Hall Honors Area's Youngest Stars
During class time at Oscar Smith High School, Phillip Sims is there every day, toiling away to make the honor roll.
Outside on the football field, he uses the same skills - and the results are even higher.
"Figured that if I worked hard off the field and keeping up my skills and my craft, would help me do better on the field," said Sims, who quarterbacked the Tigers to an undefeated season last year. "If you can study your math books and history books, you can study defenses."
Late last week, as his team geared up to battle Osbourn in the state title game at Virginia Tech, Sims put his in-class abilities to work for the gridiron.
"I watched film on us and our opponents to see what I did wrong," he said. "It was as mental as physical. It's the same techniques for your schoolwork that you use athletically."
It worked - Sims broke his own state playoff game record for touchdown passes as Smith roared to its first-ever state title - in any sport - on Saturday, knocking off the Eagles 54-24. The next night, Sims' skills made him the area's top male, age 12-16, at the Virginia Hall of Fame's fourth annual Student-Athlete Achievement Awards banquet.
"The state of Virginia takes a back seat to no state when it comes to producing great athletes," said Hall president Eddie Webb, "but being a native of the Hampton Roads area, it's sort of nice when you see kids from this region making to the top of their sport. It's great to see the success of our athletes. One thing about every one of them is that they've all done a good job of balancing out their lives, from the academics to the athletics, to the community service."
Just after school year began, applications were sent out to schools across Hampton Roads, and Hall marketing director Stacy Adams estimated that between 50 and 60 local school officials had returned nominations for their student-athletes this season.
"Every application that we get is outstanding," Adams said. "Every student is an honor roll student, a star in their sport. We base it on their sports achievements, and then their grades, their community involvement, their extra curricular activities."
A committee made up of Hall staff members, sponsors, and others selects 16 finalists for the awards, males and females age 12-16 and 17-18, all of whom receive free Hall membership and training scholarships, she said. The top student from each group, also chosen by the committee, receives a commemorative plaque.
Smith coach Richard Morgan watched one of his top charges grab a new honor - and he hoped it wouldn't be the last.
"It's good to see (Sims) getting some recognition, and he's got a lot more things he's going to accomplish in his life," Morgan said. "Football's a part of your life, but it can't be your whole life. You have to be a well-rounded person."
That's what 17-18 male winner Ryan McTheny learned off the field last year, in more ways than one. After helping to build a trail and bridges for the New Kent Forestry Center as the last step toward becoming an Eagle Scout, the New Kent then-junior was charging across the gridiron in his own field wars.
Then something went snap - his ACL.
"Some of the doctors told me that there was a good chance that I might never play football again," McTheny said. "Being an athlete, you never have the opportunity to worry about things you can do until you can't do them."
After spending six months in physical therapy, in which he'd like to pursue a career someday, McTheny took his first tentative steps back toward the football field. As his senior season ended in November, he was a solid starter on defense, and hopes to play in college.
"I had a coach that told me to play every play like it was my last, and I never really understood that until after my knee injury," McTheny said. "I just played every play. It was just a lot of hard work, having to balance time and effort."
Those skills were consistent throughout the group of finalists; Grafton freshman Katie Maloney, the top 12-16 female, became a member of the U.S. Junior National Figure Skating team and one of the school's top cross-country runners; that is, between teaching skating to disadvantaged children, for which she won a Tidewater Figure Skating Club community service award. When she wasn't on her way to top spots on Gloucester's basketball and softball squad, female 17-18 winner Lauren Kiser took college courses at the Chesapeake Bay Governor's School and was a member of the school's Beta Club and National Honor Society.
"It's challenging," Kiser said. "You have to be able to focus and know what it's time to study. You have to turn away fun things at time to make sure that you have enough time to get the credits. You have to focus and get your work done on time."
Focusing on baseball both alone and with their team was a large part of Manny Upton's sons' trek to the majors. Three years after his older son B.J. was taken by the Tampa Bay Rays as the second pick in the 2002 draft, Upton's youngest, Justin, went first to Arizona. Justin, originally scheduled to be the guest speaker at Saturday's event before travel problems kept him away, helped Arizona to the playoffs early in his career, while B.J. played for an American League-pennant winner last season.
"There's no secret- it's hard work," said Manny, substituting for Justin. "They did a lot on their own, working on their game. They had a choice of their Nintendo or XBox, and they decided to practice their baseball. Baseball is something you have to work at. They go out and they work on it every day. The go out and they work on their throwing and hitting, because that's the biggest thing for them. Doing your best in everything you do is the most important thing."
Since their respective teams are in different leagues, they rarely do battle, and haven't since both Uptons were in the big leagues. But if the occasion does come, Manny hopes it's on baseball's biggest stages.
"Hopefully, they'll play each other in the World Series!" he said. "Whoever wins, wins! It'll be tough around the house, because there's going to be bragging rights."
The following local students were chosen as finalists, also receiving free Hall membership and training scholarship:
- Mary DiGeronimo- All-American softball player at Norfolk Christian
- Victoria Graves- Plays soccer and swims at Greenbrier Christian
- Shontel Linette- Tennis, softball player at Norview Middle, member of school's National Junior Honor Society
- Rachell Burrell- Co-captain of Bethel track team, has competed at national level
- Ashley Cornell- Churchland senior, Eastern District Pitcher of the Year in 2007
- Anna Lewis- Maury senior, Eastern District's top volleyball player last year
- James Grabowski- Grafton sophomore, longtime veteran of local youth league sports
- Jordan Roberson- Top player and coach for Landstown Middle basketball team
- Stas' Szczepanski- Berkley Middle student, has been a member of numerous youth football title-winning teams
- Travis McClenny- Captain of Churchland High football and basketball teams
- Michael Stolz- Plays soccer, basketball, lacrosse, and track at Bishop Sullivan
- James Taylor II- Set two state records in track and current state titlist in the 4X100 relay at Nansemond River
