This past Wednesday, the sports season inched a little closer with Newton County’s Fall Sports Media Day.

As the sports editor at The Covington News, these are events I really look forward to because it gives us an early glimpse into a variety of sports ahead of the season. It also gives reporters such as myself a chance to speak directly to coaches and players about the upcoming year. 

At this year’s fall sports media day, sports such as cheer, cross country, flag football, football, one act play, softball and volleyball were showcased by each of the three county-area high schools.

We did not get the chance to do a media day for all of the fall sports last year, so this was a great chance to get them all together for the first time.

With that being said, here is one to two takeaways I had from each sport

Cheer

During the cheer section of media day, we got the chance to see what each team has been working on over the summer and what expectations they have for their various groups during the school year.

For Newton specifically, head coach Kia Waters discussed how grateful she was to be able to coach a team she was previously on.

“Extremely excited. Excited for me because I am back at home,” Waters said. “I cheered at Newton from 91-95. It is an honor each and everyday that I get to practice with them, serve them on the sidelines and coach them on the blue mat.”

Alongside Waters, was her daughter, A’dyn Waters, who is on the team.

After falling short of the region meet last year due to injury, Waters shared that the team is ecstatic they are ready to refire the competition program.

Cross Country

In cross county, one of my takeaways is that each school finds itself in a different position from one another.

For Alcovy, it is going into its first year with Wymon Kelley Jr. as its head coach.

Kelley, formally of Carrollton High School, came from a line of success and is looking to help build that on Highway 36.

For Eastside, they are returning many runners, but will be without their former senior leaders from a year ago, Grayson Poynter and Destiny Carter.

However, head coach Caleb Watson shined a light on his new runners, stating how the group is “the hardest working group of freshmen I have ever seen.”

For the Rams, they are bringing back their top four runners from last year’s region meet.

This time around, head coach Chrsitopher Brown wants his runners to have a more “cerebral” approach to their meets.

Flag Football

Newton’s flag football team was the only flag football team in attendance on Wednesday, but that did not stop the Rams from showing up and showing everyone what they are about.

Led by head coach Stephen Gunn and assistant coach Alexis Brown, this is a team that has taken significant strides since its start.

One of the first things Gunn mentioned in his presser on Wednesday was the returning production.

Flag football is 7-on-7, and the Rams are set to return six players on each side of the ball, according to Gunn.

Along with Gunn and Brown was one of their players, Aryanah Clark, who recently went viral when she beat NFL All-Pro Tyreek Hill on a route at one of Hill’s camps.

The three combined to share the importance of flag football at Newton and what they were looking forward to the most this season.

Gunn even added how, at times, the flag football team does work with Newton’s freshman and JV football teams and encourages them to come out and battle against the girls on the team.

“Even if they want to bring their big boys out there we will take advantage of them,” Gunn said. “Whoever wants to line up 7-on-7, we will go at it.”

Football

Each football team took the stage on Wednesday and shared great information in regards to what we may see on Friday nights in a couple of weeks.

However, there was one theme that stood across each school — their seniors classes.

Each team has a strong senior class, and each team shared how that has given them an extra sense of urgency this season.

In fact, five of the six players on stage — Parker Gasmann, Tim Griffin, Christian Gass, Zion Johnson and Zach Harden Jr.— were all seniors.

It is no surprise that having a large senior class on your team at the same time provides a little extra motivation for their final years, but each team is feeling confident about their seasons as they shoot to tackle a new region.

For Newton and Eastside in particular, they are looking to avenge playoff losses from a year ago.

When they were asked if there were any specific games they were looking forward to, players from Eastside and Newton shared the same sentiment — nameless, faceless opponent each week.

Neither team is focused on any particular opponent or rival, just the team that happens to take the opposite sideline that Friday night.

One Act Play

This year’s media day was the first in which One Act Play was in attendance. Alcovy and Eastside’s One Act Play groups came out to share their inspirations for theater along with what we can expect down the line.

For Eastside and One Act Play director Kennedy Lynn, a big part of this year comes from the fact that the Eagles will be hosting their regional competition.

Alcovy’s One Act Play group was led by Zora Umeadi, who is entering her first year leading the program. 

Umeadi discussed how building the love for theater and assessing each member's strengths and weaknesses are two of her main priorities in her first year.

Softball

There are many storylines going into this new softball season.

With the first games just under a week away, county-area softball coaches and players shared their thoughts about the upcoming season.

For the Tigers, the sense of urgency is there with their senior class.

However, one main talking point across the Lady Tigers’ panel was how the senior class has built up the younger players on the roster.

With seniors CeCe Williams and Kaitlyn Williams in attendance, the two spoke about how the interactions with the underclassmen have gone and what they have done to help that group develop fast.

In particular, Kaitlyn spoke to how working with the underclassmen while also improving her own game at the same time is something that she believes has prepared her for the next level.

“It shows that you have the maturity and the communication level — breaking things down step-by-step for the girls who maybe haven't been playing as long as you and being able to work at that pace with them while also being able to keep up your practice pace,” Kaitlyn said.

Volleyball

One takeaway I had from the volleyball  teams is from Eastside and their push to get back to the Sweet 16.

Head coach Maggie Johnston led the discussion by highlighting her six returning seniors who will look to make it happen.

Another aspect of the team is what they have done off court — team bonding.

“They are learning to get to know each other, because we had a few players from JV come up to make us get better and work harder. Just learning each other’s styles. But so far, everyone is able to work together, there is good camaraderie, they want to win and they are excited to be here.”

Even though the players coming from JV did not participate in the Lady Eagles’ Sweet 16 run, Johnston credited how many of them were still around the team and saw the journey, which is a reason why she believes the team has gelled well.