school and picked up a player’s car at a Dollar General store. Turner then took the kid’s car home to his Shade Tree Repairs shop. I have not seen a coach do that before, and it is a solid example of how Turner consistently goes the extra mile for his team.
No. 2 I am a relative newcomer to elementary basketball in Warren County. I watched and reported on many games last season, and after watching the District 1 preseason tournament championship games, I am asking the same question I asked last year.
Why is the full-court press allowed? Yes, I realize a team cannot press after it has a 20-point lead, but the game is more than over at that point.
Baseball has T-ball and coach-pitch as graduated steps to learning the game. Developing skills and being competitive is part of sports. If we don’t want our elementary kids running full-speed and hitting each other in football, why don’t we protect the psyche of the kids playing basketball?
I challenge someone to write a letter to the Southern Standard explaining why running a full-court press in elementary basketball is positive. When Lew Alcindor, who later changed his name to Kareem Abdul Jabbar, dominated college basketball with the dunk, the NCAA banned the dunk for 10 years. Changing rules to make a sport more competitive is part of the game. The NFL recently moved the extra point attempt back 13 yards to the 15-yard line.
No. 3 If there were academic all-district awards, members of the Lady Pioneer soccer team would be on that list. The senior class is loaded with brainiacs. Shelby Roberts is on pace to be salutatorian and Katie Toney has not made anything less than an A in high school. I am told there are several seniors on the team with exceptional grades. High Five to them!
No. 4 Ted Lasso is on Apple TV which most of us don’t have, but Apple TV is worth subscribing to for one reason – to watch Ted Lasso. Anyone who is a fan of Brene Brown knows that she is nuts about the series, and she has interviewed many of the series’ stars on her podcast.
Ted Lasso, Jason Sudeikis, protrays an American college football coach who goes to England to coach a soccer team in the series. It is a mixture of comedy and drama which has stopped me in my tracks several times as I watch it. The messages of the series will sneak up on you. Brene Brown says she has watched every episode at least three times. I highly recommend watching it for anyone, especially sports fans.
