Armstrong: True county tourney deserves praise
As a youth sports coach for 20 years, I tried to praise players as loudly and as often as I criticized them. That's a good rule for a sports columnist also.
In the past I have been critical of the Fayetteville-Cumberland Recreation Department and the Hope Mills Recreation Department for not working together to serve the best interest of all the county's youth. I have been particularly critical of Hope Mills champions in football and basketball not being allowed to compete against Fayetteville-Cumberland teams in a true county championship competition. I believe that criticism was well-founded, but now it's time to praise those same recreation administrators for working together to have a great event that includes everyone.
This past week, for the first time since Hope Mills became an independent recreation program, there was a true county championship tournament in basketball. The senior (age 15-17) county championship tournament is being held at the Hope Mills and Gray's Creek recreation centers. The tournament features 14 teams: The Hope Mills Bulls; Stedman Saints; Stedman Bulls; Eastover Lakers; Westover Spurs; Hope Mills Tarheels; Eastover Nuggets; Stedman Cavaliers; Westover Royals; Hope Mills Lakers; Stedman Pistons; Gray's Creek Blue Devils; Westover Ballers; and The Stedman Celtics.
Ten opening and second round games were held Saturday. The semifinals were Monday night in Hope Mills, and the championship game will be held today at 6 p.m. at the Hope Mills Recreation Center. I'll try to recognize the winners in next week's column.
Hopefully this will be the first step in developing a working relationship between the two departments that will promote countywide competition and put the best interests of our youth ahead of politics and tax revenues.
Congratulations to all the teams and a sincere thank you to the hard working recreation staff members who made this event possible. Keep up the good work.
See you at the games.
Bruce Armstrong is a lawyer who lives in Hope Mills. He can be reached at LawyerArmstrong@aol.com.