(Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

Baseball has a funny way about bringing out the romance in sports. Perhaps no one in Colorado knows that more than Cherry Creek coach Marc Johnson.

Nearly 50 years and 800-plus wins into his coaching career, his love for the game has never wavered. It has helped him develop relationships with countless kids that have come through his program and he’s hoping that’s a trend that will continue for years to come.

With baseball set to return at the professional level, Johnson couldn’t help but stress just how badly the game has been missed and how much it has meant to him and the hundreds of kids that have made their way through the Cherry Creek program.

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Question: How much have we missed baseball over the last few months?

Johnson: Oh, I think tremendously. I think the kids have missed it. I know the players, the major league players, have missed it. The fans have missed it. It’s been a real adjustment for everybody. I was watching a couple of summer camp games and it just looked so odd because there was nobody in the stands. I can tell you the businesses in LoDo miss it. Everybody that I know has missed it. The game has been missed very very much.

Q: When you think on your career at Cherry Creek, are you able to appreciate more now than maybe you did a year or two ago?

Johnson: Yes, absolutely. I will be starting my 49th year and I’ve never had a year like this, I think the one thing it does do is make you appreciate what you can do when you can do it.

Q: You have over 800 wins now, is there a point where you’ve considered slowing down or is this a game that’s just going to keep you in it as long as possible?

Johnson: As long as I’m healthy and as long as I feel the kids are still responding; the game is not about me or it’s not about even the sport itself, it’s about the kids that are playing it. As long as the kids are playing it are enjoying it, they’re getting better, and every kid’s not meant to play collegiately or professionally.

But I get to look back on my own personal time in baseball, and I’ve loved every second of it for the time I was five, six years old. People ask me all the time when I’m going to stop and that’s when kids don’t respond anymore or kids don’t show the passion that I love to see. I have a genuine love of the game itself and I’m not in coaching contrary to what a lot of people believe, they think I’m about winning games or setting records or something like that, but that has nothing to do with why I’m coaching. That’s meaningless to me. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be, if it’s not, it’s not. I’m not concerned about that. My point is that I love to watch guys walk on the field and smile and be humble and gracious that they get the opportunity to play the game that I love. And I hope that I can transfer the passion, the love of the game to the kids.

One thing that I ask my players at the end of every season is to give something back to the game. Whether you play it again or you don’t. Whether you play collegiately or professionally. IF you’re a dad be a coach to a team, provide uniforms, be a sponsor, pay for umpires or help sponsor a team. Do something to keep the game going. This is a different era. Now you got all the clubs and these kids have three, four or five uniforms. They’re traveling at 10 years old. I used to wear a tee shirt with somebody’s auto shop or Joe’s Barbershop on the back. That was our sponsorship and we bought own pants. It hasn’t changed, the game itself for the love of the game, but what I want is I want to teach the kids to enjoy the game. And then if it’s meant to be that they play further on, then more power to them.

It’s a game that’s very valuable for life because there’s a lot of failure you have to deal with. The game itself, baseball, one of the beauties of it in my opinion is it’s life like. It’s very much like life. You can be riding up high and then it can slam you to the ground. And that’s true for big leaguers, minor leaguers, college players, even 10 year olds. But you know what? You have to learn how to handle that. And I think that’s a great life skill. You have to learn how to handle the things that don’t go well. How do I react to adversity? How do I make adjustments? How do I teach myself to be patient, to be persistent and to persevere?

It’s been a blessing and an honor for me to coach it. The game has kept me young because the players are young. I’m coaching guys that are 15, 18, 19, maybe, but you know what? They’re just young enough to keep you, keep you young and fired up and interested in going for it.

(Jack Eberhard/JacksActionShots.com)

Q: Is there a point where you’ve either seen a player that’s come through your program, that’s made it to the majors or just gone on to have a regular job and made his way back to say hello where you truly believe you’re in the right spot to help kids be successful?

Johnson: I do. And I felt it from both sides. I get a lot of response from my former players. Usually it’s one of two things. It’s something that’s going well in their life or getting married or having a baby, or when things are not going very well. I just try to respond and say, perseverance, stay with it, you’ll get through it. I’ve had the player who has gone on who didn’t play collegiately, but he’s gone on to be a great businessman, his kid is playing ball. I had someone the other day, because I’ve had a lot of my former players kids, and I’ve had players ask me if I’m going to give it up when you get the grandkids. I have my own grandkids and I’m watching them play.

Baseball’s a part of my blood. I feel that that’s where God has decided that I would best serve the community and the country. I still love doing it and I’m hoping to get another year of doing all that. These sports do so much for kids at the youth level, not just high school, but I just think it’s so important to them to have that experience, to learn how to compete ethically, to learn how to have fun and to learn how to handle losing with grace and not teach them that they have to love losing. I tell the guys every day for you, whether you’re playing a game or not, it’s a practice. That’s all it is. It’s a practice. It’s a practice for you for later. Baseball-wise, it’s a practice for life. It’s just a practice.

All of these kids, they all think I have to be this and I have be that. I have to be a big leaguer and I have to tell them fact. The fact is 10% of Division I players never play professionally. Four-point-five of those play in the big leagues. One of every 10,000 boys, not baseball players, but boys play in the major leagues. You shouldn’t be playing to be a major leaguer. You should be playing to be the best you can be.

Q: You have a vault of memories in your head from all the time that you’ve been coaching. If someone were to ask you, what’s the first memory that pops into your head when you think about your time at Cherry Creek, what pops in there?

Johnson: Two things. One thing is just having the pleasantness to be able to coach kids, that’s number one. And the second one would be when we won five straight titles in a row. That’s pretty rare from a winning thing. But working with the kids is much more important for me and every kid that ever played there. I’m hoping that they had a positive experience and I fully know that you can’t please all the people all the time, but I I’m hoping that their baseball experience transferred to their life. That’s a hope that I have. I’ve had great players, unbelievable coaches, a great administration. I’m one of the most blessed people on Earth doing what I love to do.I have people say we appreciate what you do and I appreciate the opportunity to do it.

Q: You wouldn’t be in this if you weren’t a baseball fan, what’s going to be your first thought when you can sit down, turn on the TV and watch the Rockies play after everything that’s gone on in the last few months?

Johnson: I’ll be very excited. I worked part time for the Rockies for seven or eight years. I love my home team. I’ll be excited and I’ll be fine just watching them, even if there aren’t fans. I certainly wish there were. I’m hoping that the gets back to what it’s about. It’s an entertaining game. It’s not a lot different than people who love to go to concerts. I love to watch college sports, I love to watch professional sports and obviously I’m a huge Broncos fan, a huge Nuggets fan and a huge Rockies fan, the Outlaws, it doesn’t matter to me. This is where I live. So I’m really looking forward to watching a game that is meaningful, even though I loved watching them last night or two at summer camp. But I’ll love it when it’s for real. Even a 60-game season is better than a zero-game season.

Commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green took questions from CHSAA’s student leadership community as part of their virtual student leadership conference, held on Wednesday.

Questions ranged from her heroes growing up to the impact of COVID-19 to the movement for social and racial justice.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

Teaching and coaching is in Colin Prater’s blood. The Palmer High School alum spent years following his grandfather Carl Fetters on the sidelines.

Fetters was a longtime football coach at Cheyenne Mountain High School before jumping on as an assistant in the area and later at Colorado State University-Pueblo, where he was on staff when the ThunderWolves claimed a national championship.

Fetters’ son, Monte, is the girls golf coach at Mesa Ridge and even served as the head girls basketball coach for a year.

It feels like Prater was destined to teach and coach, but one look at him on the golf course and it’s hard to figure out why he didn’t dedicate himself to trying to make it as a pro.

Prater is a rare winner of both the Colorado Amateur and the Colorado Match Play championship. He won the match play in June thanks in part to swiping a putter out of his grandfather’s garage.

He’s played in the U.S. Amateur twice (2016 and 2019) and won the Pikes Peak Amateur at Patty Jewett Golf Course four of the last five years. Last year, he shot a PJ course record 62 during Pikes Peak Am qualifying.

Sitting in front of the course’s trophy case where his scorecard proudly occupies the center, he chatted about what made him forgo a potential professional career in favor of teaching and coaching at the high school level.

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Question: What sticks out the most when you think about playing high school golf?

Prater: Definitely in high school, it’s all about development. It’s all about just trying to get better. You’re honing those skills in. Too many kids are so focused on trying to hit it farther. I definitely was, especially when I was a freshman, sophomore who was so tiny. It was all about trying to hit further. And what I think made me really good when I was super tiny was the fact that I was just always working on my short game. I knew I was only going to get to half the par fours in two, so I knew if I want to make par, then my short game had to be the best short game there was in the city.

I think that’s what kind of gave me some success early. Gramps always preached that for sure. But it’s just all development. It’s all work. It’s the same thing in any sport, it’s having really solid fundamentals. It’s so much easier to get back to doing something right if you have good fundamentals. It’s a lot more difficult if you don’t and it’s all timing based. It’s all about foundational stuff, fundamentals. Too many kids think they’re really good at an early age and so they don’t really have that work ethic that they need in order to be solid or be competitive if they’re going onto the next level.

Q: After you were after you’d wrapped up playing in college, you’ve played in a lot of statewide competitive tournaments, city competitive tournaments. I know you flirted with the idea of moving to Arizona to go pro, but why ultimately did the idea of teaching and getting into coaching win out?

Prater: I fell in love with teaching. I didn’t think I was going to love teaching as much. Once I graduated, once I was done in May of 2018, I was dead set (on going pro). I got started planning and got started lining up where I’m going to live, what I’m going to do when I’m down there. When I’m not playing, I’m trying to start talking to sponsors to see if I can get some money, this, that, and the other to kind of promote myself and kind of had all those lined up. I was dead set on it. I had four months of student teaching to do and have that in my back pocket if I needed it 10 years from now kind of thing. And I just fell in love with it.

And then talking with my girlfriend, she had a little, maybe a touch of uneasiness with her about wanting to move down there with me. That meant changing up her plans because she was about to start her master’s. We just decided collectively as one that we didn’t need to move. And I was just going to stay competitive and continue to work on my game, but stay amateur and maybe down the road, another door to open and I’d be able to go play. Lastly, probably just the fact that Gramps taught and coached for 34 years at Cheyenne Mountain. My uncle’s been in it now, I want to say this was this past year was this 26th or 27th year and I’m super close with them. So I talked to them. They say, they love it. It’s cliche, but it’s an in my blood kind of thing. I’m just super fortunate. I fell into a career that I love, I got into coaching super early, which is what I wanted to do and get that kind of start to try and get that experience. Life’s great for me.

Q: What have you learned throughout the competitive golf tournaments you’re playing in that that you’re hoping to apply to the girls golfers at Doherty?

Prater: I preach consistency. Try to become as consistent as possible. Even if it’s just kind of creating that standard. I’m very goal driven. I learned that in college. I’ve always needed to have a goal in mind and have a long term goal, but have great short term goals that motivate my girls. That’s kinda what I really preach to them. And I preached that to them for, I don’t know, like three weeks. I mean eight practices and maybe I like getting together with them a couple days before we started practicing. A lot of it is stuff I’m going to learn. I’m going work my butt off. I think I read a lot of golf books now that I’m done playing college golf, which makes absolutely zero sense.

You think you’d be reading them while you’re competing. But I’m just reading them just to try and get a new philosophy. It’s just like teaching. You have to say something four or five different ways in order for it to connect with all of your students. You can say at one way and great, 10 kids will get it, but you have to teach and you have to modify and you have to change how you teach it and what you say and to fit every kid. And so I think that’s what I’m truly trying to do now that I’ve got into coaching is just trying to make it applicable to all of the girls that I’m coaching.

Q: How much of, what you’re trying to do comes from watching your grandpa for however many years, whether it was high school football, college football, whatever? How much of him is in you as a coach and even as a teacher?

Prater: I don’t think I’m as mean as he is. He’s a hard (case). But definitely his rapport with kids. He connects with them even now that he’s like almost 80. The guy’s 79, but just has a great rapport with kids and how he interacts with people in public. He’s has always done a really good job of being able to connect with kids and just like my uncle has as well. He’s a grinder and he works his tail off.

I would like to think that I have a little bit of that in me as well and I think a lot of what I’ve learned and a lot of what I preach is stuff that came straight out of his mouth that he taught me when I was seven or eight and when I was 12 and I was tired and I had blisters on my hands because I hit 455 golf balls today. He’d say, “there are still 40 balls left.” No matter what you do, you can always do something better. I’m trying to mold that into my philosophy of use. Every single day is a day to get better, no matter what, no matter how much success you’ve had. You can always be better. You can, you can always be a better golfer. You can always be a better person. You can always say please and thank you, those kinds of things. That’s what he’s really good at. He’s about those fine details and that’s one thing that I have to work on for sure.

Q: He’s been around long enough that surely you have something you carry around with you or use from time to time whether you’re playing or teaching. Anything stick out in your head?

Prater: I hear his voice in my head sometimes. It comes out way more when he’s there. I’ll hit a bad shot and I know exactly what he said in his head. I’ve been so lucky. My grandparents, my parents, they’ve always been there, no matter what. I was telling (Colorado Springs Gazette sports columnist Paul) Klee that it was goofy (at the Colorado Match Play) Monday and Tuesday, because there were no spectators allowed. And that was the first time in a long time that I’ve played a round of competitive golf and not had at least one of the four of them there. I grew up and it might’ve been my grandma or it might’ve been Gramps or it might’ve been my parents. There was a rare occasion where it was just one of them, but more often than not, it was all four of them. So just to be able to have that support and have those people behind you is great. I didn’t learn this until I was probably 13 or 14, but they’re riding my butt or yelling at me. They’re critiquing me because they know I can be better. They know that’s the only way to get better, you need some tough love. That’s exactly what you need. And that’s how I was raised.

When I was young, like 11 and 12, I never understood. I went 2-for-4 at a baseball game and didn’t make an error in the field and encouraged my teammates really well and stole three bases. But I struck out once and after the game, my Gramps asked, “why did you strike out?” And I get in the car and mom takes me home. Same freaking thing. “Why’d you strike out.” And riding me for that and not congratulating me for doing the other things. But they knew that if I can put in enough time and effort and motivate myself enough that in that next game, I go 3-for-4 with a ground out and not strike out. And at the same time, they’re still critiquing. Why’d you fumble that ball when you were playing shortstop? You’re playing golf and you shoot 74 and that’s great at 15, but you had two three-putts. Why is Gramps riding me about these two three-putts kind of thing. Fortunately I really realized at 16 that it pays dividends even to this day. I’m my own harshest critic and I think that’s the best way to continue to either maintain or ideally improve your game.

Q: What’s the story behind the putter that your grandpa gave you, that you used to win the Match Play?

Prater: It’s a TaylorMade Daddy Long Legs. It’s (CSU-Pueblo football coach) John Wristen’s putter. I think he didn’t like it. My Gramps asked to try it and then I’m in his garage probably first week of June, mowing his grass. So I take it with me one day and start playing with it. I love the way it feels. I’m able to control my speed really well. It has this real long grip on it, so I can let my arms hang a little bit better, and for me that’s better. I just fell in love with it, even though my speed the first four days of the match play was absolutely terrible. I think I had five or six three-putts but it paid dividends in the final because I chipped and putted like a stud the last day. It’s a great putter so then I bought another one on eBay as a backup, even though I think I like Wristen’s putter more.

Q: I know you’re jumping the boys basketball staff this winter. That and with everything that’s gone on, do you have some renewed energy to get back to work?

Prater: Yeah, absolutely. We’re going on around four months that I haven’t seen kid. We started basketball camp a couple of weeks ago, so I’ve seen some of them, but yeah, absolutely. I’m super excited for August, no matter how things look. I’m super anxious. I’m super excited. And at the same time too, I have tons to learn. I mean I’m 25, I’m going into my second year of teaching. I’d love to be able to coach girls golf next spring and I’m super stoked. We’re five weeks away from us teachers reporting back to school. I have to play a lot of golf in that time before then. I want to try and teach my kids something every day, whether I’m teaching them, whether I’m coaching them, It doesn’t matter if it’s Doherty girls golf, whether it’s Doherty boys golf or boys basketball. I’m going to be teaching chemistry this next year which is a new class for me, so I still got a lot to learn in that regard, but hopefully I’ll learn something every single day. And then my kids will learn something every single day.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

(Ryan Casey/CHSAANow.com)

We understand the desire for more info as our office continues to plan for the safe return of athletics and activities in the 2020-21 school year.

So our commissioner, Rhonda Blanford-Green, took to Twitter on Tuesday to answer questions on that topic.

Know that we are advocating for a safe return to play.

Follow Rhonda on Twitter here: Follow @rhondachsaa

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We posted some of her answers to questions below.

On fall sports timeline:

Once our plans receive approval by state and health officials, we will communicate next steps. We are extremely optimistic about the collaborative direction of discussions. I reiterate the word “patience”, we have some challenges but we are moving🤞🏾 https://t.co/eJo60wQBl2

— Rhonda BlanfordGreen (@RhondaCHSAA) July 7, 2020

More about the timeline for announcing plans:

That is the estimated timeline but we aren’t the only organization on the state, health, education official’s agenda. Resuming Education is the priority and we will support and compliment the direction of our member schools when they have definitives. https://t.co/AfECzBJ5op

— Rhonda BlanfordGreen (@RhondaCHSAA) July 7, 2020

On switching seasons:

I have not seen a state association definitively announce swapping seasons. They, like us are exploring all ideas. The idea was just voted down by two Associations. Our goal is to protect traditional seasons, three sport athletes and our member rural/small school opportunities. https://t.co/LYmUIdlaE4

— Rhonda BlanfordGreen (@RhondaCHSAA) July 7, 2020

On quarantining:

State and local health guidelines for reporting, contact tracing and quarantine will be strictly adhered to once we resume. No different than the current protocol during summer-local control coach/athlete/team contact. https://t.co/1gvOsVb2Oy

— Rhonda BlanfordGreen (@RhondaCHSAA) July 7, 2020

On venues:

We currently have some challenges with previous site availability and capacity limitations but it is July! We don’t have contracts finalized because dates are fluid but if given the chance, our staff will find the venues🙌🏾 https://t.co/eTBsNZ6lnQ

— Rhonda BlanfordGreen (@RhondaCHSAA) July 7, 2020

On collaboration with other states:

Since March, 51 Execs and Commissioners have continuously shared our thoughts, plans and frustrations. The pandemic has brought us closer together by the common goal-safely resuming HS programs. Awareness of 51 national plans allows us to construct models specific to CO! https://t.co/n5McwwcBJa

— Rhonda BlanfordGreen (@RhondaCHSAA) July 7, 2020

On a potential resurgence:

A COVID-19 resurgence and a stall with state reopening phases could disrupt our planned start dates for fall but we are moving towards resuming all sports and activities with potential contingencies for 2020-21! https://t.co/XczhUBc9Kp

— Rhonda BlanfordGreen (@RhondaCHSAA) July 8, 2020

(Dustin Price/dustinpricephotography.com)

We caught up with CHSAA commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green to talk about the upcoming fall sports season, where other states are, in-person learning, and timelines.

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Question: As we head into July, a big question that we keep seeing is, “Where we are with starting football this fall?”

Blanford-Green: 51 state high school associations, colleges and professional organizations are all being faced with that same question.

Mid-July will be a pivotal time period for assessment and what our state government and public health officials will allow within the guidelines. Those guidelines will ultimately determine the Association’s ability to move forward either fully, with modifications or with incremental sport-specific start dates.

Our staff continues to prepare for a fall sport season.

Q: There is some talk about football players transferring to other states, such as Arizona, Texas, and Louisiana, in order to play. Are those states at a different place than we are? Have they said they will definitely have a season?

Blanford-Green: None of the aforementioned states have definitively said, “We will have football.” They have all experienced a rise in Coronavirus cases and outbreaks in the past two weeks. Their state and health officials have recently taken more restrictive measures on public gatherings and social distancing, including a pause on sports.

In fact, the Governor of Arizona just pushed back on athletic contact, all start dates, which translates to delays with practices and competitive start dates for high schools.

Several states have continued their spring moratorium on coach/athlete contact either by state or health orders.

Colorado has incrementally allowed coach/athlete contact for all sports within the local controlled safety guidelines. Colorado coaches and athletes have been given more latitude to begin summer conditioning and competitive readiness more so than some of our counterparts across the nation.

I can respect the decisions of parents and players to seek definitive answers, but I can assure you that no state association has offered a guarantee that they will play. We are all working to make it happen, knowing that the final decisions aren’t within our control.

Q: Will students have to be fully back in the classroom for sports to resume?

Blanford-Green: Our bylaws currently have provisions for non-traditional educational models such as home school and online learning.

We are fully prepared for sport and activity implementation to meet the needs of our membership. Our goal is to support our schools and student-participants wherever they land when final decisions are made for education this fall.

There are many challenges ahead but educational leaders across this state are working diligently to return to levels of normalcy with the safety of our students, and those who support them, in the forefront.

Q: Is there anything else you want to add?

Blanford-Green: I understand where students, coaches, and parents are frustrated. Our staff is equally frustrated. We are ready to go, but we are not in a position or place where we can decide to “just let the kids play.”

We don’t get to play infectious disease doctors or disregard our state and public health guidelines. There can’t be definitive answers when our country and state continues to fluctuate within their safe-to-reopen phases.

(Photo courtesy of Abby Bartolotta)

When coming up with a list of who’s who in Colorado girls high school basketball, Abby Waner (now Bartolotta) has to be on that list.

A premier player amongst a talented class of athletes, Abby helped ThunderRidge claim three straight Class 5A state championships. She has 43 individual entries in the state record book, including records for points in a game (61), state tournament points in a season (163) and career (515), and field goals attempted in a season.

She and her sister Emily both played at Duke University, where Abby once again proved herself as not just a great player on her team, but a great player in the entire nation.

She won two gold medals in international competition and even got a taste of playing in the WNBA.

Now married to former Heritage standout Jimmy Bartolotta, Abby Bartolotta is tackling life as a mother to two girls.

But there is always a part of her that will be connected to basketball. She took time to chat about what high school basketball meant to her and how it things have changed since she dominated the floor at ThunderRidge.

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Question: When you think back to your high school basketball days, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?

(Barry Gutierrez/Denver Public Library, Rocky Mountain News Photo Collection)

Abby: My teammates. Without fail. I was pretty fortunate in that I had my sister paving the way, so it kind of starts with her. It’s an answer you get a lot and there’s a reason for that. Some of my closest friends and still some of my closest friends today are two of my teammates, Megan McCahill, I actually just went to her drive by baby shower last week, and Emily Fox is expecting her baby girl in October so I dropped off a stroller at her house the other day.

So it’s just fun because that’s what started these lifelong friendships and that’s just, that’s something I’ll never forget about that period of time.

Q: It seems like now girls basketball in Colorado has kind of become a little bit of a hotbed when it comes to national recruiting. We have so many girls going to Stanford and so many other D-I players, what was that whole recruiting scene like when you were in high school, especially when it came to a university like Duke coming after you?

Abby: It’s funny you say that because last weekend we were at my parents’ for just a family dinner and my dad was talking about how when we were my daughter’s age was when he started taking us to games at Highlands Ranch High School. That’s pretty wild to think about. We started talking about some of the players that we actually remember watching and we’d just sit in the stands and he would tell us to pick out a player that we wanted to be like and just watch them the whole game.

We started doing that from a young age and the next thing you know, I’m playing college basketball and high school basketball against Ann Strother and Ambrosia Anderson and Elizabeth Sherwood, Susan Walters. You can go back a little bit further to some of the older Heritage players that went to UConn and Tennessee.

I think what happened is it just became an expectation. When you play against those type of players every single day, your team is going to get elevated and your expectations are going to get elevated. The best thing that could have happened could have happened to all of us was that we started playing together because you practice far more than you playing games.

At ThunderRidge every single day, I was playing against Emily Fox who went on to be one of the best players in Minnesota history. That for sure made me a better player.

And then what happens is it’s just product of the community and college coaches came to know that there was a community here that does it right. These players feed off of each other and they’re going to have similar qualities and similar goals. It was something that I don’t think we ever necessarily took it for granted, but I don’t think we realized at the time how unusual it was.

I think back to like my club team and every single player got a Division I scholarship at one point, which is wild. It just doesn’t happen. It definitely was that atmosphere of competition that we had playing against each other every day and the scholarships, the notoriety, it really was all just a byproduct. First and foremost, we’re all competitors and that’s what made us all raise the level of our game.

Q: How much of an adjustment was it when you got to Duke?

Abby: It was a big adjustment. You go out in high school thinking you’re a good defender because you can get 10 steals a game by playing pretty poor defense. You get to college and you actually learn what good defense means and how discipline is part of it and what staying in a stance actually means. You’re not going to just out-athletic anybody. Defense was definitely the biggest adjustment.

To be honest, I grew up in a culture where we were in the gym all the time. If you weren’t in the gym, somebody else was and they were getting better than you. My sister and I really brought that mentality to Duke and because of that, I think it helps that adjustment.

The amount of basketball, the amount of working out, that didn’t change for us. It was more how we did it, the mechanisms, the strength and conditioning, that was probably one of the bigger adjustments. We were fortunate in that we came from an environment and a culture that really prepared us. We had coaches that knew what they were doing and knew what was coming our way.

Q: Is there a comparison in the amount of pressure that you felt then to the amount of pressure that some of the kids might be feeling now? I feel like before they step on a middle school gym, there’s a recruiting profile on some website of every potential, big-time basketball player.

Abby: I am so grateful that we weren’t a part of this era with the access that coaches have to players. I’ve been out of it for long enough that I don’t know what all the rules are now surrounding recruiting, but it goes two ways.

I was really lucky in that college coaches were coming to us. We really didn’t have to solicit that because they found their way to our gym. I realize that’s the exception and that most players end up reaching out to coaches and recruiters themselves and that’s how they get that. That’s how they get their name out.

Understand that my experience was different than the norm. So in terms of the pressure, I think that is a negative byproduct that comes from the access of the internet and social media. But if you can use it for the positive and turn around and say now these kids have access to college coaches that they didn’t have before. I talked to a girl the other day and she said that she’s just been direct messaging every college coach the link to her Hudl video. That’s amazing.

Before it was such a process to track down the college coaches’ contact information so you can email and get them to reply to you. Now there’s this immediate response, which I think if channeled properly it can be used for good. It’s probably more important now than ever that parents are highly involved, that they can help their kids still just be kids while using that to their advantage, to get, the attention that they merit.

Q: If you think back to all the levels of basketball you played, what was the most fun?

(Barry Gutierrez/Denver Public Library, Rocky Mountain News Photo Collection)

Abby: That’s such a hard question. I’m not saying this just because it’s a CHSAA interview, but it was high school. I think that was when it was the most raw. College was a job. I was there on a scholarship and I was getting essentially a free education to play basketball. So I took that seriously. And I wanted to win, so I’m not saying that it was just a job in college.

Something that was always a driving factor for me in high school, college and otherwise was this insatiable desire to win. That was there in high school. It was there in college, but in high school, we were kids. We were sheltered from some of the pressure you talked about in your last question. We were just really, really good basketball players and that was fun.

Playing for Team USA were just some incredible experiences. I also met some of my lifelong friends through USA. What I wish looking back on that was that I had a better grasp of getting to travel the world in that way and see different cultures and see basketball through different lenses.

At age 16 and 17, we were just there to hoop and we were happy when we found a TGIFriday’s in Moscow, instead of really thinking about the cultural experience as the most important part of it.

It’s hard to pinpoint, but if I had to go back in time, I think I would probably get back to my days as a Grizzly.

Q: What would you tell someone maybe like a Jana Van Gytenbeek and a Fran Belibi who are at Stanford or a Lauren Betts who ESPN just labeled as a top recruit in the nation? What would you tell those girls about a college experience and life post-college that you didn’t know about 10 years ago?

Abby: College is a full experience and as a women’s basketball player at some of these elite institutions, they’re going to have avenues that your everyday kid doesn’t get, and I’m not just talking about basketball.

One of my regrets and this might seem small, but I wish I had tried to be a writer for the Duke Chronicle. I never did those extracurricular things. Well, I did, but not to the extent that I think I probably could have because I was so head down in basketball. It’s easy to say that now that I’m not in it, but they should take advantage of the full college experience by way of education and programs, the adults that are going to be there supporting them.

My sister did a great job of that at Duke. She was part of the CAPE program, which is the collegiate athlete pre-med experience. And that was a big part of her becoming a doctor. She did that while playing basketball. If I had a regret, it would be that I wish I had stretched myself a little bit more to partake in some programs and activities that Duke had to offer.

I don’t want to be cliche, but there’s a reason people say that it goes fast. Be there for every summer school, be there for every voluntary workout, take advantage of having the gym to yourself because before you know it, the four years are going to be up and it’s true, it goes quickly.

Q: How much is basketball still a part of your life today?

Abby: So my mom sends me a picture. She was watching my daughter, Ella, the other day, and Ella’s two and a half. I think we have a plastic hoop out back, but outside of that we really haven’t done much by way of basketball with her, nor do we expect to. But the other day my mom was watching her and sent me a picture of her sitting in her stroller, watching what I think it was a high school team practicing outside. She was just rapt with attention and that meant so much to me to see these high school aged girls are setting an example for my daughter. It was a pretty out of body out of body moment for me.

A lot of what’s important now for me is coming through the lens that I have two daughters two years apart, just like me and my sister. I hope that they can have similar experiences. I don’t care if it’s through sports or through music or through theater, but being able to find the same source of competition and friendship and confidence that I got from basketball. That’s probably what will make me check in more than anything.

I was watching last year, the Final Four and watching Sabrina Ionescu from Oregon and that girl is a competitor. I wish I was able to watch every single one of her games. So I texted my college coach Coach (Gail) Goestenkors and said “I love watching her play.” And she said, “She reminds me of you.” It was such a compliment. And I felt kind of silly cause it was a girl that’s, I don’t know, 15 years younger than me. It was just fun to feel re-connected in a way and see a similar type competitor. She’s far more talented than I ever was. I’m not saying there was a comparison there, but I really enjoyed following her career.

My husband played at Heritage and he’s just as appreciative as I am of the opportunities that CHSAA gave us. We are really looking forward to being in the stands for state championships moving forward and supporting our local high schools like ThunderRidge and Mountain Vista. I think we’re both really looking forward to that next part of our life where we can just be fans and cheer on the next generation.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

The rivalry between Pueblo Central and Pueblo Centennial might as well mark the beginning of high school athletics in Colorado.

The two teams first squared off in 1892, nearly 20 years before the formation of what is now the Colorado High School Activities Association. It is often regarded as the oldest high school rivalry in the western United States.

Central won the first matchup. NFL Hall of Famer Earl “Dutch” Clark helped the Wildcats claim the win in his final two seasons at Central (1924-25).

In 1950, a new wrinkle was added to the annual game as the victory bell was introduced and the winner has been taking it home ever since.

Fast forward to present day and the Bell Game is still a must-see event in the realm of Colorado High School football. Over 15,000 people pack Dutch Clark Stadium and clear battle lines are drawn. Fans are either going red or going blue.

With the craziness that surrounds the game, Central athletic director Mike Kovac and coach Kris Cotterman joined Centennial athletic director John Ward and coach Jeff Wilkerson to chat about the intensity of Bell Game week and just how important it is to each school.

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How is the Monday of Bell Game week different than a typical week in your building?

Kovac: There’s more hype and anticipation of the game because there’s so much tradition in it. With the tradition and everything leading up to the game that week, there’s just a lot of anticipation not only from the students and the staff, but the community as well.

Ward: We have so many things happening. Number one, we have the community coming into the school to buy tickets. We have our boosters, our other clubs, all selling merchandise and goes really big that week. It looks like a little mini Walmart in front of our athletic office. We have like eight tables of stuff; the official bell game t-shirt and all the other Centennial gear. It feels like Black Friday. Everybody has to get all their stuff and it’s the biggest sale day of the year because everyone’s in there trying to get tickets. I can tell you that there have been times where the game sold out by around lunch time the next day. I know there have been times where they may be sold out late on the first day.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

How about the players? Do they come into practice any differently than they would on a regular week?

Cotterman: I think they’re more excited. As we’ve gotten better, practices really haven’t changed that much but definitely I think there’s more enthusiasm. From a standpoint of do that practice harder? Probably not. We’ve gotten to the point where they’re practicing pretty hard anyway. But there’s definitely excitement and through the week there’s always something going on at the school. So there’s a lot of excitement for sure.

Wilkerson: They’re really locked in and focused. They, they tend to forget about the last week a little bit quicker than normal weeks. Our student body does a great job of celebrating that game, but as far as their mood they’re absolutely locked in and focused.

From an administrative standpoint, what’s the biggest challenge you face that week?

Kovac: The scheduling of the week, because there are so many different things going on. And then you get wrapped in with our regular school day and other sports going on, we’re just trying to make sure that we’re doing things right and making it accessible to as many kids as possible during the week.

Ward: It’s always really great at the beginning of that week. Everybody’s excited in a good mood and so on. So we typically have hardly any issues with (student behavior). It’s all about trying to meet everybody’s needs because everybody has something that they’re trying to get or want or how can I help them get their table? How can I help someone who wants you to donate tickets for a gift basket? Everybody’s got something that I need to help them with. So I guess my biggest challenge is just finding the time to give everybody adequate time and, and listen and be able to help them out as best as I possibly can.

How much of a difference do you see in the seniors playing in their last one to the freshmen playing in their first?

Wilkerson: I think it depends on if you won it or lost it for the seniors. If you get that taste of winning the bell you want to keep winning it and winning it and winning it. You want to do it in front of the 15,000 people. I think the younger kids are taking in the whole aspect of it, the whole atmosphere of it, as they’re coming through at that age, but once they get to be a senior they want to win it as many times as possible and especially their last year.

Cotterman: It’s a big difference. We always suit up our entire team, freshmen through seniors, for the Bell Game, just to get them used to it. I can always tell around the freshmen when they see everyone in the crowd and their eyes are as big as can be. By the time they’re seniors, especially this senior class since it will be my fourth year, a lot of these kids will be in their third year starting in it. They’re determined to win it.

What’s happening in your building that week that’s different from anything else going on in Colorado high school football?

Ward: The biggest thing is the huge focus on the game itself and everything that goes into making it successful. For example, we have a 10- or 12-page script that goes through all the times of which team is going to come out of the tunnel and which team is going to have warm ups at this time. It’s so choreographed. I can only imagine what it’s like when you’re doing a Big 10 or an SEC football game. There is all this stuff going on and that you have to prepare for. The preparation level has to be by far probably something that the average high school and or AD doesn’t experience. People say that there’s probably more going on with this game than even the state playoffs.

Kovac: It has to be the traditions and the community support and just how much the community is so involved whether it’s attendance at the assembly or something after school, the Bell Bash as we call it, that is usually the night before the game. If there is a big event here at the school, the community is welcome to attend. There’s a lot of energy and it’s crazy and fun.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

How much does emotion come into play for the players during this game?

Cotterman: Just from the crowd alone and the noise it makes, it definitely provides a lot of ups and downs and that’s not lost on us. How big this rivalry is and how big it is for our community and how much fun it is. We definitely feel the emotions before the game and even after the game win or lose.

Wilkerson: We tend to say let it build. That’s our motto. We start out calm and cool. I wouldn’t say we’re necessarily having a good time on Monday, but we’re more relaxed. And then as the week builds, our intensity builds a lot more as we go. And then Friday you just let it loose.

When you get to gameday is there a sense that all the work and intensity of the week pays off?

Kovac: For me personally, I don’t think I get to experience it like the crowd does because there’s so much stuff going on and a lot of it is so scripted in terms of how that game is going to be run and all of the pomp and circumstance surrounding it. So if it’s the coin toss and we’ve invited alumni back to be part of that, having little things like having them down on the field, ready to do their thing. I don’t get to enjoy like the crowd that everybody else does because you know, whether it’s me or (John), we are in the midst of just trying to make sure that it’s going off, so it’s smooth and everybody can enjoy what it’s all about.

Ward: I really start to feel a great sense of relief. I usually get to the stadium about 4:30, about two and a half hours before kickoff. At that point everything’s done and you can really kind of take it in and visit with people. I would say really it kind of it’s all in place by then. There’s a thing or two going on or a question about when are we going to announce the 50/50 raffle. But other than that, I think right when I get to the stadium at 4:30, I know everything is done.

Neither of you guys have experienced it both ways, but what do you think is better, winning to take possession of the Bell or successfully defending it?

Wilkerson: That’s kind of tough for me because next year will be the first year that I have to went back. It swings our school atmosphere for sure, whether you have the bell or not.

Cotterman: And I’ve never defended it. Winning it was pretty special. I do have a unique experience just from the fact that when I took over the team there we were 0-10, and if you look at the point differential from before, they’ve been three pretty good games. We’ve been lucky enough to win one, but I do look forward to defending it.

Where does the Bell Game stand with other notable rivalries in Colorado?

Cotterman: It’s the biggest rivalry In the state of Colorado, no question. It’s probably the best venue in the state of Colorado to play at. The fans pack it out and the community supports it. It’s funny, last year I had to go get some license plates and I walked in the courthouse and it’s stacked with signs for Central and Centennial. That whole week the community gets around it. I don’t think there’s anywhere close to a bigger rivalry than Centennial and Central.

Wilkerson: It doesn’t. I don’t see 15,000 people going to other stadiums on a given night like they do to watch these two teams play. And there’s such a rich history behind it with all the bad blood and good blood and all that kind of stuff. I don’t see anything like it anywhere else.

(Dan Mohrmann/CHSAANow.com)

(Photo courtesy of Erik Melgoza/Alamosa Athletics)

Lilly and Emily Lavier have spent a lot of time competing together. As kids, they battled each other and as they got into high school it was battling side by side.

Lilly always thought herself a runner first but also loved to play basketball. Emily thought differently. Basketball was her main sport and running turned out to be secondary. But it was important that each one was doing both. They’ve shared several athletic moments together, among those is winning two 4×400 relay championships at the state track meet and sharing the basketball court together when Emily set the state’s single-game 3-point record.

While Emily will return to Alamosa as a senior next year, Lilly has graduated and will run at Oklahoma State University. Being a multi-sport athlete played a big role in that and it’s a lesson that has trickled down to Emily and even beyond.

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(Photo courtesy of Lilly Lavier)

Question: How have you gotten to the point in your life where playing multiple sports became essential to you?

Lilly: I always thought it was essential. I think for me running is more my thing and so it was always really nice for me to have a break from that. That break for me was basketball and so it was always nice to be able to still be getting fit in a different way and move some different muscles and I really think it helps the body overall.

And I think it helps with injury prevention. You’re getting to use different parts of your body for different things and I really think it helps to be taking a break from doing one repetitive motion and running to be able to do some different ones in basketball. I think it’s helped a lot.

Q: It’s not exactly like you’re taking a break because you’re still playing basketball at such a high level. How important is it to you when you’re not focusing on running and you’re focusing on basketball to make sure that you’re competing at the absolute highest level you can?

Lilly: It’s very important to me and I do kind of see it as a break for myself just in the sense that it’s a whole other world. Even if it’s mentally being able to take a break and move to something so different. It’s something that I really enjoyed over the past few years.

Q: Both sports have their own set of skills, but how much do you find yourself focusing on each skill set?

Lilly: I’ve graduated now and so now I haven’t been doing any work with basketball. I’ll probably be done with that because I’m mostly just going to be running from here on out. However, in high school there were lots of times where Emily and I would both go to the gym or go to our backyard on the weekend and we’d just shoot and kind of work on the things we needed to work on. We definitely took it seriously in the offseason and would do our part to try to get better.

But for myself, from here on out, it’s not really as essential as it was in high school just because I’m moving onto the next chapter, which for me is running. But it was always important to get in that work during the offseason for us.

Q: How much did it appeal to Oklahoma State that you were a multi-sport athlete?

Lilly: That was one of the things that my coach directed at me that he really liked. And that was one thing I really appreciated from him was that one of the first things he said on my home visit was how much he appreciated and knew how much it helps that I was a multi-sport athlete.

That’s something he really liked and he thinks that’s something that made me special and unique and that’s something I really appreciated and liked that he saw.

That absolutely was very important to me and it drove me to kind of help him make the decision I made.

Q: As a big sister, was it a big deal for you to make sure Emily was involved in multiple sports?

Lilly: Absolutely. I actually have another sister younger than Emily. She’s going to be a sophomore. For both of them it was very important to make sure that you’re staying fit year-round. An easy way to do that is just be keeping yourself in sports in every season and just keeping busy.

It was easier for me to get Emily to do some other sports like cross country in the fall than it was our other sister. That’s one thing that both of us kind of worked on with her, but it was essential to have her doing multiple sports and just staying fit.

It kind of gets you ready to transition from one season to the other.

Q: Emily, did you feel like playing multiple sports was something you had to do watching Lilly both do it and excel in it?

Emily: Oh yeah, 100 percent. I just remember when we were little and like growing up, I’d be like here in the house and Lilly would be outside and she’d like pull me outside and we go, all of our siblings, we go outside and we’d be active whether it’s like playing soccer, playing basketball, just like finding something to do. And then once she got to middle school and I saw her doing multiple sports and excelling, it definitely like inspired me to want to do that too.

Q: How much has that pushed you to try and be the best you can be at everything, whether it’s running or basketball?

Emily: A lot. Growing up, I’d always hear, “You’re Lilly’s sister.” She’s an all-star runner. I want people to know my name too and that just like pushed me to work hard and try to be the best that I can be and also excel at what I do just like she did.

Q: What are the benefits that you’re finding in being a multi-sport athlete?

Emily: I think a lot of it is like how she said like transitioning from one sport to the other. A big reason that I do cross country is to get me in shape for basketball, which is kind of my main sport.

If it wasn’t for her, I definitely wouldn’t have gotten into cross country. But I’m glad I did because that transition from running all fall in cross country to running in basketball, it definitely keeps me in shape and it helps me out a lot with that. And then basketball keeps me in shape for track the next season.

So it’s definitely beneficial, playing all these sports.

Q: How much fun is it to be able to share the basketball court with your sister and then also be able to stand on a championship podium with her at track?

Emily: It’s so much fun. That was probably one of my favorite memories, honestly from high school is getting to do it not once, but twice. I definitely think it’s something special that not a lot of people can say they got to do.

It’s also special because I’m the one handing off the baton to her going into the final lap — the anchor leg. So I think for me that was always something that stood out. Those 4×400 championships; I just thought that was super special.

Q: How many assists did Lilly give to you on the night that you said the 3-point record?

Emily: She actually had 11 of 12 assists, almost all of them.

(Photo courtesy of Erik Melgoza/Alamosa Athletics)

Q: Wow, how much fun was that? Your name’s in that record book, but you and your teammates know that your sister had a big hand in helping you there.

Lilly: It’s actually kind of a funny story. We were actually scrolling through the CHSAA page on Instagram the night before that game. And I said, “Oh look, these girls had a new 3-point record,” and it was 11, I told her “Oh, you can definitely do that.” I thought she could get 12 or 13.

So the night before I told her she should try it, really just kind of making fun of her to get her to take a shot at it and then sure enough, it happened. I would look at her and just kept throwing her the ball and they just kept going in.

Emily: So, it was kind of a funny story just for the two of us to know that it was possible. A lot of people like to say that we planned that out, but I don’t think we really did. We just knew it was in the realm of possibilities.

And then she kept making fun of me during the game: “You’re at six, you’re at seven now.”

Lilly: It was just a joke because the night before we were joking about it and we share a room. Before we went to bed, before the game, I was just poking fun at her. And sure enough, she went out and was having a heck of a game and I was just keeping track.

At halftime, I told her, “You’re halfway there, you might as well just go for it.” So it’s just kind of a fun backstory for both of us to know that and then to know that it happened.

Q: How much of an example do you think underclassmen, need to see in watching you girls be multi-sport athletes and see the benefits pay off, whether it’s a scholarship to Oklahoma State or a state record for 3-pointers?

Lilly: I think it’s very important and I feel like both of us have taken a good deal of responsibility for setting an example for people below us. Speaking for myself, I knew that was always a goal. I wanted to leave a good impression on the high school and for the younger girls to kind of see that you don’t have to be going to this big school in Denver to do some pretty amazing and special things.

And I think Emily’s done a really good job at following that and kind of getting that same attitude because I wanted to make Alamosa a place where people felt proud to be going to school. I want people people to look at it and say, “Oh my gosh, there’s Alamosa, they have this (certain) reputation.”

We have a lot of good girls coming up and who are already at the high school who very capable of doing things like that. Having us to show people that it’s okay to be able to have big goals and go for it and set records and do things like that and to kind of even inspire people to do that, is very important. I think we’ve both done a good job at showing people that.

Emily: It’s important to me to have a good relationship with like the underclassmen and just like make sure that you’re talking to them. Whether it’s in practice or on game day or at meets or whatever it is, including them in everything and just like being a role model for them to look up to.

It inspires me to want to do my best so that maybe I can be someone to them that they look up to so they can also do great things.

(Courtesy of Limon HS)

Kory Tacha has had an outstanding high school athletic career. His junior year alone would make for a notable career for any athlete throughout the state.

He helped Limon claim the Class 1A football title before helping the Badgers made a deep playoff run in the 2A state basketball tournament.

He was named the 1A football Player of the Year and made second-team All-State in basketball, making him one of the premiere student-athletes regardless of classification. But there are challenges that come with reaching such heights in multiple sports.

Tacha is more than willing to acknowledge those challenges and tackle them on a daily basis. He spent some time chatting with CHSAANow.com on what it means to him to be a multi-sport athlete and why it will make him successful down the road.

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Question: Coming from a smaller school, what’s the biggest appeal for you in being a multi-sport athlete?

Tacha: You don’t really have that many kids. We have about a hundred kids in our high school, so for all our sports programs to be sports programs they need everyone to go out for every sport. That was the main appeal growing up. As soon as I started playing everything, I fell in love with all the sports and it’s just become kind of my lifestyle.

Q: How do you make sure that you’re applying enough time and effort to each sport to play at such a high level in each one?

Tacha: For me, summers are crucial. That’s the only offseason that I really get. So I hit pretty much everything. I do my football workouts in the morning, I do my basketball workouts in the evening, depending on when coach opens the gym. Summers are really where I hit it hard.

But other than that, I try to maintain throughout the school year. Keep lifting and just preparing my body for all the rest of the year.

Q: Everyone always talks about how college coaches like to look for multi-sport athletes, but is there an element that it’s just fun?

Tacha: Of course. Playing everything’s always fun. Sports are great. I couldn’t see myself playing and it not being fun. I probably wouldn’t do it.

Q: With the transition specifically from football and basketball, how tough is it to go from one realm where you’re getting hit and your body’s taking a little bit of a punishment and you don’t really get time off before you go into another physical sport, how have you responded to that over the years?

Tacha: It’s gotten a little easier. It’s still extremely difficult. This year we played football on a Saturday (for the 1A state championship) and we had a scrimmage for basketball the next Tuesday. It was a quick turnaround, but basketball is definitely easier on your body, but harder in the sense you need to be in a different kind of shape. It’s always hard to adjust but it gets easier through the years.

Q: Is it a situation where you have to wait until you’re in basketball season to adjust or is there something you do towards the end of football season where maybe you’re trying to balance things out without sacrificing what you need to do for football?

Tacha: I usually wait until it’s in basketball season. When it’s football season, that’s my main priority and that’s my main focus. And then when it’s basketball season, of course that’s my main priority. It usually takes a couple of games to get into the basketball shape and I have to try not to foul out in those early basketball games.

Q: When you look at athletes, whether it’s, whether it’s at Limon or Kit Carson, maybe a rival school, and you see someone sticking to just one sport, what turns you off about that kind of specialization?

Tacha: Specialization to me … I would get to burned out of that one sport. Practicing for instance, basketball all year round, I don’t know if I could handle that. I would get too burned out. My body would be in a different kind of shape I guess, but that’d be okay if I was just a basketball player.

I think playing all the sports helps me feel well-rounded and gives me more athletic capabilities. My biggest thing would be getting burned out in that one sport.

Q: What don’t people know about being a multi-sport athlete that you think they should know or that you think they’d be surprised to know?

Tacha: I’m always busy. I never really get an offseason. My offseason is spent training for the school year. We just stay really busy.

Q: Do you think doing everything you can to keep up with multiple sports and then also when you add in schoolwork, and I’m sure you have responsibilities or things that you do outside of all that, is going to help you down the road whether it’s transitioning to college or adult life?

Tacha: For sure. The biggest thing I’ve learned with being a multi-sport athlete is I’m learning to manage my time. I leave in the morning at 6 o’clock and then go to school and then practice and I don’t get home until like 7:30 or 8. Then I still have to fit in time for homework and then eating dinner with my family.

Managing time is crucial being a multi-sport athlete and I think I’ve learned to do that very well.

Q: What’s your favorite part about being a multi-sport athlete?

Tacha: I like being busy. I like having different friends from different sport. It’s just good all around.

(Kevin Keyser/KeyserImages.com)

Chaparral never has a problem showing up to support its athletic teams. The student section tends to be loud, giving the Wolverines a distinct home-field advantage.

And sometimes it even travels on the road.

Athletic director Rob Johnson speaks with pride when he talks about the support his students offer to each other in various athletic contests. In a chat with CHSAANow.com, Johnson talked about what makes Chaparral special, the importance of general school spirit and how essential it has become with everything happening in the world today.

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(PaulDiSalvoPhotography.com)

Question: As an athletic director, what is the biggest embodiment of school spirit in your eyes?

Johnson: Participation I think is number one. It’s getting kids involved in not only athletics but just involved in the school and whatever opportunities there are for kids get involved, whether it be a Red-Blue Crew, which is basically a group that kind of heads up our spirit and getting involved in those kinds of things.

So getting involved is number one because you need numbers. Spirit comes with numbers and that says to me as an athletic director, I think that’s one of my top priorities is to create a good energy, promote it and get kids involved in any way we can to can to have good school spirit.

Q: I’ve been to some of your away games, like an away volleyball game at Lewis-Palmer and I’m always kind of stunned with the turnout of your students for an away game that’s not Legend or somewhere that’s right next door. Why is your school a school that’s able to travel so well?

Johnson: I think a lot of is that it’s a culture and specifically you talk about volleyball, having that culture. And then part of that goes back to T.R. Ellis, our original volleyball coach, who created this super fans group who’s also part of the Red-Blue Crew. That started with volleyball and they kind of just transferred throughout the whole school year.

Volleyball itself has a culture of creating that. It’s in the fall so it’s during football and it’s a really good time to create that early energy for the kids to travel. And part of the rules was if you’re going to be officially be a super fan and get a super fan t-shirt, then if there were some rules that you had to go to certain away games and be involved in all these different things. So there were some expectations with it, which is good.

I think you needed to kind of give them that little push and then the goal is to get that energy to go to every sport throughout the year, which it doesn’t always happen. There are times where you know not every team that’s playing is going to have an away crowd. Some of it is just the culture of the specific program too. That’s, that’s where the coach has got to come in and create that culture.

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Q: What makes your group of student fans so unique from others that we see throughout the state?

Johnson: It’s our kids. There’s a pipeline of these kids that have come through with younger siblings and they see that energy. They see those volleyball games. And then you have middle school kids sitting in the bleachers of a basketball game and football games, they’re seeing how it happens. That goes back to our culture and then really honestly the best years we ever had with spirit is junior and seniors who just literally take it over and it’s never an adult pushing it.

It’s eventually the kids who really care about the school, care about their culture and and just want to have fun and they engage other people. Those are the kids that in groups that really take our school to another level in terms of school spirit engagement. It comes down to our kids for sure.

Q: If there are no adults involved, how are you making sure that they maintain that high level of spirit while also maintaining the core of sportsmanship and values that come with educational athletics?

Johnson: That’s a good point. We have a great administrative staff. Our student government representative was a huge part of the Red-Blue Crew. There’s definitely an adult presence for sure with all of us adults being on the same page and connecting and communicating well, but just being present, being with the kids and when they see our admin team and on the road they realize that we’re in this with them.

We’re in this together. So it’s a team effort for sure. Just presence. You have to have a good presence.

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Q: How vital do you think school spirit is in a time like what we’re living in right now?

Johnson: That’s a good question. I think it’s going to even improve it. I think kids are realizing how much they missed the school. They miss their friends and being around that energy you talk about. So, I think it’s going to improve and it is vital. I think kids need it right now more than anything. And by the time fall hits and I hope to gosh we’re playing games, I think for every school it’s going to be real exciting for all of us.

Q: Do you see any incoming juniors or seniors right now trying to take that on and maintain that Chaparral camaraderie, even though the kids can’t quite be around each other or be around their coaches or be around their teachers?

Johnson: Yeah, there’s definitely a group of them. I don’t know if I have that list of names yet. We’re always looking at who’s going to be next year. You can kind of tell by the way they manage the crowds and how many games they go to. That student government and that Red-Blue Crew, those two different groups are always setting the stage for that. And that’s already starting for sure.

There’s always a small group of probably five or six kids that just kind of take it over here. So yeah, I can picture them right now and we’ll see. Again, that’s one of those things we try to lay back and not force it because then all of a sudden it feels forced. We want the kids that if that’s their passion and they want to run with it, we’ll support them. That’s where their buy-in comes from.

Q: What is your vision of the first Chaparral sporting event look like after all this?

Johnson: Whatever one it is, I envision it with adults as well, but a really big turnout which will have really good positive energy. I don’t think it will be anything of an “Us versus You” situation. It’s just that we’re all — both schools — are in this together. Let’s have a blast and just make some noise.

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