The Pat on Sports: Back in the swing of things

It has been a slow couple of weeks for me in the sports world. Basketball came to a grinding halt a bit earlier than usual this season. As much as I have enjoyed this break I would have preferred to be covering tournaments right now.
The break has put a lot of things in perspective for me. It was nice not having to scramble for filler during this slow time. I am still getting on my feet as far as this website is concerned and it is nice knowing that things are going well.
Now that all this is over it is time for the busiest time of the sports year: spring sports. Football and basketball may capture the passion of a lot of fans but no other time of year sees such a wide variety of athletes playing the respective sports.
On the middle school level it is time for golf and track. Both middle schools tend to do well during these seasons. Jacksboro has made several appearances at the state golf tournament. LaFollette is a dominant track power. Both middle schools are also competitive in the sport that the other isn’t dominant at. It is great to see so many young athletes doing well for themselves, their school, and their community.
The high school sees twice as much action as the middle schools do. With track, tennis, baseball, and softball all going on it is enough to make a sport guy’s head spin.

Track is pretty much the premiere sport at CCHS. More athletes have seen college scholarships from track than any other sport. In fact it is likely that track has sent more CCHS athletes to college than all of the other sports combined. This year should be no different. I am looking forward to having a travel budget by the time track goes to state and I very much plan on being there to cheer on and cover several of our tracksters.
Baseball should be interesting to watch this year. There is a new coach at the helm of Cougar baseball this season. It makes me sad because I consider Ryan Browning a good friend and a great coach and I will miss talking baseball with him. It makes me happy to know that the kids will have a fresh direction to go in and a new coach to lead them there. I have talked to the new coach a little and he seems very enthusiastic about the coming season. The players seem pretty excited to. Baseball is by far the most fun of the spring sports to watch and has an atmosphere similar to a football game. It should be a good season for Cougar baseball.
Tennis is also in the hands of some new coaches. One of them, Jason Ivey, is a dear friend from back in my college days. He was also a standout tennis player for CCHS in his own right. I don’t know much about who all is playing. I do know that there are some good tennis players returning on the boy’s side and some good athletes on the team on the girl’s side. Tennis may be the surprise sport of this spring as far as their success goes.
Softball at CCHS has struggled despite a plethora of good players over the last few years. The best thing about them is they never let adversity force them to give up. Maybe this will be the year things turn around.

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