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SPORTS
DawsonNewscom
Wednesday, June 7, 2023
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WRESTLING
Haynes reflects
Rio White Dawson County News
Arron Haynes (left) gives directions to a Tigers wrestler dur
ing the AreaTraditionalTournament earlier this year. Haynes
served the DCHS head wrestling coach for 20 years.
on long coaching career
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
For two decades — which
included over 400 wins and
multiple state championships —
Arron Haynes steered the ship
of the Dawson County High
School wrestling program.
From his time as an assistant
for the highly-respected Stuart
Cunningham to his 2022 mile
stone achievement of 400 wins,
Haynes grew from a novice
wrestling coach to an accom
plished leader.
“Dawson County wrestling —
I’ve been defined by it. It’s been
my life,” Haynes said. “For
20-plus years I have gotten up,
talked to young men and
women, sat in the bleachers for
12 hours a day, gone to summer
camps. Quite frankly, the [wres
tlers] have helped me grow as a
person. I am a better individual
for having coached wrestling at
Dawson County.”
For him, some of the most
special moments in his tenure
were the relationships he culti
vated with the student-athletes
and the families who supported
the wrestling program.
“The kids in Dawson County
are special to me... they are my
family,” Haynes said. “There
were some times that were
tough, but the kids and their
dedication — that’s what kept
me coming back.”
Originally a football and
wrestling coach at his alma
mater Johnson High School,
Haynes later walked into a spe
cial scenario at Dawson County,
with Cunningham’s program
proving to be highly competi
tive.
Taking over the program
ahead of the 2003-04 season,
Haynes inherited a state-cham
pionship caliber squad that
helped him rapidly improve his
coaching skills.
See Haynes 13B
‘An opportunity to play’
Local pastor creates athletic teams for homeschooled kids
Rio White Dawson County News
North Georgia Homeschool Athletics held an awards ceremony on Friday,
May 19, for the fiveTribe squads that competed over the past several months.
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
In youth sports, most
kids who reach a certain
skill level after the parks
and rec ages typically
move on to travel teams
and school programs.
While many options
exist for public and private
school pupils, one particu
lar group of students has
historically had fewer
options — homeschoolers.
Here in Dawson County,
a man who has quickly
become a familiar face
made it his mission to not
only provide home-
schooled youths a chance
to compete athletically but
also to simply feel a sense
of belonging.
Four years ago, Dustin
Gillespie and his family
moved from Raleigh,
North Carolina over to
Georgia, where he would
soon become lead pastor at
First Baptist Church of
Dawsonville.
Inspired by the growing
number of homeschooled
students in Dawson
County, Gillespie estab
lished North Georgia
Homeschool Athletics in
early 2022 — with the pro
spective teams nicknamed
the Tribe.
“I was coaching parks
and rec and I started meet
ing more families that were
homeschooling,” Gillespie
said. “I thought, ‘Why
don’t we have our own
homeschool team if we
have enough players?’ and
then we’ll just try to line up
any school that would play
us — and other home-
school organizations.”
After more than a year of
both trials and triumphs,
Gillespie and fellow coach
es Austin Harmon and Eric
Deal had formed five teams
that were able to compete
against many Christian
schools — and even two
public schools — scattered
across north Georgia.
Recently, the Tribe teams
— which included middle
school baseball and boys
basketball, high school
baseball and boys basket
ball, and high school girls
basketball — hosted an
awards ceremony at FBC
Dawsonville to celebrate a
whirlwind year of learning
and excitement.
“It means a lot to be able
to give students an oppor
tunity to play,” Gillespie
said. “[For] a lot of these
families, sports would have
been over after parks and
rec. Now, [the kids] get to
at least compete at some
level.”
While the athletics
aspect of North Georgia
Tribe is a potential draw to
homeschooling families,
Gillespie and the other
coaches also expect the
players to follow a high
standard of character.
See Homeschool 13B
GOLF
Dewendt earns
a breakthrough
junior season
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
A little over a year ago, Samantha Dewendt faced a
long, emotional car ride back home after missing out
on qualifying for the Class 3A state tournament.
Despite a solid round of 83, the then-sophomore
Dawson County golfer placed fifth individually at the
Area Tournament and was just short of the score need
ed to move on.
See Dewendt 13B
Rio White Dawson County News
Samantha Dewendt hits a wedge shot during a
round of golf earlier this season. She wrapped
up her junior season with a third-place finish at
the Class 3A state tournament.
Elliott suspended from St. Louis
race after incident at Charlotte
Photo by Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Chase Elliott looks on prior to the running of the
NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 on May 29, at
Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, NC.
By Rio White
riowhite@dawsonnews.com
NASCAR announced on
Tuesday, May 30, that it
issued a one-race suspen
sion to Chase Elliott fol
lowing an incident during
the rain-delayed Coca-Cola
600 at Charlotte Motor
Speedway on Monday,
May 29.
On lap 186 of the 400-
lap race, Elliott spun the
No. 11 car of Denny
Hamlin after the latter
briefly got loose, moved up
the track and squeezed the
No. 9 car of Elliott into the
wall in Turn 4.
NASCAR concluded
that Elliott “intentionally
crashed” Hamlin in an act
of retaliation, hitting the
right-rear quarter panel of
the No. 11 car and sending
it head-on into the outside
SAFER barrier on the front
straightaway.
Prior to NASCAR’s offi
cial announcement, Hamlin
himself provided telemetry
information via his Twitter
account that displayed his
belief that Elliott’s acts
were intentional.
As a result of this ruling,
Elliott missed last Sunday’s
See Elliott 13B
Anna LeCave
The Player of the Week is
Anna LeCave, who finished
third in the 800-meter race
at the Class 3A State Finals,
also setting a new school
record of 2:23.1.
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