I’ll occasionally get emails from parents whose kids are doing big things outside of Plant City. It’s not a case of parents from other cities trying to promote their kids in every newspaper in the Tampa Bay and West Polk areas — it’s families that live right here, in the Winter Strawberry Capital of the World, but send their kids to school elsewhere.
And I’ve almost always gotten this question: “Is it OK if my kid doesn’t go to school in Plant City?”
In the Plant City T=imes & Observer’s collective opinion, yes. Anything we do in this paper has to have some kind of strong local tie to make the final cut. For an athlete, living in Plant City is fine.
In fact, I want to hear about these kids more often.
So, if any of you readers are one of these parents or athletes in question, I want to hear from you. There have been a handful of Athlete of the Week recipients that fit the bill — including from Lakeland Christian School — and I’m always interested in a compelling story if it’s there (and if the athlete meets the above requirements).
I was once in a similar boat as these kids. My parents were stuck with two houses when the housing bubble burst in 2008, forcing us to sell our Winter Haven home and move to Lakeland right before my senior year of high school. Rather than switch schools in the most important year of my high school career, I elected to drive over 35 minutes to and from Lake Region High every day (before several “shortcuts” were installed on U.S. 17 and Highway 98).
It can be tough to balance such a commute with schoolwork, extracurriculars and a social life. Doable, but tough. And the kids that are able to both balance everything and stand out from the pack on their playing field deserve some spotlight.
I also still get a lot of questions about how Athlete of the Week nominations work for kids that do go to school in Plant City, so I’ll go over that procedure for everyone while I’m here:
Email me, with your child’s name, sport, school and a few sentences about why they deserve Athlete of the Week honors.
I like the parents that enjoy writing more than a few sentences about their kids, and I love the parents that include their cell and home phone numbers in the emails.
The one thing I do not need is a picture — I take that myself during the in-person interview.
I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.