Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Refreshing, new ideas come from sports meeting
Bob White THE KENTUCKY STANDARD – 5/24/06
Like most Americans, I’ve had my fair share of the so-called normal sports.
I played basketball, football, and baseball as a kid. I also ran track and cross country in my younger years. Most of my involvement in those activities these days includes a television.
While these sports are great for fans and players alike, the constant sight and sound of these sports can make all of them a bit mundane.
Luckily for us in Nelson County, there could be some refreshing opportunities on the horizon.
A handful of local folks met last week to discuss different sporting opportunities with tourism officials and coach Steve Small, a motivating, people-person type of guy from Mount Washington recently hired to assist in the marketing of sports in Bardstown.
I’ll admit being a bit pessimistic about the need for the community to hire a sports-marketer, but after attending the meeting I made the realization that you can have a team of all-stars, but without a coach, the team won’t shine.
With tourism officials joining hands with local sportsmen and women, the team, gleaming with innovative ideas, is there.
For $1,000 a month, we have a coach too.
Let’s hope the coach can help the team’s ideas flourish. I’m optimistic of Small’s abilities.
Refreshing was that none of the sports discussed during last week’s meeting related to the so-called normal sports.
But that doesn’t mean alternative sports such as disc-golf, paddling and hiking couldn’t be marketable and profitable for the local economy.
One man in attendance noted the traveling disc-golfers would do to play a new course. Of course, with travel comes gas sales, lodging on occasion and food.
Another mentioned how a park-n-play whitewater course could lure hundreds from the region to put in and paddle around whether on their lunch hour or weekend.
A third idea was the construction of trails to connect disc-golf courses with the whitewater park and other local spots such as Sympson Lake.
I was a bit surprised at the enthusiasm Small and tourism officials had in these ideas.
Chairman Nicky Rapier told the disc-golfers their wish was already being considered.
Whitewater enthusiasts were told their hopes couldn’t surface at a better time, considering recent talk of raising the old rock dam at U.S. 31E and Beech Fork.
Small told trailblazer Mike Hammons his skills could come in handy with the disc-golfers, since courses generally make use of wide and wooded paths.
It was a bunch of good news last week to hear the optimism relating to sports generally considered outside the norm.
Committees will be formed to discuss each interest on an individual basis the group decided.
It’s so cool Small and the tourism folks are interested in hearing more ideas such as those discussed last week.
Within a year or two all of us might be able to break free on lunch hour and head to the river to play on the waves.
Within months, we might be able to take the kids for a round of disc-golf after school and work.
Within weeks we may hear of even more opportunities to come.
With plenty of innovative minds filled with plenty of quality ideas, there’s no telling what the sporting future may hold for this area.
While these sports may not be the norm, there’s nothing wrong with them.
Change is Good.
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