Patriot-ism Grows at PHCC With New Sports Program Offerings
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Attention, ladies and gentlemen – but mostly ladies.
For 2008, Patrick Henry Community College has added softball and cheerleading to its athletic department lineup, which already includes baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball and wrestling programs.
“Women’s involvement in athletics has been down a little bit over the past few years, so we wanted to give them more options for sports participation,” says Christopher Parker, athletic director and head baseball coach at Patrick Henry Community College. “We first tried volleyball but that wasn’t successful, and we had been receiving some really positive feedback about adding softball and cheerleading to our program – so we did.”
Parker says softball is a relatively expensive sport for a college, but that is what the students really wanted.
“And since we want more women involved in athletics on our campus, we happily agreed,” he says. “I hope many girls participate in Lady Patriots softball for years to come.”
The softball team began its first-ever fall season in August 2008, and their inaugural spring season will start in March 2009. The PHCC Patriots head softball coach is Kathleen Brown, and the team plays their home games at Jack Dalton Park in Collinsville.
Meanwhile, Parker says cheerleading is a sport that was requested not only by students, but by some of the PHCC faculty and staff, as well.
“Many people wanted to see more school spirit at our men’s and women’s basketball games, and that’s where cheerleading will obviously help,” he says. “In addition, not all women want to play sports but they want to stay active, and cheerleading is something that helps them stay in shape as well as have fun.”
Parker adds that the women cheerleaders won’t be competing at any ESPN-type televised competitions, simply because it is not available to two-year schools.
“This will simply be a structured athletic group who will lead the cheers and perform some dance routines at basketball games,” he says. “The coach is Jane Leizer, who is also an adjunct instructor at PHCC for dance, aerobics and physical education.”
In other positive sports news, the Patrick Henry men’s basketball team won the Virginia Community College Conference championship in 2007-2008, and the Patriots’ baseball team set a school record for wins, with 39 in 2008. Meanwhile, the women’s basketball team finished second in their conference in 2007-08.
“By the way, as of May 2008, our sports teams are now playing in the newly organized Virginia-Carolina Region 10 Conference,” Parker says. “Also, our entire athletic department has switched to the National Junior College Athletic Association. This move now allows Patrick Henry Community College to compete for national championships in sports, instead of just for state championships.”
Story by Kevin Litwin
