Newspaper Page Text
November 21, 2012
iReporter
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PAGE 5B
Monroe players lift academy team to title
The Macon United U14 soccer team won the championship in its age division at the Fall Fut-
bol Classic in Forsyth County over the weekend. The team includes seven Monroe County
residents including, Shane King, Dawson Baker, James Davis, Matthew Miller, William Ste-
vick, Jake Edwards and Luke Slappey. (Photo courtesy Donn Rodenroth)
C-team announces season awards
The Monroe County Middle School football team held its end of season banquet last week.
Above, Caleb Etheridge, middle, received the Coaches Award for the Mary Persons 7th-8th
grade football team at the C team's banquet on Thursday, Nov. 15 at the Banks Stephens
campus. From left are coaches Thomas Yawn, Kurt Greene, (Etheridge), Harvey Appling and
Tony Atwater. Etheridge was the right guard on the offensive line. Other award winners in
cluded Caleb Speir (quarterback) for most improved offensive player and Vic Henderson
(left outside linebacker) for most improved defensive player.
Forsyth’s Tra Battle back in
Athens as a pre-med student
This story about former Mary Persons
and UGA star Tra Battle appeared in
the Nov. 2 edition of the Athens Banner-
Herald.
BY CHRIS WHITE
Tra Battle’s second go-round in
Athens is playing out a little differently.
Football has been replaced by family.
Working out has given way to work.
And the drive down Highway 316
isn’t a path to a party in Atlanta, it’s
a commute from his home in
Duluth.
The former Bulldogs All-American
and NFL safety re-enrolled at
Georgia in the spring and finished
up his bachelor’s degree in child and
family development. Now Battle, a
27-year-old husband and father of
four, is a pre-med student and aspir
ing anesthesiologist.
“It really is easier the second time
around, though,” Battle said of return
ing to school after spending part of
three seasons between the NFL’s San
Diego Chargers, Dallas Cowboys,
Detroit Lions and Cleveland Browns
and a stint in the United Football
League. “I knew I had to study, but
when I was an athlete, I knew I had a
big game coming up and might not
study because of that or because I
wanted to go to this party this week
end. School was pretty much on the
back burner. The second time around,
school is the main priority. It’s actually
easier, and I figured out this amazing
thing — if you actually read the text
book, you can get an A.”
Battle hasn’t cut all his football ties.
He stays in touch with many of his for
mer coaches, including Georgia head
coach Mark Richt and defensive coordi
nator Todd Grantham, who was an
assistant coach with the Dallas
Cowboys when Battle played for the
team. Battle hasn’t been able to attend
a Georgia football game since he last
played against West Virginia in the
2006 Sugar Bowl, but that will change
today as he has been named an hon
orary captain for the Georgia-Ole Miss
game.
“I’m glad that the situation I’m in
now kind of lends itself to getting back
into that environment more,” Battle
said. “This will be the first time I’ll be a
spectator at a
Georgia game, and it’s definitely an
environment where everyone is still
friendly.”
Battle’s wife, Luisa, is a pre-nursing
student at Gwinnett College, and they
have four children, 7-year-old Tre, 5-
year-old Tayte, 4-year-old Natalie and
2-year-old Emmanuel. The life experi
ence Battle has picked up along the
way has made the balancing act a bit
easier as he drives to Athens most
days, attends classes, works as an oper
ating-room anesthesiology tech at
Athens Regional Hospital and returns
home shortly before midnight.
“Playing professionally, you have to
study, take notes and list to lectures
from a coach,” Battle said. “The only
difference is I’m not watching film. But
the rest is the same. I think it’s a bit of
maturation and having had a full-time
job, even if it was playing football, to
show me what it takes to get job done
when coming back to school.”
Battle stumbled into his chosen
career path as a sophomore at Mary
Persons High in Forsyth. His typing
instructor noticed he was getting ahead
of the lesson and, trying to keep him
occupied, gave him a book, told him to
pick a career out of it and write a
report on it. On the first page, he stum
bled across anesthesiologist.
“I just read about it and thought it
was interesting,” Battle said. “And so
since my sophomore year of high
school, I wanted to be an anesthesiolo
gist.”
That goal has helped Battle transition
from professional sports to a new
career path, a move that he said many
athletes struggle to navigate successful
ly-
“It wasn’t ever really a big goal of
mine to play professional football, so
when i did it, I just said that I didn’t
want to look back in 10 or 15 years and
say I probably could have but didn’t
try,” Battle said. “I went in with those
intentions and just wanted to have
some great stories to tell and wanted to
have some great experiences. But I
think that’s a problem for a lot of pro
fessional athletes. I’ve been playing
football since I was 7, and this is the
first time I’m not playing football in 20
years. I think a lot of guys, when they
transition, they find they let football
define them. It wasn’t my identity. I
always wanted to be a doctor, so I’m
just back on that path and it wasn’t a
hard transition to make. Luckily, I still
have other goals and things I want to
accomplish.”
Battle stumbled into his chosen career path as
a sophomore at Mary Persons High in Forsyth.
His typing instructor noticed he was getting
ahead of the lesson and, trying to keep him oc
cupied, gave him a book, told him to pick a ca
reer out of it and write a report on it. On the first
page, he stumbled across anesthesiologist.
CITY OF FORSYTH
REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS
The City of Forsyth is accepting proposals for the following
professional services:
• Water and Waste Water Management
• City Attorney
• City Auditor
• Banking
• Uniform Cleaning & Rental
• Solid Waste Disposal
Proposal documents are available for inspection and download at
www.cityofforsyth.net on the Announcements page which can be
found in the Publications section. The City of Forsyth reserves the
right to reject any or all proposals or any portion of any proposal.
The City of Forsyth will accept the proposal deemed to be in the
best overall interest of the City. The City of Forsyth is an Equal
Opportunity Employer and a Drug Free Workplace.
FFA competes at U.S. convention
The Mary Persons FFA Chapter
recently participated in the
National FFA Convention in
Indianapolis, Indiana from Oct. 24-
27. Over 65,000 FFA members from
across the nation participated in
many activities; such as, national
competitions, awards programs,
industry tours, a career expo, and
general sessions that included moti
vation speakers.
Our FFA Chapter competed in the
National Agricultural Mechanics
competition. Our team represented
Georgia as we were the state win
ning team last february. Team
members included Ryan English,
Foster Hopkins, Jordan Harbin, and
Brody Shiver. Our team was
awarded a silver emblem as we
placed 22nd out of 46 states compet
ing in the contest. Individually,
both Brody Shiver and Jordan
Harbin were awarded Gold
Emblems, with Jordan placing 20th
overall, and Brody placing 50th
individually. In addition, to Jordan
winning a gold emblem, He was the
high individual in the nation in the
Electrical Systems area of the con
test.
Our Chapter also had three mem
bers receive the American FFA
Degree.The American Degree is the
highest degree a member can
receive in the FFA. Out of one half
a million members annually in the
National FFA Organization only
about 3000 members receive their
American Degree. We are very
proud of Tyler Dungan, Rachel
Johnson, and Caleb Walston for this
prestigous honor.
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