When the bulk of your day-to-day business is prep sports, it’s hard to match the excitement of the beginning or ending of another school year.
The two-man Enterprise sports department always sets aside the first few weeks of June to put together feature stories about the area’s best and brightest for our annual Athletes of the Year packages.
Look around. You aren’t going to find in-depth, entertaining profiles of local student-athletes like these anywhere else. If you do, send ‘em our way.
We’ve discussed the idea of choosing our own Enterprise Newspapers Athletes of the Year, but ultimately decided it’s wisest to leave the selection process to the schools.
Besides, it’s simply not in our barren budget right now to rent out a lavish banquet hall and treat our winners — and ourselves — to an evening of glitz, glamour and five-star cuisine like we were hoping.
And there’s no better judge of a student’s character than the coaches, teachers and administrators who spend hours upon hours with their athletes. They’ve got front row seats, while we’re stuck in the parking lot.
Sure, we pick up bits and pieces of information while we’re out covering events. But we don’t pretend to know all that goes on in the classroom, on the sidelines or once the locker room doors swing shut. (We wouldn’t want to mistakenly spotlight a notorious towel snapper or jock strap bandit.)
Each school seems to have its own philosophy of how to select its top senior standouts. Some favor well-rounded athletes who compete in two or three sports. Others don’t hesitate to consider athletes who specialize in one sport.
Whatever the case, the selection process must be absolutely grueling. We’re just glad it’s out of our hands.
As usual, this year’s crop of honorees includes some familiar faces as well as a few surprises.
There’s a handful of Division I recruits, a trio of 12-letter winners, some state champions and school record holders, a valedictorian, a salutatorian and even a son of a preacher man.
To find out who’s who, go online (www.enterprisenewspapers.com) to read about Athletes of the Year from other schools in our coverage area.
Rest assured, it won’t be the last you’ll hear of them.MAILBAG: Our second annual Enterprise Newspapers E-prize awards (June 13 edition) generated a windstorm of feedback compared to last year.
(It must have been the addition of the sparkling trophy graphic.)
E-mailer Steve Knox, a Jackson High School booster and self-proclaimed “huge fan of all high school sports,” raves:
“(The) best article of the year goes to … yours! Great job. Not only was your article well written, positive and interesting, it was also a great concept. What a great way to wrap up the year.”
Charlie Laughtland covers sports for The Enterprise Newspapers. Questions and comments may be sent via e-mail to entsports@heraldnet.com, by fax to 425-774-8622 or by mail to: Sports editor, The Enterprise, 4303 198th St. SW., Lynnwood, WA 98036.
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