With this being National Coaches Day, we wanted to celebrate some local coaches, ourselves. I am joking a bit, but not totally. As the new owners of Ovathletics.com Jeff Stephens and Thomas Salkovick squared off for what might be the last time ever. As they are both are our winding down their coaching careers to focus their full attention on making Ovathletics.com something amazing. While at the same trying to help every student athlete in the Ohio Valley they can.
Jeff Stephens has 31 seasons of coaching experience at the middle and high school levels. Jeff has coached many sports including basketball, football, and track and field. His coaching experiences include stints at St. Clairsville Middle School and John Marshall High School. His current positions are as head football coach, 8th grade girls’ basketball coach, and athletic director all at Sherrard Middle School.
Thomas Salkovick has coached 29 seasons at the middle and high school levels with both genders. Sports ranged from soccer to football, and most notably Lacrosse where he was named West Virginia Lacrosse Man of the Year in 2014 and West Virginia Coach of the Year in 2018 during his tenure at John Marshall High School. Since then, Thomas has moved on to coach at Wheeling Park High School for Lacrosse and Wheeling Middle for football.
As far as how the game went this evening, it was the Sherrard Rams and Coach Stephens taking the victory 22-6, knotting the series between Coach Stephens and Coach Salkovick at 1-1. A fitting way for these two gentlemen to end their head-to-head competition.
These two have not always opposed each other though. They both were on staff at Sherrard Middle School for seven seasons, making it to the Championship game in the PAC 8 four straight seasons.
This new experience with Ovathletics.com is the beginning of a new chapter in the lives of both of these two. Ending this last chapter is tough on both gentlemen. As they hate to leave the coaching profession and the kids they coach now and would have coached in the future. The opportunity for them to help even more Ohio Valley student athletes was too great to pass up. As they end the coaching chapters of their lives and begin this new chapter, they will always look back on the coaching chapter filled with great memories.
While this article is about the new owners. We at Ovathletics.com want to take the time to tell every coach around the Ohio Valley, thank you. It is not easy being a coach. As a coach you put in exceptionally long hours, you take time away from your own family, it might even take a toll of your own personal health, you get second guessed or called about by so many different people, and you hardly get paid anything.
However, the good that you do is worth all the downsides. You know as a coach you are changing lives. Sometimes not even your immediate players lives, but the lives of their families or friends. You may change the culture of a school or a community. You give people hope. We at Ovathletics.com cannot thank the coaches in the Ohio Valley enough for what you do. Regardless of the level or the sport you coach. You are appreciated!!!
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