Jumping off into the deep end

I’ve been the Sports Editor at the Walker County Messenger for over 16 years now. I’ve heard it a lot from folks I know that I work too much and maybe that’s true, but this is the way I am.

I tend to get bored fairly easily so I try to stay busy and not have too much down time. Is it healthy? I don’t know, but that’s the way I’m wired. I’ve tried, in the past, to work less, but it just doesn’t suit me.

I’m also wired to thrive on challenges and pressure. Maybe not life or death-type challenges or pressure, but give me a deadline on a project, and I’ll take it head-on and find a way to get it done.

Which brings me to this week and perhaps my biggest challenge (to date) in my current profession.

If you haven’t already heard, I have added the title of (interim) Sports Editor of the Catoosa County News to my evergrowing list of job titles.

Misty Martin, who served as Sports Editor for the CCN for the past 15-plus years, put together her final sports section on Monday and is now beginning a new career away from the world of journalism. I consider her the best friend I had in this business. She faithfully served Catoosa County in the Sports Editor role and want to start by publicly thanking her for what she did and wishing her good luck on her new job.

However, her departure left a county paper without a Sports Editor and I just couldn’t let that happen. The schools, the teams, the players, the coaches and the communities of LFO, Ringgold and Heritage deserve to continue to have topnotch media coverage from their local newspaper and I think I’m fairly qualified for the job.

So, for the time being, I’m taking on the challenge of serving as Sports Editor of both papers simultaneously. (And before you ask, yes, I guess I have lost my ever-loving mind.)

As of now, I am responsible for covering athletics in seven high schools, nine middle schools, one local college and a handful of city and county recreation departments. I will be writing game stories and recaps for the websites each night, taking photos and putting together the sports sections for both papers each week.

But as crazy as it sounds, I really am looking forward to it. Like I said, I love a good challenge and this is about as challenging as it gets. In the week or two leading up to this, I’ve confirmed what I already suspected. This is going to more of an exercise in organization and time management as much as anything else.

However, the main challenge isn’t the

quantity of work I’ll have to do, it’s the quality. I’m far more concerned about making sure that both counties and both county papers get my absolute best, day in and day out and producing awardworthy editions of the Catoosa County News and the Walker County Messenger each and every week.

For you folks in Catoosa (a lot of you I already know), I can personally guarantee that you will get the best coverage I can provide and get the best-looking sports sections that I can put out each Wednesday. And for the folks in Walker that I have known and loved for a long time, let me assure you that I don’t plan to let my coverage of your county slack off just because I’m adding a new county to my list.

Our company is planning on hiring a new, full-time Sports Editor for the Catoosa County News. I don’t know what the timetable is to have someone in place, but as long as I’m doing both jobs, I’m doing them both the only way I know how and that’s full-out.

Maybe I’m biting off more than I can chew, but I guess there’s only one way to find out... and I plan on having fun finding out.

See you all at the fields.

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