LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Young hockey players took to the ice this morning at Triangle Park for the Central Kentucky Hockey Association’s annual outdoor hockey event, bringing the excitement of the sport to downtown Lexington.
The association’s Under-8 Mite hockey players laced up their skates for the Annual Winter Classic, giving kids a chance to play the sport they love in an outdoor setting.
Matt Damon, hockey coach said, “These kids are doing something that a lot of other kids can’t even do.”
The event showcased the growing popularity of hockey in Kentucky, with families embracing a sport that’s traditionally less common in the region.
“I wasn’t a hockey fan growing up. I grew up in Pulaski County. My kids got involved two years ago,” said Tyler Waddle, hockey parent. “We’ve kind of grown into it. And we absolutely love it. It’s the perfect sport for girls.”
For many families, the outdoor event has become special by brings siblings together on the ice.
“It’s a big family thing. We have a lot of siblings that are playing against each other,” Damon said.
Players Alex Miller and Mason Miller, who are brothers, shared their excitement about playing together.
“It’s really fun and I feel happy that he likes playing hockey with me,” Mason Miller said.
The downtown location adds an extra element of excitement for participants and their families.
“Outside downtown really puts it to a whole new level to the experience,” Waddle said.
For young player Vinnie Bray, the appeal is simple: “It’s really fun. It’s mostly you try to win.”
The Central Kentucky Hockey Association continues to look for volunteers to help with their programs throughout the year. You can learn more at Central Kentucky Hockey Association
Ryan Walker knows his team is young, but the North Myrtle Beach boys basketball head coach is undeterred.
The Chiefs are preparing for 2026 region play with a completely different look compared to last year’s team. Take one glance out at the court, and Walker’s team is somewhat unrecognizable from years past.
The team’s top five scorers from 2024-25 — CJ Oxendine (12 points per game), Wells Hill (10 ppg), Landon Cloninger (9 ppg), Noah Louder (7 ppg) and Chris Chapman (3 ppg) — have all graduated.
It’s a brand new world for the Chiefs (6-7), but Walker has been pleased with what he’s seen so far this season.
“They’ve been great. We’ve been inconsistent, but we are playing a lot of young guys,” Walker said. “We’ve been just trying to stay the course and focus on ourselves, because we have a lot of new pieces and guys who don’t have a ton of varsity experience.
“We’ve been very team-focused. We’re focused on our circle and not too concerned about what’s going on with other teams.”
The team’s two top scorers during the early portion of their season are both freshmen. Mason Walker and Caden Bass have both averaged over 12 points per game and look to be the young duo the Chiefs will hope to lean on during region play, which begins Tuesday, Jan. 6, against Conway.
Even with youth and inexperience at the forefront, North Myrtle Beach relies on its upperclassmen for valuable minutes and leadership on the court
One of those leaders is Primere Lewis, a senior guard who is averaging double-digit points per game . Last season, Lewis took on a largely supplemental role and averaged just three points per game. But so far this year, he’s proven to be a top threat for Walker and Co.
“Primere is probably one of the most improved players in this region,” Walker said.
“We have had times already this year where he wasn’t scoring a whole lot, but we couldn’t take him off the floor just because of his leadership and defensive presence. He has that toughness. He gets in there and gets dirty and has been a vocal leader for us. He’s taken a big step in the right direction to help lead us.”
You would think Inverness had hosted the Olympic Games. In reality, it was Inverness Head and their child had competed there six times before. Now, this is by no means downplaying the excitement of a junior athlete’s first (or hundredth, as the case may be) head race, as these events keep spirits high during the dark, dingy winter months. Parents were lining the banks, cheering and shouting as if their children have just secured gold for Team GB, a heartening sight for any junior athlete.
Junior rowing is one of those sports that demands intense commitment from both athletes and their parents. Early mornings, multiple training sessions, endless travel, and the eternal smell of damp kit are just some of the sacrifices made when their child first picks up an oar. Gone are calm weekend mornings with lie-ins, relaxing family holidays, and any chance of a spontaneous break. Instead, the calendar is now filled with race days, training camps, and early starts.
It’s therefore inevitable that parents become heavily invested in their child’s sporting career. In fact, without parents acting as volunteers, mini-bus drivers, and designated snack suppliers, many junior rowing clubs would likely collapse.
But, at what point might parents overstep? At what point does involvement become unwanted extra pressure rather than encouragement?
The parent-child dynamic can be nearly impossible to navigate on both sides. While this is by no means a call to parents to stop supporting their children, junior – especially teenage – athletes are more susceptible to pressure than is often assumed, especially in today’s age of constant comparison. As such, I believe parents should support without creating added pressure that their child is undoubtedly already feeling from a highly intense training environment.
Screaming from the bank
Hearing your name shouted from the sidelines can be the final push an exhausted junior needs to cross the finish line. It can be a reminder of the beaming parents waiting on the pontoon, with their phones at the ready to take pictures to share on their Facebook pages.
But, in their desire to encourage their child to dig deeper and push further, parents also run the risk of inadvertently crossing a line in their child’s mind. It’s one thing to shout encouragement from the banks; it’s another to furiously pedal alongside, delivering live tactical feedback. When this line between parent and coach is blurred, the child can feel immense pressure to live up to their safe person’s expectations. Teenage athletes may be afraid that “losing” will be letting their loved one down.
Parents should try to remember – it’s their child’s race, not theirs. Rowing is a highly intense sport and there are some fantastic coaches meeting the technical needs of young athletes. A parent’s job, therefore, is encouragement and showing up at the finish line, no matter what the result.
Parents as volunteers
Parents don’t just spectate, they volunteer their precious time to clubs, organising regattas, marshalling in the bitter cold, and helping clubs keep running. The problem arises when that commitment morphs into perceived control by the child.
When parents invest so much time and emotion, it’s easy to conflate their child’s performance with their own effort. For young rowers, this creates an invisible pressure. If every race becomes a referendum on parental pride, the joy of the sport can quickly fade. Studies on youth athletics show that excessive parental involvement can harm self-esteem, increase burnout, and even lead to young people quitting the sport.
Rowing teaches resilience, teamwork, and discipline – skills that stay with you long after you stop rowing. However, those lessons are learned best when being on the water feels like a place of freedom, not expectations. Children are going to make mistakes. They will have bad outings and that’s OK. Parents should be supporters, not substitutes for coaches, and children need the space to fail, learn, and grow on their own terms.
At the end of the day, the majority of young juniors at local clubs won’t always remember how many medals they won or what their race times were. They’ll remember their family showing up, to cheer, to listen, to encourage. Sometimes the best support a parent can give isn’t coaching in every spare moment or nitpicking their child’s technique around the dinner table, but instead offering a supportive ear – or shoulder at times – and helping to support their club.
The composite age of Collegiate’s girls varsity basketball team is still too young to quality for a learner’s permit in Virginia.
That’s right.
With one 8th grader, six freshmen, one sophomore, one junior, and three seniors on his 12-player roster, Coach Kevin Coffey routinely sends his JV aged team with limited experience into the fray against varsity level competition.
Are the Cougars intimidated?
Hardly.
In fact, with their 32-23 victory over visiting Cape Henry Collegiate Saturday afternoon in the Albert L. “Petey” Jacobs Gymnasium, they improved their record to 4-4 and made a very clear statement about their inherent toughness, resilience, and grace under pressure.
“You have to understand what kind of team you have,” said Coffey. “My job is to make them comfortable on the floor and give them things they can execute without feeling overwhelmed so they can use what they know and compete.”
Compete, the Cougars did.
Using a 1-2-1-1 zone press which morphed into a newly installed 1-2-2 zone, they limited the Dolphins (3-2) to 7-for-43 shooting and forced 28 turnovers.
“The 1-2-2 puts more pressure up on the top of the key and makes it so they have to play an even-front offense,” said senior forward Janey Ferry, one of three returners with varsity experience. “That helped us control what we could control. We did a good job of protecting against their shooters outside as well as in the middle.
“We were trying to be really aggressive. We pressed them from the get-go because we knew they didn’t have many players and we wanted to get them tired right off the bat.”
Freshman Carmen Rivera hit a 3-pointer at 7:14 and 1-of-2 from the free throw line at 5:59 to put Cape Henry up 4-0 enroute to a 9-7 lead after one quarter.
At 7:19 of the second, Collegiate’s freshman point guard Mia Shrestra (five first-quarter points) hit the deck hard attempting to convert a transition layup.
Play resumed, but the two-year starter did not return to action, leaving senior guard Mackenzie Weiss, a three-year veteran, to assume her role of navigating the Dolphins’ pressure, running the offense, and steadying her teammates.
“It was one of those moments when I knew I needed to step up and lead the team,” Weiss said. “Staying calm was the main thing, especially with all the emotion during the game. I use my emotions to keep going and push me and support teammates instead of letting it get to me.”
After Shrestra’s injury, her teammates rallied to force seven turnovers and 1-for-10 shooting and went into the much-needed halftime break ahead 12-11.
“It was tough,” Coffey said. “They care about their teammate. That was the No. 1 thing.
“We held our own. We had a nice conversation (in the locker room). They were able to sit and relax and refocus and get themselves going.”
Weiss hit a layup at 6:41 and a floater from the lane at 5:04.
Freshmen Betsy Proutt and Delaney Settar followed with 3-pointers over the Dolphins’ 2-3 zone, Weiss hit one-of-two from the line, and freshman Rose Blackburn scored from the paint off a Proutt assist to complete an 13-4 third quarter and send the Cougars into the fourth up 25-15.
During that stretch, the Cougars’ defensive effort forced 1-for-12 shooting and eight turnovers.
“We came out, and our mindset changed,” Coffey said. “We got some turnovers, sped the tempo up a little bit, and got some steals which gave us some opportunities to put the ball in the bucket.”
Though shorthanded, Cape Henry refused to capitulate and continued to apply the scrappy defensive pressure that by game’s end forced Collegiate into 11-for-37 shooting and 24 turnovers.
Three-pointers by Camille Rivera (11 points) and Carmen Rivera (12 points) facilitated a comeback that enabled the Dolphins to close to 27-23 at 1:33.
Duly inspired, the Cougars stood fast.
Proutt scored from the paint off Ferry’s entry pass at 1:03, Settar hit 1-of-2 from the line at 0:54, and Weiss (nine points, six steals) calmly sank two free throws at 0:26 to seal the deal.
“We were all fired up,” Weiss said. “We really wanted to win for Mia. That’s what really pushed us.”
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It was an exciting time for the DeKalb County Young Republicans Tuesday evening, as the organization held its New Year’s celebration and geared up for a busy 2026.
DeKalb County Young Republicans Chair Nathaniel Butler said he felt Tuesday’s event helped give the organization a good bit of momentum heading into the new year, especially with the midterm elections taking place in November.
“We usually have around 20 to 30 people attend our events,” Butler explained on Wednesday. “Last night, we had more than 50 people there. We had a number of new faces show up.”
Congressman Robert Aderholt was on hand as the event’s special guest speaker. In addition, other elected officials in attendance were recognized as well, while the organization’s outgoing chair was honored for his three years of service, according to Butler.
During his presentation, Aderholt gave a recap on the most recent year in the United States Congress, including the passage of the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which was signed into law on July 4th. Part of his talk on this piece of legislation revolved around how the various GOP members of Congress stuck together to get it passed, despite only having a relatively slim majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
In addition to his remarks about the 2025 session of Congress, Aderholt shared a few things about what other bills could be making their way through the legislature in 2026, including a new reconciliation package that may lead to more tax cuts, Butler explained. While on stage, Butler presented Aderholt with something special gathered from among voters throughout the area.
“We gave him a collection of postcards,” Butler said. “Congressman Aderholt has always been a reliable free market vote. These postcards had messages on them from his constituents, thanking him.”
As one of the main goals of the DeKalb County Young Republicans is to both build up the next generation of GOP leaders and educate younger residents on what is happening in the American political arena, Butler said he asked Aderholt to give those in attendance some advice on how to get involved themselves. Aderholt’s suggestions included getting active at the party level, or with a specific campaign, as a way to start down the path toward further involvement.
ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – Basketball was abundant in Southeast Minnesota on Saturday for the 2026 Southern Minnesota Hoops Fest. Four schools took part in hosting the day-long event, with 27 total games being played.
At Byron high school, Rushford-Peterson claimed victory over Lake City, 69-54. The Trojans have just two losses on the season.
At Goodhue, Southland took down Lewiston-Altura 68-51. Both teams received votes in the most recent Class A poll (Minnesota Basketball News).
