The smile on Mike Cavey’s face said a lot last Friday afternoon as the day’s sun began to settle at the Apalachee High School baseball complex.
After suffering several disappointing setbacks in recent outings, the Diamond Wildcat coach was able to smile for a few minutes. For just a short while earlier, his team had put the finishing touches on a victory against visiting Habersham Central.
The win was significant in several ways. First, any win is always a good one when you are trying to establish your program. Second, the win came on Senior Night so the players who finished up their home careers will always have that memory. Third, it was a region victory and recording a win in the always grueling Region 8-AAAA should cause any coach to smile. Finally, it was a step, however, signigicant one wants to look at it, in getting the AHS program going in the right direction.
There’s been plenty of blood, sweat and tears from Cavey as he tried to build the Wildcat program. It hasn’t been easy and the coach will be the first to admit as much. However, when things fall in place like they did last Friday, then all the frustration of the past is put on hold — at least for a little while.
“This wins shows what we are capable of doing,” said the coach, who has been planning for the future in recent outings by getting his younger players plenty of game action. “We had another great pitching performance from Cory Hoopaugh and we showed that we are capable of playing well for an entire game. It was nice to see this game have the outcome it did.”
Cavey is a coach who pulls no punches. If his team doesn’t play well, he’s not going to hand you “coach speak.” It’s refreshing from a sports writers standpoint but it’s also rare. Many coaches don’t like to criticize — especially in print — that his team isn’t doing the necessary things to succeed. Cavey will not call out a player publicly but he will let you know the team overall did not play up to the level it can.
Likewise, when the squad does well on the diamond, no one is more proud and quicker to point it out than the AHS coach. Such was the case last Friday as he talked for a few minutes before the Senior Night activities got underway.
“If we play like this all year, who knows where we would have ended up,” the coach said. “The potential was there. We just have to keep working and make sure the potential is realized.”
Building a high school sports program is not easy, certainly not as easy as some might think. It doesn’t matter what the sport is. Cavey is doing the necessary things to make the Wildcats a winner and a contender in Region 8-AAAA.
It will take time, commitment from the players, parents and boosters, but it can be done. Friday’s win was simply a glimpse of what this program can be.
The 2010 season ended Monday for AHS but work will begin immediately for next spring. It’s the way it has to be in order for a program to reach the level Cavey wants for his Wildcats.
Hard work and dedication are the things that will get the program turned around.
Chris Bridges is the sports editor of the Barrow Journal. Send comments about this column to cbridges@barrowjournal.com.
