Letter to the Editor

Another athlete deserving of recognition

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

To the Editor:

I was sorry to see that Jesse Ford did not receive more recognition for advancing to the semi-state wrestling meet.

Wrestling is a demanding sport requiring a lot of hard work and sacrifice to be successful. Since he did so well this year, I am sure that he was looking in the paper and thinking on certain days that there might be a picture of a special article to put in his scrapbook.

While it was mentioned, I didn't feel that there was anything special for him to remember this event in his life by.

I also felt that Kelsey Murtaugh placing ninth in the state swimming meet was not given enough recognition.

The so-called "individual sports" are not classed. So when an athlete places at a state meet, that is the entire state. This is extremely hard to do and takes a special talent and dedication.

When Jamie Patterson, Megan Clodfelter, Dee Wood and Laura Weatherford placed ninth in the 4 X 100 relay at the state track meet in 2006, they got their picture on the front page. What a treasure for those girls!

There are many kids who are doing the right things and working very hard, and many of them do receive recognition through the Banner Graphic for all levels of achievement.

I am especially grateful to Caine Gardner for his current work and to Jared Jernagan for his work in the past as a sports writer. There are cases, though, where I did not think that the coverage was equal to the achievement. This was the case with Jesse and Kelsey (Jesse in particular).

I think we need to remember that we are trying to teach our kids life lessons through athletics. Things like, if you set goals and work hard, you can achieve things you may not have thought possible.

When they are publicly recognized, these important life lessons are reinforced.

Becky Greenlee

Greencastle