No crying in baseball -- or is there?
In Gwinnett County, volunteering as a Coach of a Youth team is a time honored avocation. New Coaches may think they are teaching basic sport skills to up and coming athletes but when we held Picture Day at Grayson Athletic Association, Coach Steve Zboran was called into play to encourage 4 year old Wade “Crash” Hearing to cooperate for the camera. Crash is in his first year of GAA Tball and is cheered on by parents, Barbara and Danny, as well as older sisters Ashley “Trouble” Hearing and Tiffany, both of whom attend Grayson Elementary School.
Turning to our Defending State Champions for high school baseball, photographer Les Beard began the season as he always does – by photographing this year’s Brookwood Baseball Seniors. They are such a hardworking, disciplined group of athletes, that it was nice to see them spend a few moments just “hanging around.”
Richards Middle School Step Team, coached by Yolanda Edwards, fields a very impressive Dance Team. Meredith noted that when she fired the command “Pose”, they had the discipline and grace to do a great pose with seconds.
When it is time to photograph high school tennis, staff photographer and tennis enthusiast Meredith Chastain is always my first choice to do the job. She particularly looks forward to going to Dacula High School where the team trains under Chris Autrey and then within days to Central High School where Chris’ Mom Pam Autrey serves as Head Coach. Coach Chris Autrey, who began playing at age 5 in Alta along with Mom, comments, “I think it is fun for our kids also, as our enthusiasm for playing each other spills out to them and they want to beat Mamma Autrey.” Now that Pam Autrey is moving over to coach tennis at the new Archer High school, Son Chris has requested that the very first match be Archer vs. Dacula. Both Mother and Son also coach swimming at their respective schools but we give the “Symbolic Game Ball” to Pam who also Coaches Volleyball.
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We LOVE doing Cap and Gown pictures and Mill Creek High School twins Brandon and Briana Smith reminded us why. Although Brandon is ranked as number one in his weight class for weightlifting in the entire state, back at home, he does what Briana says, knowing that while she is “bossy” she will take care of him.
When Kaley Mitchell joined our staff last summer, we knew she would work out, because she was joining Mother Jan and sister Kristin. Now, Kaley is |
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preparing to graduate from Grayson High School and Mom Jan fondly remembered Kaley’s Kindergarten Graduation in bathrobes and shower caps. This time around Mom enhanced Kaley’s traditional portrait with some low tech medical equipment as Kaley is eventually hoping to enter health care.
While we already knew Kelly Sowers (not pictured), up and coming Brookwood High School Girls’ Cross Country and Track Coach, we had never met the rest of the Sowers family. 21 year old Gloria is the baseball player while Dad Scott is the Coach and Mom Sharon is the Team Mom. When not playing baseball, Gloria is in the Adapt Program at the Monarch School. She has a job working at the Lilburn Montessori School where she is a parapro but calls herself a "power pro." She has been playing baseball for 4-5 years. The icing on the family cake is this….. here at Magic Moment, we are putty in the paws of a charming dog and Chauncey, the Sheep Dog, really caught our eye.
