Not what we wanted

JIM SACCO / News Virginian
Published: October 14, 2007

It's a letter, not a form letter, written on Waynesboro High School letterhead. Much like all the positive letters a sports department gets (we call them "atta-boys" or "atta-girls") it's either hung in the cubicle or stowed away in a "happy place" for us to look at every now and again when we're feeling blue.

"I want to say 'Thank You' for the excellent coverage your sports department gave our volleyball team throughout the season," it reads. "… I know the members of our volleyball team will long cherish the pictures and articles that were in the 'The News Virginian' this season."

It's dated Nov. 21, 2005, days after the Waynesboro volleyball team lost it's heartbreaking five-game Group AA state semifinal match to Sherando. It was a team that ran the table and, to be honest, a team everybody expected to bring home the crown.

That was then, so they say. This is now.

Having already clinched its first losing season since the program started in 1978, the 3-13 Little Giants are miles away from those halcyon days. And, folks, let us be honest here, you want to know why.

What's the problem-

Did Cynthia Atkins really mean that much-

Is the team just saddled with a rebuilding year under first-year coach Lori Aleshire-

Is the team heading in the right direction-

Is this just one of those cycles that all high schools go through when it comes to sports-

You'd like to know. So would we.

Telling you is going to be harder thanks to an edict issued to the volleyball program by Waynesboro Athletic Director Mel Morris - the man who wrote that letter in 2005.

I assigned sportswriter Court Wills to get the answers for you. She called the school Oct. 5 to find out the time of practice that day. Morris called hours later to inform Wills she would not be welcome at practice. Word apparently had gotten out that Wills was working on a story about the Giants' struggles.

I called Morris to see what the problem was. It was true. The school across the street from our office had put up an iron curtain around its volleyball program. Morris told me he thought a negative article would hurt the team.

Sorry Giantdom, but reporters can't write negative articles. They can only write what the coaches and those they interview give them. (Columnists, on the other hand, can write whatever they please.)

Waynesboro missed a great opportunity to spin the story the way it wanted.

Coach Aleshire could have told us that things were only going to get better, something this sports editor firmly believes is true. Heck, I told all of you so in a Sept. 27 column that with a smiling first-year coach and the latest workhorse for the Little Giants to ride (Rachel Binda - a player who has the last-name pedigree from the past), things were going to get better.

Plus, don't think for a second we're not aware of who we are covering. There are no million-dollar, gold-chain wearing Ocho-Cincos in high school. It's not a job for these athletes, it's for school pride and recognition.

And we give the latter to them, don't we- Is it not this paper that runs local kids' photos five-columns wide (in laymen's speak, that means pretty big)-

(I'll bring your attention to what Stuarts Draft football coach Rod Bowers told me on a soggy Waynesboro football field earlier this season: "I love what you guys do for these kids. It's all about them with you guys. I love your paper.")

Is it not local newspapers that give kids, most of whom will never play organized sports past high school, memories of a time when what they did with a uniform on meant something to a whole community- Stories and pictures that made you smile- Or convinced your grammar school son or daughter to say "I want to be him/her when I get to high school-"

This story, however, doesn't get any better. On Friday, Wills called Aleshire and asked to schedule a meeting. The coach informed Wills that she had been told by Morris not to talk about the team's disappointing season.

Oh well, everybody wants their name in the paper when they're undefeated, but it seems like nobody wants the coverage when a goose egg in the loss column is a long way from happening.

It's a shame, really.

All we wanted was to write a story and give the Little Giants a chance to let us know what the problem was and how it was going to get better.

Instead, Giantdom chose to act, well, just plain dumb.

Contact Jim Sacco at