No matter where you live in Santa Rosa County, you have to be proud to have someone representing this area on one of the biggest stages.
In this instance, we’re talking about Navarre alum Emily (Madril) Sams, who is in Paris this week for the 2024 Olympics. She’s an alternate on the United States Women’s National Soccer Team.

We have a football all-star game and a basketball all-star game. We also have all-star games for soccer, baseball and softball. Those are the typical sports you’d expect to have a game for simply because they are the high-profile ones in this area.

Someone voiced their frustration the other day over the time of year the spring state championships are played for baseball and softball.
I get it. At least one of them takes place during a week set aside for graduations in this area. This year, it was softball.

Some athletes are clear-cut, no doubt about it Division I type of athletes. You look at one of them and you are like ‘that kid is going to be big-time special at a place like Alabama, Florida State, LSU or Georgia.’
I’ve seen a handful of those athletes over the years.

Both sides in the Pensacola Sports Association All-Star Softball Game earlier this month were missing players. I think I counted nine missing in action from the East and about half of the 24-player roster unavailable on the West squad.
I wasn’t at the baseball all-star game, but word is the East had to give up some of its players so the West could have enough players to fill out a team.

Sports is serious business at times. Check that. Almost all the time.
We rank teams, athletes and way too often we project the odds of a young athlete being the next big thing at the college or pro level.

We already live in a world, at least here in Florida, where athletes can transfer freely thanks to the free agency style set-up here in the state. We are about to live in a world high school athletes can get paid.
Never did I think I’d be typing those words out in a column at any point in my lifetime. Just goes to show you to never say never.

Midnight was still a little over a couple of hours away in the eastern time zone on the night of May 24, and Pace was on a softball field in Clermont celebrating a 6A state championship that was four years in the making.
A week earlier in Fort Myers, Jay’s baseball team was on the field of the spring training home of the Minnesota Twins celebrating its first state title in more than a half century.

I’m not complaining that the spring football game between Navarre and Pace was postponed a couple of weeks ago.
I was driving back from Fort Myers after covering a state baseball championship game the night before.

Sports seasons are complete and the only thing remaining for the senior athletes in the area is to walk across the stage and receive their high school diploma.
They’ve spent the last four years representing their schools on football fields, baseball fields, softball fields, basketball courts, tennis courts, volleyball courts and more.