Column: High school athletics are worth our support to keep building a strong hometown culture (2024)

Another year of high school athletics in Horry County has come to a close.

As the season winded down last week, I got to thinking about some of my favorite moments from covering athletics in 2023-24.

Without a doubt, my personal favorite moment of this season of high school sports came on Christmas Day.

At just after 10 a.m., my phone lit up with a message from a local athlete in Horry County.

The athlete had an athletic achievement mentioned in a story in the Myrtle Beach Herald earlier in the year, and received a homemade standout Christmas gift: a custom frame with the edition of the print news story behind beautiful glass, surrounded by photos of the season to display — hopefully — in their home for the next 50+ years.

That moment brought sincere joy.

It got me thinking about why we are investing time into telling the stories of high school athletics across Horry County, and why we are emphasizing that coverage so much in a year-round manner.

The clear-cut answer is that we hope to keep you informed. Yes, that is the goal. That is our job. And we strive to do it well.

But, I want to let you in on my personal reasoning behind the “why” of our coverage.

The joy from the story above comes from a much deeper place. It comes from a sincere belief that I — and I know the rest of our sports team — have about the value of high school sports.

We believe that high school athletics is one of the backbones of our community. Athletic-based opportunities open up chances for our students to create memories, learn lessons, forge through adversity and build lifelong friendships.

Our regular coverage that centers on region battles, area statistical leaders, playoff standings and everything else that falls into a “sports story” bucket is tremendously valuable, and those stories will continue to be the primary driving force of our high school athletics coverage.

However, circling back to that ever-sincere and personal Christmas gift, I appeal to you that our area’s continued support of high school athletics has the chance to build an Horry County sports culture that surpasses anything else in the state of South Carolina.

Let me share a brief story that hopefully encapsulates why we will continue to prioritize telling the very best stories of Horry County high school athletics.

Earlier this spring, Myrtle Beach tennis coaches Alec Marinaro and Jeremy Howard were kind enough to give us at MyHorryNews a behind-the-scenes look into how their team prepared for the Class 4A state championship match. I took the journey with the team to Florence and watched the Seahawks in the 24 hours leading up to their state finals match.

On the court, Myrtle Beach ended up losing a one-point match to Riverside and finishing second in the state.

But off the court — now that’s where the real story was.

Over those 24 hours, I witnessed a lot of future remember-when memories that have absolutely nothing to do with tennis.

I watched a team of high school tennis players share a meal and eat their entrees as quickly as they could so they could all jump into a fake ice cream truck — stationed at the back of the restaurant — and dig into a cooler for a free single-serving ice cream cup.

For a brief moment, a group of athletes turned back the clock 10 years and embraced the fun of the simple things.

Later that evening, I watched four team members and Marinaro walk into a local Best Buy to try to troubleshoot a technical issue on the unofficial team Xbox so they could host a miniature NBA 2K tournament back at the team's hotel.

And after the Xbox was fixed, the group prepared for the title match by packing into a room and — instead of being filled with tension about the next day’s championship — they spent several hours bonding, laughing, playing a video game tournament and making memories that will stick forever.

Those core moments, in their ability to last the test of time, far surpass any athletic achievement that will be had in their four years of high school sports.

High school athletics have the ability to bring individuals, teams and communities together.

It is why we are excited about the new 5A “Beach Region,” which will begin in 2024.

Our communities grow stronger when we rally around high school athletics. Things like the beach region — which will combine six of our Horry County schools into one giant area region starting in August — present the opportunity for us in Horry County to buy in more than ever.

In my conversations with area coaches and athletic directors, the things they are most looking forward to have mostly nothing to do with on-field topics. Instead, they turn their attention to the things that center around one common theme: the community.

There is hope that student sections will be larger.

There is hope that rivalries will be more fresh, easier to follow and full of year-long excitement.

There is hope that more members of the county will attend high school sporting events in 2024-25.

Personally, I believe all of those things will happen as a result of the new region.

But I don’t think a new region is needed to help boost our community’s interest in high school athletics.

Rather, I simply believe our community needs to know why investing in athletics-centered opportunities for our students is so important.

It goes beyond the numbers. It goes beyond the wins and losses. And it certainly goes beyond any final score and statistic we ever post.

By attending and supporting local high school athletic events, you are helping those ice-cream-truck-moments happen. For every school in Horry County, I can give you 10 stories about how high school athletics are providing lifelong memories and future stories for the students of our area — memories that will be carried and shared for generations to come.

Horry County is a special place. We are unique. In many ways, we are tucked in here near the coast with nearly the perfect setup to have the local high school athletics town that is read about in great novels and watched in heartwarming movies and television shows.

I hope that in the next several years, we are able to spread the word to everyone we know to continue to invest in opportunities for our students to gain valuable life experiences and lessons that only sports can offer them.

We will continue to share game recaps, event coverage, standings and all of the things you have come to expect from us.

But we are also going to be prioritizing telling you the great individual stories along the way.

Here’s the secret: by doing that, I personally hope it inspires you to want to be a part of an Horry County community that prioritizes growing and growing and growing (and growing some more) our high school sports scene.

I hope that by reading about the latest happenings, it nudges you to head to a local sporting event in the fall so you can see first-hand why so many great things are happening around our high school athletics world.

Our county has some great people.

For every proud Socastee Brave, there’s a devoted Aynor Blue Jacket.

For every invested Conway Tiger, there’s a spirited Myrtle Beach Seahawk.

The list goes on.

I hope that in 50 years, I continue to hear stories about newspaper clippings being on the walls in former Horry County athlete houses.

My appeal to you is that growing our county’s athletic opportunities is one of the most valuable things we can do for not only our current students, but for the potential to have a true high school sports town for generations to come.

When school is back in session in August, please make plans to do what you can to support our local high school athletes.

Let’s help more team-bonding Xbox tournaments be played for years to come.