DHS coaches preview spring sports

Spring sports at Demopolis High School may not get a lot of attention, but track and baseball have their own challenges, elite athletes and fervent fans.

Baseball coach James Moody and cross-country and track coach Deborah Boykin Wednesday told Rotarians about their programs and what they foresee.

Boykin, a native of Minnesota, has been at DHS for 16 years. She got involved in track when her daughters started running.

Cross-country and track draw what she called the “leftover kids,” the ones who don’t believe they will succeed in the more popular sports.

“They come to me, and I can’t say no,” she said.

Over the years her squad has improved. This past fall the 21 members who made up both the boys and girls’ cross-country teams placed first in sectionals. Competing at the state level is difficult since the athletes from north Alabama schools regularly practice running up and down hills. That terrain is rare in the Demopolis area.

Boykin is proud of Shanedra Richardson, a state champion on the track team. “She will probably put Demopolis on the map.” Already Richardson is drawing attention from Division I schools.

The coach has the challenge of determining which of her 37 athletes will fill the 17 different events in track and field. Each student is limited to four events, but she joked that the shot-put thrower doesn’t run the sprints.

Boykin’s is disappointed that other teams rarely come to Demopolis to compete since the city is so far away. Facilities are not up to the same standards as other schools, she added. The eight-year-old track “needs a lot of help.”

While the school has the pit for the pole vault, the equipment for it costs around $20,000.

Moody began his talk by thanking the corporate sponsors who have made baseball possible at DHS. He has been a baseball coach for 28 years, 26 of them in Demopolis.

He said the 22 members on the squad this spring will face a similar competitive schedule as before. Moody wouldn’t make any predictions about the season. “It’s all about who’s on the mound,” he said.

He doesn’t see any superstars this year, but he added, “I do like this group.” They are a good bunch who work hard.

Every year, he continued, he tries to get his players to have good chemistry and trust the coaching staff. He encourages them to try daily to love, serve, compete, never quit and be humble.

Throughout his coaching career Moody said he’s had only two players to move to the pros. “I’m coaching husbands and fathers through baseball.”

He ended by quoting from a poster in the locker room. “Success is never owned, it’s rented, and the rent is due every day.”