In the great sports complex, duos are not given as much publicity as single players with superb sports abilities, but duos provide solid additions to any team. For Nelson County High School, at the end of the 2008 baseball season, one good duo hung up their jerseys for the last time.

Drumbeats filled the classroom at the Rockfish Valley Community Center as our group of six formed a circle, lightly marching to the lead of AFRI-CArdio instructor Christine Davis.

Watch the ball. Watch the ball. Get the glove ready. Oh, what a pretty sunset, all gold and blues – No! Pay attention to the batter.

On a Sunday so hot the mosquitoes weren’t biting, the final season games for the t-ball and coach pitch teams and the first round tournament games for the major teams played on.

There’s a reason I hadn’t picked up a tennis racket since fourth grade, I learned when I stepped onto the Sweet Briar courts June 9 to participate in the Dennis Van der Meer “guinea pig” sessions.

The Oriole runner rounded first and looked out to where Nathan Quick had fielded his hit in right field.

This weekend my fiancé, Chet, earned his most prestigious country-living badge.

As they stripped off socks and shin guards, the Governors didn’t look too upset that they’d just been knocked out of post-season action by George Mason.

The Govs competed in the Group A State track meet at Radford University on May 31.

“But I think we had an awesome game,” senior defender Justin Crandall said. “Nothing to regret. Double overtime – it was awesome. It was nerve wracking.”

The Nelson County Men’s Soccer Team began their post-season journey with the Dogwood District game against the Appomattox Raiders on Wednesday, May 21.

To the Gov players and coaches, scoring eight goals while shutting out Buckingham in the region quarterfinals was progress, it wasn’t enough to dispel the uneasiness they showed leaving the field on May 26.

The Cavaliers shut out Nelson while scoring six runs to win the Dogwood District tournament championship on May 23.

“We had to fight through the mental game of getting down,” catcher Andy Gordon said. “I think we thought, first inning when we jumped ahead, we’d be okay and coast, but they came back and they responded. We just bounced back. Even though they were hitting hard, we made the next play.”

The girls’ team finished second and the boys’ team was fourth at the Dogwood District track and field meet at Appomattox on May 16.

“When you say 1982, you know, none of these players were even alive,” McGarry said. “When that’s the history of your program, that’s what you have to talk about. These guys can relate to it because there’s dads or uncles or close friends…they’ve seen the jackets, and we still have the hats.”

“I was in first place for the first half of the race, and then I started dying. On the very last hurdle, I tried to jump it and my foot catches it and I just fall. I lay there for about a minute, then I get up and stagger across the line,” Shannon said.

“I went out there and fell in love with it. It was Jack Farley (who talked me into it). He played football then. He was telling me that it’s fun … you get to hit people,” Mears said.

“Progress for us is getting 11 healthy guys on the field,” coach Pete Hauschner said. “They’ve got a little momentum now (with the wins). That’s good. They were hanging their heads there for a while.”

As I helped Segars unload his 16-foot down-river kayak, he asked me twice if I was in shape. I must have looked like I just rolled out of bed in my t-shirt and baggy sweatpants. As I cheerfully assured him I’d been training for half-marathon run I began to worry a bit.
Could this guy be more competitive than me, who can’t stand to lose even a game of Battleship?

“Despite the outcome of this game, they really are coming together,” Kerl said. “We’re getting better each week. Right now we’re just overmatched.”

“On the softball field it’s kind of like you’re the quarterback because you see everything, and let everybody else be aware of what’s going on,” Giles said.

“Probably my teammates, specifically Jack Farley and Koda Kerl. We have this tradition of getting in a little circle and doing a little pump-up tribal dance thing,” Longanecker said of what gets him ready for a game.

“This loss doesn’t go to the defense, and it doesn’t go to the pitching staff,” Gov coach Scott McGarry said. “We didn’t produce offensively.”

Head coach Toni Donigan: The group we have, they’re young and inexperienced, but they’re willing to learn. So what we’ve been doing is a lot of the basic things. Basic drills: how to field, how to catch, how to cover bags. They’re just young. They’ve never played at this level. I keep telling them, “We really have a JV team playing on a varsity level.”

Tennis coach Weston Mathews dishes on the team as the season begins.

As the outgoing coach, Lloyd Gray has some advice for the best replacement.
After 17 years of coaching within the Nelson County High School girls basketball program, Lloyd Gray resigned at the conclusion of the Gov varsity 2007-2008 season for personal and health reasons.
Gray was an assistant coach for nine years and head varsity coach for eight years. He leaves with a 90-70 overall record. He led the Govs to the regional tournament three times between 2001 and 2007.

RICHMOND — Nelson County’s boys basketball team ended the season the way it started it — on a 15-game winning streak.