Overlooked, but Not Forgotten

Some Sports are Overlooked, but Not Forgotten

BY BRODIE CURTSINGER

Working hard, but not credited. Many sports go unrecognized, throughout the other 25 different sports we have here at our school, showing that they work hard, but aren’t really getting recognized for it.

The fall sports that tend to be looked over include the girls golf team, the boys golf team and the marching band. During the winter season, there are four sports that are often forgotten about, such as the swimming team, the dance team, the bowling team and the archery team. The spring season then only really brings two sports that seem to be looked over, and those are the girls tennis team and the boys tennis team.

Girls Golf Coach Larry Steinmetz’s favorite thing about coaching the sport of girls golf is the growth aspect. “Golf is hard and it’s mentally challenging, so watching these girls come out, and work hard to get better at something, that’s difficult,” Steinmetz said,

Senior Austin Hale bowling during the 2021/2022 bowling season. Hale has been on the bowling team since his freshman year, with him accomplishing many things such as becoming an “All-State,” winning regionals, getting three perfect games, and helping go to the state tournament. “For the bowling team, I have natural talent in it. My mom and dad are both bowlers; they’re really good. I also get to meet cool people and bring more attention to bowling,” Hale said. Photographer: Brodie Curtsinger

“I told Mike Farner at the Pioneer News, when in seventh grade, Macie was going to leave here as the best athlete that’s ever come through Bullitt East.” Steinmetz believes that the girls golf team is going to end up bringing one of the best athletes the school has ever had.

Junior Macie Brown enjoys being able to play the sport of girls golf, as a whole. “My favorite thing about it is just that it is something I’ve always loved to do since I was a kid. So, getting to play in a big school, and I also get to see a lot of the girls that I play with outside of high school,” Brown said, “I wish it got a little bit more recognition. It doesn’t really bother me too much that it doesn’t get a lot of recognition, because it’s just something I like to do and I’m going to do it either way. I think definitely all the sports at the school should get the same recognition, and I know Livewire works hard at giving all the same coverage. I think the way to change that, I think there’s not much that the players can do, it’s more of a school thing, to give equal attention to all the sports. I think just getting in bigger tournaments, and winning bigger tournaments, will bring a lot of attention to that sport.” Brown wishes that the sport was less overlooked than it is, especially with her having won as many tournaments and competitions as she has, and making history for the school and

Junior Macie Brown celebrating her results of the Bluegrass Invitational Tournament, along with her coach, Larry Steinmetz. Brown has won many competitions in her five years of playing high school golf. “The two biggest high school tournaments I’ve won are state and all state. Those were definitely some of my most memorable tournaments just because I got the title of best in the state,” Brown said. Photographer: Katelyn Powers

The marching band marching onto the football field, with senior Sydney Parrish as one of the directors. During this game, Parrish was the director of the marching band, to which she feels brings a lot of people together. “My favorite thing about the marching band is that it brings people together, like we all have a common goal. So, we’re all working towards that goal,” Parrish said. Photographer: Brodie Curtsinger

county so many times. would like to bring more awareness to the sport.

Jason Novak truly has a love for getting to be the director of the marching band. “My favorite things are just the fact that we are working together as a team, and we’re working towards a goal that’s bigger than any of us as individuals, and I just really enjoy working with the kids here,” Novak said, “the stronger the program gets, you’re going to have people who want to go out and watch and support each other, especially as we get larger throughout the next several years.” Novak wishes that the band had people attending their competitions, instead of only seeing them at football games and he feels quality will bring that.

Senior Student Director and Drum Major Sydney Parrish enjoys how the marching band brings people together. “My favorite thing about the marching band is that it brings people together, like we all have a common goal,” Parrish said, “I think that the marching band is overlooked, because we do a lot, for especially the football team; we’re always at their home games, we always perform at their halftimes, we cheer them on, and I feel like it’s not appreciated enough.”

Swimming Coach Clay Snead’s favorite things about the team is seeing the progression. “I love seeing the progress of the swimmers, and their amazing attitude at every practice,” Snead said, “I feel that swimming is a hard sport to watch from the stands, unlike soccer or basketball. I’d like to raise more awareness to the students of our meets, and encourage them to attend our meets.” Snead feels as if the sport is overlooked, and Sophomore Abby White enjoys being on the swimming team in the aspect of it not typically being something people do as a sport. “I think it’s fun because it’s not really something that you usually do, because not many people have pools. It exercises like all of your muscles, because you’re using all your muscles,” White said, “I think it’s been overlooked recently, because of COVID and stuff, because it’s not really the cleanest sport I guess, if you’re all in the pool together. I don’t know how I can really change that other than whenever COVID is done with, people will think it’s safer to join the swim team.” White wishes that the sport was less overlooked than it is, and believes the reason why it’s overlooked is because of COVID-19.

Dance Coach Jodi Osborne enjoys coaching and the friendships made along the way. “The girls, for one thing, the friendships that we make, the competitions, and the excitement of all of it,” Osborne said, “We are definitely overlooked as a sport, throughout high school, middle school, and college. They are D1 athletes when they hit college, and we are fortunate enough to have several girls at the D1 level, but it seems to be not recognized for, in high school.” Osborne feels that, “they seriously work very, very hard for where we are, and what we do.”

Junior Team Captain Bailee Higgins, loves the dance team because it feels like no other sport. “Some of my favorite things are getting to dance with my friends, and getting to

have different experiences that normally you don’t get to have with other sports. We go to competitions, and sometimes we can win things,” Higgins said, “I feel that we are kind of under compensated, as kind of the cheer team. They think of us as the lower part of the cheer team; they think of the cheer team as higher, and I feel like we should just be all equal.”

Bowling Coach Lenny Raley loves the competitiveness of the sport. “Well, I mean obviously it’s a sport, and it can be competitive. So, I always like to be around competitive situations. We’ve had so much success, not because of me, but we’ve had really good kids the last two years, and that makes it very enjoyable,” Raley said, “It’s a minor sport, I get it. It’s not even in the same classification as maybe cross country, which is another sport that doesn’t get much recognition. You would wish every sport would be recognized for any accomplishments, which has been done, we’ve gotten some recognition. We now have our banner up, so people will notice that, but it’s just hard.” Raley has been the coach since 2019. The bowling team has accomplished many feats since he’s taken over, such as the team scoring a perfect game, winning the regionals tournament, having two all-states and making it to state.

The reason why senior Austin Hale joined the bowling team was because bowling runs in his family. “I have natural talent in it. My mom and dad are both bowlers; they’re really good. I also get to meet cool people and bring more attention to bowling,” Hale said, “I think bowling is overlooked, because it’s just something that only people really do whenever they’re on their free time, and whenever they’re bowling for fun.”

Archery Coach Alden Stidom’s favorite things about having the opportunity to coach is being able to control the administration. “My favorite thing is actually being able to sign up for the tournaments, and kind of control where we go, and what we do. It’s just really interesting getting to meet all the coaches, and see things from the administrative side,” Stidom said, “People kind of overlook the amount of time and effort some of these kids put into it, because it very much looks like just getting up on the line, and pulling back the bow, and just kind of go at it, but there’s a lot more to it; it’s a lot more physical, and a lot more of a mental game than people imagine.” Stidom feels that people overlook the sport, with people not thinking it’s a challenge.

Senior Trinity Smith thinks the sport of archery is absolutely amazing and loves it. “I love the atmosphere. Everyone gets along. We are one big crazy family. We have so much fun together and we are all so close. Archery is a hard sport. Is it the most physical? No, but it’s not easy either. It really bothers me that we don’t get much of any recognition because we are actually pretty good,” Smith said.

“I feel like the archery team is overlooked, because around here we just talk more about cheer, football and basketball. Most people have no clue that Bullitt County has some of the best archery teams in the world. We placed eighth in the world competition, Bullitt Central placed third, Cedar Grove Elementary placed first, and the list goes on.” Smith feels that the archery team is quite overlooked and wishes it didn’t have to be like that, and her plan to change that is by giving the archery team more credit around the school.

Girls Tennis Coach Daniel Barrett enjoys coaching, and has played tennis ever since he was a kid. “I really enjoy teaching people the game, because I just love tennis. I learned when I was 10 years old, I played in high school, in college, and I still play competitively. So, I think it’s a sport for a lifetime,” One member of Barrett’s team, senior Emma Wright, loves the sport and hopes to see the program grow. “If we did a little bit more work, we could go farther,” Wright said.

One reason senior Joshua Guy enjoys being on the boys tennis team is how it acts as an emotional outlet. “I kind of find tennis as a way to relieve stress in a weird way.” His coach, Dustin Armstrong, enjoys coaching being the coach of the boys tennis team since he gets a lot of independence. “I like the fact that I kind of get to do my own thing. I like helping kids improve, and it’s just fun,” Armstrong said, “Well, tennis is just not popular around here, and I really don’t plan to change it. We will just do our own thing.” Armstrong feels as if the sport is definitely overlooked, and doesn’t really have a plan to change that.

Senior Enma Wright hitting a tennis ball in a private match. Wright especially enjoys the bond of the girls tennis team that all the players share. “I like the people. We have a lot of fun at practice. We have a new coach. It’s been great, and I can’t wait to see what this next season holds for us,” Wright said. Photo submitted by Emma Wright.