ROCKINGHAM — With the official start of the 2019 high school fall sports season getting underway this week, I thought it would be a good time to share with the Richmond Observer’s readers how excited I am to start my third school year of coverage.
I’ve been with the RO since its inception in July 2017, and have served in various roles during that time span, covering sports in some capacity since the start of the 2017-18 school year. Since February 2018, I’ve been acting sports editor and have seen ROSports catapult itself into a thriving platform for local high school and middle school sports coverage.
But more importantly, the last two years have taught me one thing -- that Richmond County is now home.
I moved to Richmond County in early 2015 and began teaching at Ellerbe Middle School. At the time, my wife Jordyn and I couldn’t have been farther displaced from what we were used to growing up in Pennsylvania.
As both of us are educators first, we toughed out the first couple of years of finding our way as teachers in a place eight hours from home. To be honest, I don’t think either of us had any real aspirations of hanging around Richmond County for more than a couple of years.
After discovering how much we both love teaching, the days on the calendar flew by. Jordyn has been at Rockingham Middle School for five years, and I’ve completed four and a half years between Ellerbe and Richmond County Ninth Grade Academy.
What’s helped keep us here are numerous things, but none more responsible than Richmond County’s unique sense of southern hospitality. The people, educators, friends, sports fans and the small-town feel of this community accepted us and made us feel welcome. So much so that we purchased our first home here last fall.
While my job as an educator takes precedence, my role as sports editor with the RO has made living here that much better. Forging relationships with students in the classroom is one aspect of being a teacher that fosters a growing environment, and I’ve found the same to be reflected when standing on the sidelines.
Since beginning my tenure at ROSports, I’ve published over 1,000 articles and attended sporting events at nearly every level all across the state. I’ve watched high school athletes grow up, achieve tremendous accomplishments on the field and in the classroom, as well as create relationships with coaches, athletes, school personnel, families and fans that I treasure greatly.
And the best part about it all is that I get the chance to write and tell you about them.
There are a lot of late nights associated with covering high school sports, a lot of miles driven and a lot of last-minute research and editing that go into a final piece. And there’s always something to cover -- trust me, even as I sit here and type this up, my mind is already thinking about what’s up next.
And the simple fact is I love everything about what I do. The detailed game reports, or checking in with former Richmond athletes, or the pictures I take -- it’s all for the student-athletes, their families and our readers.
I was sitting in head football coach Bryan Till’s office shortly after the Raiders’ first official day of practice on Thursday and I made the remark that we were both starting our third year in our respective roles. It blew me away at how fast time has flown by and how lucky I am to serve a community as great as Richmond County.
This school year holds many unknowns for the 20 or so athletic programs at Richmond Senior High School. There is always a lot of hype surrounding the Raiders and Lady Raiders, regardless of which sport, which is always exciting.
But one thing that I do know is that my wife and I chose a pretty special place to call our home. I’ll see you out there this school year, Raider Nation -- I’m really excited. Thanks for being such a terrific place to live and write about.
