TRAFFIC LIGHT SPORTS
Jacob's Sports 2024 Wrap-Up
This past year, I included 2023 because 2024 is only into May as I write this. It was an interesting and learning year for most, and I know it has been for me. The past year and the past three months have been the most interesting. In February, I was brought in to write for TVHS Athletics, a job I never thought I could do. Also in February, I was able to see the school I graduated from, Teays Valley, make a run to the girls' basketball district finals, and face a juggernaut in Pick Central, the Lady Vikings Hoopsters is a program in high school I spent a lot of time with from 2012 to 2016. Another program I became familiar with was the Teays Valley boys basketball team. I made the trip to Marion Harding to see the Vikings go all the way up U.S. Route 23 and “Storm the Oval Office” to take down the Presidents and make it to a district semi, and eventually ran into a fast and tall Reynoldsburg team. Then there were two teams that I was very familiar with in high school: the Optic Ball Vikings and the Teays Valley Baseball Team. The Teays Valley Softball program is a team that I spent a lot of time with in high school, helping out Coach G and current Coach Hastler. If you see a random person with glasses in some pictures from that time from 2012 to 2016, that's me! The TV Softball team won their first district championship since 2018 and took down three-time defending champions, the Marysville Monarchs, to make it to a regional semifinal against Lancaster. I got to see the baseball team grow as a team when they were 5-10 to finish the season 17-12; winning 13 of their last 14 games and going 8-2 in the month of May. And you look at four of those losses, they were 17-8. On spring break, they went against very good teams in Tennessee but came up short of a win. TV baseball went 10-4 in the MSL for the last time as members. And here recently, I have become more and more familiar with the Teays Valley Track and Field team as they push athletes to the state track meet in Katy Zang and Brooklyn Herbert. I hope to learn more going forward with the cross country teams, soccer, volleyball, girls' tennis, and boys' and girls’s golf teams coming up in the fall. Then I will be going into my second season writing for football. The 2024-2025 year is my first year exclusively covering the Teays Valley Viking Football Team as they begin their inaugural OCC Buckeye campaign. I envision 2-3 articles a week on the football team next year, and I also see myself hitting a lot of soccer and a lot of volleyball games and learning those teams and connecting with those coaches as I go into my first full season as a Teays Valley Athletics beat writer. I want to think of all the coaches this past fall and spring season that let me connect with them after games to get some quotes and some thoughts. I want to think of the athletes who talked with me to get their perspectives into my stories. There is something in the works for next year that you all will see better pictures rolling out on my end! This article here will end my 2024 sports coverage for Teays Valley High School Athletics. With some coverage on the state track meet once I get the information.I hope to get back to you soon with articles and feel free to connect with me with any opportunities if you see anything over the summer that needs my attention for a write-up or an article and I will connect with you and make it happen. Until the 2024–2025 fall and winter sports seasons start, have a safe summer and until then you will see me manning my sunflower garden! Enjoy the below John Wooden quotes, I pulled from a Bill Walton talk. Walton just passed away recently.