If there is one lesson that should be taken away from recent stories in the sports section of the Plant City Observer, it’s that great things are possible with hard work and dedication.
In the past few weeks, we have brought you stories of overcoming great odds and local athletes achieving great things. This underlying theme was unintentional, but it shows the impressive feats accomplished in a small town such as Plant City, where big dreams are certainly possible.
The achievements of these stories have been wide, but they all share the same inspirational component.
During graduation week, we ran the stories of two students that will be attending and playing their sport of choice at prestigious colleges. Durant football player Alex Wood will attend and play for Carnegie Mellon, while Strawberry Crest softball player Savannah Bradley chose Harvard over a host of Ivy League options.
Throughout the spring, we reported on Durant baseball standout Tyler Danish. Danish overcame the odds and dispelled critics, who questioned his mechanics and starting ability, by being drafted 55th overall in the second round of the MLB Draft by the Chicago White Sox. He joins several former Cougars as a pro baseball draft pick, including current Cleveland Indian Ryan Raburn.
That same week, we told the story of Kevin Garcia, a special-needs student at Strawberry Crest who overcame odds and got to play and score in a varsity basketball game. In 2010, Garcia had 22 bolts put into his back after being diagnosed with scoliosis. To award him for his amazing story, Garcia enjoyed the experience of a lifetime, not only receiving the Freddie Solomon Moral Courage Award at the Tampa Bay Sports Commission’s annual banquet but also meeting Tampa Bay Rays Manager Joe Maddon, who invited Garcia to a Rays-Yankees game to present an award to Cy Young Award winner David Price.
This week, we featured two unique individuals that may not have that much in common at first glance but share a passion for something that has led them to follow their dreams. Johnny Knotts in pursuing a career in motorsports, and Jackson Barwick in pursuing his passion to coach football. Both could have taken the easier road. Barwick could have remained at Florida Atlantic and go on to teach while leaving football behind. Knotts could have continued advising a new hardware store in town with his expertise in the field. But both followed their dreams while taking life-changing risks in the process.
There are even more great stories to come this summer that follow this theme of achieving great things.
Plant City High School has several football players being courted by Division I college programs, including top recruit Montel McBride, who recently received an invitation to The Opening, a prestigious prospect combine held at the Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Ore.
Even younger athletes are accomplishing great things, including a young gymnast, a group of local karate students and a Little League team with World Series dreams. Look for all of these stories in upcoming issues of the Plant City Observer.