Category: Sports

Coffee County’s junior varsity golf team was defeated by Warren County 173 – 194 Monday.
Jacob Prater shot 41 for the low score.

Coffee County’s girls lost by six strokes, 87 – 93.
Warren County played its varsity players.
Hollee Sadler led Coffee County with a 40.

Both Coffee County varsity teams will open season play in the Tullahoma Invitational on Thursday, July 26.

By Consetta Woosley
AEDC Press Release

Jeremy Winters has one word he lives his life by: perseverance.

Winters, the son of Joe and Patricia Winters, was recently named the Men’s Paratriathlon (Tri 6) National Champion. Jeremy, who is legally blind, competed in the USA Paratriathlon National Championship in Austin, Texas, in May.

“It was a long road for him,” says Patricia, Jeremy’s mother and a technical specialist in Aerospace Testing Alliance’s (ATA) Integrated Test and Evaluation Department. “But once Jeremy sets his mind to do something, you can rest assured he will work hard until he accomplishes his goal.”

Jeremy, 39, was diagnosed with the degenerative eye disease Cone-Rod Dystrophy (CRD) at age 10. CRD is an inherited progressive disease that causes deterioration of the cone and rod photoreceptor cells and often results in blindness.

“Losing his vision slowly each year helped him adjust to a different way of seeing as he grew older,” Patricia said. “Jeremy was involved in several contact sports at a young age, and little things that occurred during the games caught our attention that something just wasn’t right.”

“Jeremy is a very positive person which I contribute a lot to his dad, Joe,” Patricia said. “When he could no longer see well enough to play contact sports his dad helped him turn to track, which Jeremy really enjoys. Joe drove Jeremy back and forth to Nashville during Jeremy’s junior and senior year of high school to participate in Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) track. It was a great, positive experience for Jeremy. “

While there is no cure for CRD, Jeremy does not let his visual impairment keep him from reaching his goals … one of which was teaching. Jeremy received his doctorate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and is a math education professor at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU).

“I love my job, because the professors I work with are so supportive,” Jeremy said. “In fact, another professor in our group, Dr. Kathy Burress, also has the same eye problem and she has been a great mentor.”

MTSU provides Jeremy with an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) graduate assistant and closed-circuit television that changes normal print into oversize lettering, which allows him to perform his job.

Jeremy and his wife, Kristen, and their three children moved closer to campus when Jeremy could no longer drive. Several times a week Jeremy walks to school and then changes into his running clothes to run home.

“I get my exercise in before I ever reach home, which allows me time to play with my kids,” Jeremy said. “I ran all through high school and college so I run at the same time I practiced every day, so it doesn’t seem that unfamiliar to me.”

The idea of Jeremy participating in the USA Paratriathlon National Championship came from Melissa Miller, an engineer in ATA’s Information Technology & Systems Department.

“Melissa is very involved in marathons and triathlons and coordinates the annual Mach Tenn race here at AEDC,” Patricia said. “She helped Jeremy and his sister, Allison, participate in their first event by allowing them to ride close together on their bikes so Allison could be his guide. After that Melissa researched rules and races so that he could continue to participate in racing events.”

Jeremy is also very thankful for Melissa’s assistance.

“Melissa has helped in so many ways,” Jeremy said. “I wanted to contact her first when I came home to let her know how the race went and to thank her for putting me in contact with the right people.”

The 750-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike, 5-kilometer run race required the contestants to prequalify with a successful completion of a sprint distance triathlon in two hours or an Olympic distance triathlon in four hours.

Jeremy’s division (Tri 6: Visually impaired) required each participant to have a handler or guide of the same sex present throughout the race. The guide serves as the athlete’s eyes for the race. Participants were also required to use a tandem bicycle and be tethered to their guide while also wearing blackout shades during the run so that everyone’s sight would be the same – totally blind.

“I knew I wanted to compete in the race,” Jeremy said. “But I just wasn’t sure who would be willing to be my guide.”

Jeremy asked a close friend and his daughter’s soccer coach of six years, Justin Kulers, to be his guide for the race.

“With some convincing, Justin decided he would do it and started training with me for the race,” Jeremy said.

Kulers had only competed in a triathlon as an individual, so he and Jeremy had work ahead of them to complete the race as a duo. As a duo, both needed to perform at the same level.

“It took a while for us to get in sync with each other’s pace, because he has to constantly communicate to me during the whole race,” Jeremy said. “The most difficult part of the race is when I get around crowds, because I can’t hear Justin’s commands when we are running and riding the tandem bike.”

Jeremy and Kulers completed the triathlon in 1 hour and 24 minutes, making Jeremy the Men’s Tri 6 National Champion.

Also competing that day were veterans from across the country who re-affirmed that despite loss of limbs there is no loss of living life to the fullest.

“I was so inspired with other athletes who served our country and were there competing with loss of arms and legs,” Jeremy said. “You can always take other people’s accomplishments and use them as a source of inspiration.”

Jeremy also automatically won a spot on the Paratriathlon National Team which will compete in the ITU Paratriathlon World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand, Oct. 22.

“I’m looking forward to the world championship,” Jeremy said. “I have more training ahead of me but I take everything day by day and keep God as my head Coach. Life is full of challenges for everybody, but overcoming them is what makes you successful.”

Saturday July 28, beginning at 7PM at the football stadium.

All former players of the men’s and women’s soccer teams at Coffee County are invited to player.

“We want everyone to invite friends and family for
the fundraiser event and relive some old soccer memories.” – Coach Andy Escue

Aug. 9    @ Winfred Bryant           6:30

Aug. 14       Jasper Middle             6:30

Aug. 21 Tullahoma                         6:30

Aug. 28  @  Shelbyville                 6:30

Sept. 4   @  South Franklin Co.    6:30

Sept. 11       North Franklin Co.     6:30

Sept. 18  @  Warren Co.                12:30

Sept. 25 White Co.                          6:30

The Nashville Predators intend to match the $100 million offer sheet signed by the Philadelphia Flyers for defenseman Shea Weber.
In a statement late Thursday morning, Predators General Manager David Poile said Nashville has one week to match Philadelphia’s offer or lose the three-time All-Star.
“We have stated previously that, should a team enter into an offer sheet with Shea, our intention would be to match and retain Shea,” the statement read.
“Our ownership has provided us with the necessary resources to build a Stanley Cup-winning team. Due to the complexity of the offer sheet, we will take the appropriate time to review and evaluate it and all of its ramifications in order to make the best decision for the Predators in both the short and long-term,” Poile continued.
Poile said the team would release no further comment on the situation until a decision is made within the next seven days.
Weber is the Predators captain and played on a $7.5 million arbitrator’s award last season.

Motlow head softball coach Tori Raby-Gentry and a number of her Lady Bucks team members recently held their annual softball camp on the main Motlow campus in Moore County.
The camp featured two sessions, one for younger players under the age of 13 and the second for girls age 13 and over.
“The kids got a lot of one-on-one instruction from me and my team members,” said Raby-Gentry. “Our numbers weren’t quite as high as we had hoped, but for this time of year with so many people on vacation we were pleased with the turnout.”
The camp focused on teaching fundamentals at a basic level to the younger campers, while the session for older girls focused on more advanced softball skills.
Raby-Gentry has completed her recruiting class for the 2013 season. Her team has scheduled a number of contests for the unofficial fall season in preparation for the regular spring season.
“Summer camp is the first time coaches get to see some of their new players interact with other team members,” Raby-Gentry added. “Our players did a great job of sharing their knowledge of the game and their love for the game.”
Visit the official website of Motlow Athletics at <www.motlowsports.com> for rosters, schedules, stats and more. Interact with Motlow Athletics at <Facebook/MotlowSports> and <Twitter@MotlowSports>.

Coffee County has hired a new Defensive Coordinator in Rick Butler and he brings with him a long and impressive resume’.
Butler brings 25 years of coaching football at every level of the game.
He served a Special Teams Coordinator with the Nashville Kats of AFL.
Butler was Defensive Coordinator and Recruiting Coordinator at the University of West Alabama.
He served as the Offensive Coordinator at Sewanee-University of the South. He then moved to defensive coordinator and special team’s coordinator.
Coached Offensive Line at Cumberland University.
Rick has also been a Head H.S. Football Coach at three different Schools for 11 years including Oakland in Murfreesboro, Northeast High School in Clarksville and Cheatham County High School.
Butler also runs Frontline Scouting Services. His business offers combines and camps exclusively for high school offensive and defensive linemen in the pursuit of college scholarships. They provide college and university coaches verifiable data on the positions many deem the most difficult to evaluate.

Last night (July 18, 2012) the Coffee County High School softball team held its annual banquet at the Manchester/Coffee County Conference Center. Several awards were given out by head coach Terry Floyd and Jeff Cox awarded Sr Chelsea Howell with the Gateway Tire and Service/Thunder Radio Player of the Year.
Most of the speeches were about the tremendous season the Lady Raiders had going to the state tournament and finishing 3rd.
Floyd reminded everyone now the work begins for another run for a state title.