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THE JACKSON HERALD
WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2010
Sports Shorts
Jackson Co.
Parks and
Rec taking fall
registration
THE JACKSON COUNTY Parks
and Recreation Department will
hold fall sports registration until
Aug. 7.
The fall programs include foot
ball, cheerleading, soccer, base
ball, softball and adult softball
Those interested can register
Monday through Friday from 8
a.m. to 5 p.m. by calling 706-367-
6350. Those wishing to pay by
credit or debit card can register
at any time by going to www.
jacksoncountygov.com/lndex.
aspx?page=100 and clicking on
registration in the lower left hand
of the page.
For cash and check payments,
go to the parks and recreation
office at 1801 County Farm Road,
Jefferson.
Lady Eagles to
hold volleyball
tryouts
TRYOUTS FOR the East Jackson
Lady Eagles will be next week as
they continue to prepare for the 2010
season.
Tryouts will be held Monday, Aug.
2 and Wednesday, Aug. 4 from
3:30 p.m.-6 p.m. in the main gym
at EJCHS. Any girl entering grades
8-12 can try out. Participants must
have a valid physical on file and
should dress in shorts and a t-shirt
(no halter tops).
For more information, contact
coach Tim Thomas via email at
tthomas@jackson.k12.ga.us.
JCCHS volleyball
tryouts are Aug. 2-4
Tryouts for the JACKSON County
Comprehensive High School volley
ball team are Aug. 24 at the JCCHS
gym.
The times are as follows:
•Aug. 25-7:30 p.m.
•Aug. 3 7-8:30 p.m.
•Aug. 4 5-7:30 p.m.
Players must have a physical to
participate. Those interested can con
tact coach Crystal Colley at ccolley@
jackson.k12.ga.us for more details.
Weightlifting
Jefferson native wins lifting competition
STATE CHAMPION
Jefferson High School alum R. Gary Glenn (back
row, far left) won another lifting title during the recent
Georgia Games held in Gainesville.
JEFFERSON High
School alum R. Gary Glenn,
Oakwood, won the raw
bench-only Master’s Men’s
55-59-year-old 198-lb. divi
sion with a press of 315-lb.
at the 20 th -annual Georgia
Games Powerlifting and
Bench Press Championships
held in Gainesville recently.
Glenn is a multiple win
ner at the Georgia Games as
well as a six-time national
and 2-time world bench press
champion.
“I’m fairly happy with
that,” said Glenn who is
coming back from recent hip
surgery. “That’s about what
I had today. I have plenty of
room to improve.”
Glenn is a native son of
Jackson County, having
grown up in the Brockton
Community. He’s a 1972
honor graduate of Jefferson
High where he lettered in
football and wrestling and
later served as a junior high
football and wrestling coach
for the Dragons.
Prep Softball
High school softball teams staying sharp
ROAD TRIP
The Jefferson softball team is
recent camp in Anderson, S.C.
BRINGING
THE HEAT
Jackson County
pitcher Haley
Shinall pitches
during a recent
scrimmage against
Banks County. The
Panthers are com
ing off a 16-15-1
season last year
and a trip to the
state tournament.
Photo by Justin
Poole
pictured during a
ByBenMunro
THE REAL games are just
weeks away, but both Jefferson
and Jackson County’s softball
teams have stayed occupied
with their summer scrimmage
slates.
Jefferson, which has gone
8- 3 the past two weeks on the
exhibition softball diamond,
recently returned from a week-
long stay Anderson, S.C. where
it took part in a 20-team camp.
There, it received instruction
from collegiate, national and
even a few Olympian softball
players and scrimmaged other
schools.
“We feel pretty good about
the direction we are heading in
but have lots to work on, and
we must keep climbing to be
the best that we can and never
be satisfied with average,”
coach Brad Puckett said.
The Dragons, which have
been hitting the weight room
and practice field regularly this
summer, took three teams to
the Anderson camp for the first
time in the program’s history.
Jefferson is coming off a
9- 12 season.
Meanwhile, Jackson County
has been busy in a July summer
league after holding practices
twice a week in June.
The Panthers recently beat
Commerce but lost scrimmages
to Banks County and Franklin
County.
Jackson County — which
went 16-15-1 last year — has
enjoyed a good turnout for its
summer program, according
to coach Lisa Robinson.
“We’ve worked diligently
this summer with a consistent
22 girls showing up to sum
mer workouts and games,”
she said. “We are anxious for
the fall season to begin.”
The Panthers advanced to
the first round of the Class
AAA state tournament last
year, falling to St. Pius X in a
best-of-three series.
Jefferson and Jackson
County, which reside in the
same region now, play
each other twice this sea
son - Aug. 17 and Sept.
10.
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Prep Volleyball
Volley Eagles prepare for 2010
RALLYING THE TROOPS
East Jackson volleyball coach Tim Thomas talks with
his team last year. Photo by Brandon Reed
By Brandon Reed
WITH THE fall high school
sports season looming on the
horizon, the East Jackson Lady
Eagles volleyball team is look
ing for improvement as the pro
gram enters its fourth season.
Last year, the Lady Eagles
went 5-23, overall, an improve
ment over the 2-30 record they
posted in 2008, but went winless
in area play.
“We realized coming in that
we wouldn’t be able to build a
strong team overnight; it takes
time,” said coach Tim Thomas.
“During the last two seasons
we’ve tried to take things step by
step, improving first one thing
and then another and trying to
establish a pattern of success.
The first year we worked hard
to build cohesion and a team
mindset. Last year we saw great
improvement in our defense and
our serving.”
The result, Thomas said,
was a team that was competi
tive every time they took to the
floor. The Lady Eagles tripled
the number of times they scored
in the 20s.
Thomas says his team has
several challenges for next year.
The Eagles only have five
returning varsity players, includ
ing senior Brittany Smith, senior
Kiersten Meehan, senior Jenna
Dukes, junior Rebekah Poponi
and junior Haley Simmons.
They also have very little
experience at setter with the
loss of senior Ansley Brooks
last year.
Eagles at a glance
•Season opener: Aug. 14 vs.
Jackson County
•Last year’s record: Won five
matches
•What else: Staying healthy is the
key this year as EJCHS had eight of
its 12 varsity players miss significant
stretches in 2009
Another challenge is working
out where players will fit into
the team.
“Several of our girls are so
diverse with their skills, it’s
made it difficult to decide where
we should use them.”
But the team also has several
positives on their side. The five
returning players are all strong
performers, Thomas said.
“They’re all good servers and
hitters, and a couple of them are
excellent on defense,” he said.
“Our first six have the potential
to be pretty good, but we’re
going to need our subs to really
step it up if we’re going to com
pete well.”
Thomas also said the school
administration’s support has
also been a positive for the
team.
“We had a couple of issues
that we needed help with, and
they’ve done a great job getting
those taken care of so that our
coaching staff can just focus on
doing our jobs.”
Thomas said he wants the
program to continue building
on what they’ve done so far as
they enter the 2010 season.
“We increased our average
number of points scored per
game by more than 30 percent
last year,” he said. “If we can
increase that just another couple
of points, then a lot more of the
23 20-point games we had last
year start to turn in our favor.”
Lofton continued from IB
“You take young people at this particular
age — 14 to 18 — and you can really have
a lot of influence over them,” Lofton said.
“So I felt like I needed to help coaches
become aware of just that. You have a
potential here to really make a difference.”
Lofton’s So You Think You Want to
Coach ... includes seven chapters and an
appendix. It discusses everything from
practice schedules and game preparation
to maintaining strong relationships with
school system faculty and the commu
nity, borrowing a few vignettes from his
coaching days to illustration his points.
There’s also a section on X’s and O’s.
“It’s an easy read,” Lofton
said. “It’s not complicated.”
It includes a forward from Georgia
coaching legend Vince Dooley, who was
Lofton’s teammate and roommate on the
Auburn football team in the 1950s.
“This coaching guide will be invalu
able to all that are seriously considering
the challenges and rewards of earning
the right to be called for a lifetime the
revered name, coach!” Dooley wrote.
Lofton, who concluded his head-coaching
career in 1998 at Greater Atlanta Christian,
hopes this opens the door for more speak
ing engagement opportunities to further
spread his coaching theories as he con
tinues to stay busy in his retirement.
When he’s not writing books, he
spends his time being a grandfather to
24, looking after his wife who’s had
health problems, teaching Sunday school
and remaining active in a book club.
He also looks back on his time at
Jefferson fondly. Though he’s been
gone for 36 years, Lofton’s 70 wins
at the school still rank second all-
time in JHS history, while his winning
Coach Jim Lofton talks
about his Jefferson
coaching memories
Jackson Herald: You spent 10 years
in Jefferson, what are some of your bet
ter memories of coaching over here?
Lofton: “I guess one of the better memories was
the night we beat Commerce the first time,” Lofton
said. “I think it had been 12 years (since Jefferson
had won). In my first two years we did not suc
ceed, but my third year (1967), we beat them
7-6. And after we came home that night, there
was a huge pep rally downtown in the square.”
“Another big memory was that we had never
beat Washington-Wilkes. Jefferson had never
beaten them. And we beat them (21-14) my son’s
(Jimmy Lofton’s) freshman year (1968). He was
the only quarterback I had as a four-year starter.
We had a good group with his group. We had
some real success. My son’s last year over there,
we won the region and were in the playoffs ...
(On winning the region:)
“We beat Murray County for for the region
championship ... The boy who kicked the
winning field goal, Andy Wilkes, had a bro
ken hand and was in a cast, but we were
able to get him in and kick a field goal.”
percentage (.714) is first all-time for
coaches who spent at least two years
in Jefferson. Two of his sons gradu
ated from Jefferson, including Jimmy
Lofton - now an attorney in the U.S.
Department of Justice — who quarter-
backed the Dragons for four years.
“There are a lot of good folks over
there,” Lofton said. “That was a good
10-year period for me and my family.”
Those wanting to obtain a copy
of Lofton’s book can do so by
going to www.coachlofton.com.
The Jackson County Board of Commissioners is
proud to announce the expansion of services at the
Veteran's Information and Referral Office (VIRO)
Who is eligible for to be served? All veterans who have served in United
States Armed Forces.
What services will be provided? The VIRO will assist Veterans with learning
about eligible benefits, applying for benefits, assist with setting up
appointments, and helping resolve problems by providing feedback to the
Veteran's Administration.
Where will the VIRO be located? The new VIRO will be located in the bottom
floor of the Jackson County Administration Building, 67 Athens Street,
Jefferson, Georgia. Parking is available between the Administration Building
and the EMS Center.
When will the office be open? The VIRO will be open on the 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd
Tuesdays of each Month from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm. Volunteers will be ready
to assist any veteran that walks into the office. No appointment is necessary.
How can I get more information? Please call Len Bernat, Jackson County
Purchasing Manager if you need more information on how to obtain assistance
or if you wish to volunteer to work with our veterans. Len can be contacted by
calling (706) 367-1816 or by email at lbernat@jacksoncountygov.com.
The Jackson County Veteran's Information and Referral Office works with the
Veteran's Administration to help them fulfill their mission statement: Our
promise to serve those who have served.