Many of the graduates in Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties are high school athletes I have covered over the last four years.


Navarre, Pace, Milton, Central, Jay, Baker and Crestview have all been represented well by those athletes and now it’s time for them to bid farewell and move on to the next chapter of their lives.

Sometimes it comes down to just doing what is right for the student athletes in our area high schools.

It doesn’t always happen. State tournaments are played on the day of high school graduations, and even locally, all-star games are played on graduation nights.

Softball has taken a big step forward in the area this year.

One of the local schools in Northwest Florida put out a post a few days ago seeking money for its playoff trip to the Jacksonville area for a best-of-three baseball series.


An athlete asked me to share it on social media in the hopes it would help their cause. I did. I’m always here to help the athletes any way I can.

I know this current generation of high school athletes can sometimes be given a hard time about not being tough enough or focused enough.


But there is a lot of promise and potential for the future.

I often watch runners in distance races at track meets finish well behind those they are running against.

We all know there is some serious strength in the Panhandle when it comes to weightlifting.

By late afternoon on March 27, I’m pretty sure even people on the most remote island in the world knew the University of West Florida was headed to the Division I level for football.

When the Florida legislature passed a bill allowing booster clubs to pay high school coaches extra money, the first thought was that it sounds great on paper.


But when you look at it a little closer, it’s nothing more than an easy win for the legislature.

Spring break for the area high schools was this past week, marking the last real chill period until the end of the school year.