By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
ONE FEATHER STAFF
This is the first installment in a weekly sports column where I’ll highlight Cherokee athletes and coaches, provide some “insight” (or my take on insight) on games, sometimes discuss national sports news, and give my “sporting must-sees” for the weekend which will include my picks for live and televised events not to miss.
Will Poolaw is shown with a medal he won at the Special Olympics last fall. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather)
For my first column, I’d like to talk about someone that we see at just about every Cherokee sporting event – Will Poolaw.
Will serves as the manager for several of the Cherokee High School teams including the JV and varsity football teams and the varsity boys basketball team. For football season, Will is there…rain or shine, hot or cold, day or night, he is there…on the sidelines.
Will is not only a diehard Cherokee Braves fan. He is a true sports fan, and he remembers what team just about everyone he knows pulls for. Each week, on the sidelines of football games, Will asks me how my Packers are going to do in the upcoming game.
Each season, I enjoy seeing Will and watching his enthusiasm for the game and the Braves.
Will not only loves watching sports, he is also an active member of the Qualla Boundary Special Olympics program and frequently wins medals at the area games.
But, everything else aside, the most important aspect of Will is the respect he shows to everyone around him. He is a shining example of how to be a contribution to a community.
Sporting must-sees for Jan. 23-25
After we watch the Braves and Lady Braves dismantle Andrews on Friday night, check out the X-Games from Aspen, Colo. being shown on ABC throughout the weekend. I’m a sucker for winter sports though.
