February 7, 2017 at 6:20 p.m.
Joy of sports goes past competition
By RAY COONEY
The Commercial Review
Alex Bader took a few moments to catch her breath Saturday, then turned her eyes toward the scoreboard.
When she saw her time — a Jay County High School record — she slapped the water in excitement. She then swam over to hug 100-yard breaststroke runner-up Vivienne Kunkler, her teammate, before swimming to hug third-place finisher Jamie Valentine, another Patriot.
Just minutes later Ashton Klopp had much the same reaction as Bader, pumping her right fist in the air and slapping the water after she secured South Adams its first sectional championship in 16 years. She then leaned back on the edge of the pool as she waited for the rest of the teams to finish, unable to keep the smile off her face and several times lifting both arms in the air in victory.
Just down the hall in the Jay County High School gym, similar scenes were playing out on the mat as wrestlers relished their victories. Both the Patriots’ Tyler Leonhard and the Starfires’ Wyatt Miller earned their moments of glory, standing atop the regional podium.
And Saturday night, the South Adams girls basketball players were all smiles after avenging a 2016 tournament loss to Eastside to end a 22-year title drought.
The winter season can be a grind. Whereas many fall and spring high school sports are over in about two months, sometimes less, basketball, swimming, wrestling and gymnastics can last twice as long. It’s easy for athletes and coaches to get bogged down.
For swimmers, it’s the repetitive nature of swimming thousands of yards each day. That’s especially true during winter break, when training sessions seem endless with no meets in sight. This year Patriot coach Matt Slavik pointed out to his swimmers that over that break they had swam the equivalent of the distance from JCHS to Fort Recovery and back.
Grapplers spend hours upon hours working on their craft in the wrestling room. It’s drilling, over and over and over, it’s running circles around the balcony that overlooks the basketball court. It’s constantly paying attention to your weight.
For basketball players, it’s the endless drills focusing on the little things — free throws, boxing out, triple-threat position — that often make the difference between winning and losing. Gymnasts deal with the frequent nagging injuries, from the sore knees and ankles that come from trying to hold on to the perfect landing and rips in the skin on their palms and fingers from too many spins on the uneven bars.
But it’s all those things that lead to what we saw Saturday, and what we hope to continue to see for several weeks to come.
Bader didn’t just break her own school record in the breaststroke, she obliterated it by 0.64 seconds. That’s an eternity in a 100-yard swimming event.
Klopp and her Starfire teammates saw three years of work come to fruition in a sectional championship. Strong SAHS squads had fought hard each of the previous two seasons, only to come up short against the host Patriots.
The local wrestling teams have typically had some wrestlers advance to the semi-state, and frequently sent one to the state meet as well. But it’s always nice to have a bigger group, and this year nine local athletes — six Patriots and three Starfires — will compete at the semi-state level.
Five years ago, South Adams girls basketball was a disaster with a 3-18 season. It had won just six games over a three-year span. Now, they are sectional champions.
If asked, most fans would probably say they attend sporting events because they enjoy the competition aspect. They like watching strategy on the court, technique on the mat, speed in the pool or grace on the balance beam.
But in many ways, the fun of watching sports goes beyond the competition.
There’s nothing quite like seeing the reaction on an athlete’s face when they achieve a goal. The fist pumping, high fiving, excited screams and happy hugs are what it’s really all about.
On Saturday, the Patriots and Starfires got to enjoy plenty of those special moments. We can only hope to see many more in the weeks to come.
The Commercial Review
Alex Bader took a few moments to catch her breath Saturday, then turned her eyes toward the scoreboard.
When she saw her time — a Jay County High School record — she slapped the water in excitement. She then swam over to hug 100-yard breaststroke runner-up Vivienne Kunkler, her teammate, before swimming to hug third-place finisher Jamie Valentine, another Patriot.
Just minutes later Ashton Klopp had much the same reaction as Bader, pumping her right fist in the air and slapping the water after she secured South Adams its first sectional championship in 16 years. She then leaned back on the edge of the pool as she waited for the rest of the teams to finish, unable to keep the smile off her face and several times lifting both arms in the air in victory.
Just down the hall in the Jay County High School gym, similar scenes were playing out on the mat as wrestlers relished their victories. Both the Patriots’ Tyler Leonhard and the Starfires’ Wyatt Miller earned their moments of glory, standing atop the regional podium.
And Saturday night, the South Adams girls basketball players were all smiles after avenging a 2016 tournament loss to Eastside to end a 22-year title drought.
The winter season can be a grind. Whereas many fall and spring high school sports are over in about two months, sometimes less, basketball, swimming, wrestling and gymnastics can last twice as long. It’s easy for athletes and coaches to get bogged down.
For swimmers, it’s the repetitive nature of swimming thousands of yards each day. That’s especially true during winter break, when training sessions seem endless with no meets in sight. This year Patriot coach Matt Slavik pointed out to his swimmers that over that break they had swam the equivalent of the distance from JCHS to Fort Recovery and back.
Grapplers spend hours upon hours working on their craft in the wrestling room. It’s drilling, over and over and over, it’s running circles around the balcony that overlooks the basketball court. It’s constantly paying attention to your weight.
For basketball players, it’s the endless drills focusing on the little things — free throws, boxing out, triple-threat position — that often make the difference between winning and losing. Gymnasts deal with the frequent nagging injuries, from the sore knees and ankles that come from trying to hold on to the perfect landing and rips in the skin on their palms and fingers from too many spins on the uneven bars.
But it’s all those things that lead to what we saw Saturday, and what we hope to continue to see for several weeks to come.
Bader didn’t just break her own school record in the breaststroke, she obliterated it by 0.64 seconds. That’s an eternity in a 100-yard swimming event.
Klopp and her Starfire teammates saw three years of work come to fruition in a sectional championship. Strong SAHS squads had fought hard each of the previous two seasons, only to come up short against the host Patriots.
The local wrestling teams have typically had some wrestlers advance to the semi-state, and frequently sent one to the state meet as well. But it’s always nice to have a bigger group, and this year nine local athletes — six Patriots and three Starfires — will compete at the semi-state level.
Five years ago, South Adams girls basketball was a disaster with a 3-18 season. It had won just six games over a three-year span. Now, they are sectional champions.
If asked, most fans would probably say they attend sporting events because they enjoy the competition aspect. They like watching strategy on the court, technique on the mat, speed in the pool or grace on the balance beam.
But in many ways, the fun of watching sports goes beyond the competition.
There’s nothing quite like seeing the reaction on an athlete’s face when they achieve a goal. The fist pumping, high fiving, excited screams and happy hugs are what it’s really all about.
On Saturday, the Patriots and Starfires got to enjoy plenty of those special moments. We can only hope to see many more in the weeks to come.
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