Five Years, Part 2: The Sports Page

This weeks marks the 5th anniversary of my first published blog. At first, the focus was largely on politics and the needs of a “disadvantaged” neighborhood. At some point, I felt God was telling me to leave the politics alone and that I had done all I could do in my old neighborhood… so I moved on. Since then, I have been able to focus on my greatest journalistic passion: promoting female amateur athletes.

All of these pictures were taken in the past two years as I was unable to attend games prior to that because of health issues. They are not my best pictures by any means, but they are the ones that I remember with the most fondness.

This was the first tennis match I had photographed in over 25 years… before Leah Moseley was even born. The KVA tennis courts are almost a story lower than the parking lot and I’m not able to get up and down stairs, so I took this picture from high above her head. Leah is a very nice young lady, and somehow… some way… I’m going to get down those steps this year and take some good pictures of her and her teammates.

When I took this picture, I had no idea who the girl was and no clue that it would be so well received. I remember Ella Cate Johnson’s mom from when she was a cheerleader for the Vance Vikings. As for EC; she is on the right path to joining a very prominent list of cross country runners in Vance County.

One of the things I like about going to different games is seeing players I wouldn’t otherwise ever know about. This girl, whose name I’m unsure of, is a volleyball player from Grace Christian School in Sanford. She may the best volleyball player I’ve seen aside from Emani Foster.

On this particular night, Allison and her friend were trying to “mess up the photographer”, and I might add they were having a great deal of success. I kinda laughed and said “I’ll get you before the night’s over”. That’s why she’s laughing in the picture; she knew this picture of her mom fixing her hair was going to be on Facebook. Allison and her sister Lillian are the very nicest and most polite two young ladies I have ever photograhed.

Over the past five years of these blogs, Hailey Grissom has been one of my favorite people to write about. In this picture, her Crossroads team is facing eventual state champion Lee Christian. Hailey’s kill effort was successful, even though the defender (#12) was one of the best in the state with digs.

There was no story in my library more important than “The Girl In The Duke Shirt”. But Abby Taylor is also a multi talented young athlete with an uncanny intelligence of the game.

This and a companion picture are two of my favorites. I always try to get a picture of “the other team”, especially at volleyball matches. Often times, those girls find me on social media and … quite honestly… no one else takes their picture. The Cedar Ridge girls are not camera shy by any means. They were a fun group to photograph and a class act on the volleyball court.

Kim and I decided not to take pictures during a fundraiser the VCS cheerleaders were hosting at 220 because of other events of the time. So when I got home I took a picture of the fish plate and promised Bella Lazar that someday when she’s in charge of some big corporation, I’m gonna tell everyone that I remember when she was my waitress. More on Bella and her cheer squad later in this blog as well as in Part 3.

If you’re a fan of basketball, you must see Emerson Thompson play. She is all that and then some. In this picture, she is being chased by two more girls who are tremendous athletes in their own right: Kadence Woodlief and Samantha Huff. When I look at this picture, I see so much more than basketball. I’ve taken over a hundred pictures of these three and they are some of the nicest, most down to earth kids I’ve ever known.

I don’t know why the camera focused on the basketball; I really thought I had the perfect picture of her. I didn’t get to write about Yu’Myah near as much as I would have liked. She’s one of three Vipers that I knew who are now at Winston-Salem State. Every school should be so lucky.

If you’ll notice, there are eight hands but only three heads. This picture was actually taken by accident (most good pictures are). The boys were all trying to grab a rebound that was headed out of bounds. Another oddity is the uniforms. The Salvation Army had so many kids they had to make two teams. In the title game, it ended up being The Salvation Army vs The Salvation Army.

I don’t know if it’s true at all levels, but in 1A ball all the girls know each other and are friends. This picture was taken after games were completed at adjoining fields in Oxford. The girls are Vance Charter’s Caelyn Bunn, Voyager’s Autumn Suka and Oxford Prep’s Kadence Woodlief.

When a soccer ball caught Carolina Agamez in the face, I could almost feel it myself, but she kept going. Later in the same game, it happened again. This time she walked off the field. After she was checked out on the sideline, she stood and looked at me. Joking with her, I asked how many cameras I was holding up. She laughed and said “Don’t worry, I see both of them”.

Marie Scott White is one of the few students who will enter the 8th grade with varsity high school experience. And she wasn’t there to take up space; she made an impact. MS (as she is known by those of us too lazy to type her name) is also one of my biggest Instagram supporters, and that means something to me.

There was always something that struck me about Madison Primm. She is a fantastic athlete, especially in softball. She’s also a good sports photographer and I sincerely hope that when I’m no longer able, she’ll help keep these blogs going.

On April 20, 2021, the Vance Vipers girls’ soccer team finally walked off the field as winners. But in my mind, they were already winners. These girls worked hard against incredible odds, and when a game finally fell their way, they responded with a show of sportsmanship and graciousness that made me absolutely proud to be a fan.

I still can’t tell the Simmons twins apart; everyone at the games calls each of them “twin”. They seem to take it all in stride. I arrived at senior day early to take pictures, and the VCS girls love to take pictures. But I can’t say that I recall ever hearing “take a picture of my silk worm” before. The other two girls in the picture are Allie Bliss and Charly Cooper.

For Jordan Dunn, Senior Day would be even more special. She pitched a perfect game against Voyager Academy.

As they approached their junior year in high school, Maci decided to drop beach ball from her schedule, but Brianna Sherwood decided to keep beach ball and drop high school ball. The head coach at Chapel Hill was disappointed not to have her, but he seemed happy (as was I) that she was willing to make whatever sacrifice she felt was needed to reach her academic goals.

The first time I wrote about Angelica (left), she was a child with her own business “Angelic Designs”. She was raising money for her volleyball adventures by making and selling bracelets. Recently, I was able to see Angelica play for first time, and I was able to get this action shot.

I remember writing in a blog how upset I was when certain doors were slammed shut but I felt like there was someone else out there for me to write about. Within days, a young girl named Addison Rowan caught my eye. She was young and struggled a little bit, but I told Brian Howard that night that there was something about her… she is going to be good; she just needs a push. I was anxious to see her as a sophomore to see if I was right, and I was absolutely stunned at how much she has improved. She is going to be a dominant force in 1A volleyball.

Hayley was the subject of the blog “Heart & Soul”. I was naturally intriged by Hayley and her sister Kaeli when I found out they were my distant cousins. I wanted to write about both of them (and I should have taken a picture of them together), but I guess I felt like Hayley needed a shot of confidence. I can’t wait to see the two of them as varsity teammates this year.

In volleyball, Amelia Taft is the total package. I’m not able to travel far enough to see her high school team (JH Rose, I think), but I see her occassionally in beach ball tournaments. I would love to see her team up with Brianna in a tournament next year.

“Little Girls Dream Too” is the theme of my sports blogs, but I watch boys sports too… and so do the girls. In this picture, Vance County volleyball player Victoria Vaughan is holding the “County Line Clash” trophy to be presented to the winner of the Vance-Warren football game.

I love this picture. Macey Southall and Regan Tanner were the two youngsters on the Kerr-Vance volleyball team that was loaded with seniors. They are also two of the most likeable people I know. This year, Macey will be a leader at KVA and Regan has already made an impact at Kenston Forest.

I’m almost lost for words when I write about Addyson. When you watch from over the catcher’s head, you ask yourself how a child can throw such wicked pitches. But she never shows emotion… she has icewater in her pitching veins. A ton of credit should also go to her catcher Kaylin Gooch, whom I hope to write about in the future.

I didn’t take this one; Kim Hedgepeth took it with my camera. That’s me; the crazy looking in the center who doesn’t really fit in the picture. There’s a lot I want to say about these girls, but I’ll save it for part 3 of this series. But I will say this: Their coach Kim was on the cheer squad that some of my earliest stories focused on. Back then, cheerleading wasn’t considered a sport. But make no mistake, these girls are athletes. To me, they are also friends. During a year marred by a pandemic and chaos, they were able to touch my very soul and play a huge part in my decision to keep these blogs going. Most of them will be back this year, and I can’t wait to see them again.

Very few high school athletes will become college athletes, and even fewer will ever be pros. But the life lessons of high school sports may be the most valuable lessons a child learns in school. I don’t know if anyone in this album will ever be a well known athlete, but each and every one of them will succeed and make a powerful impact on this world. Some of them have already made an impact on me… and it never had anything to do with sports.

Be sure to check out Part 1: The Events, and keep an eye out for part 3 over the next couple of days, spotlighting the images.