Grateful

I’ve always been a simple person who needs very little to be happy. My first date with my partner was over 50 years ago. We talk about how if we had nothing but our family, would we be alright? We realize without a doubt we’d be just fine. We are all about quality relationships and being passionate about life and what we enjoy.

With these thoughts in mind, we were very excited to be in Yakima this past weekend to cheer on our Raider teams’ athletes and coaches. Last spring after state softball was over, I told the head coach, Jaci Gross, to keep her chin up because her staff and team were doing great and progressing. This last weekend at State the softball team played multiple games and continued to set a solid foundation for future success. I watched them compete and I’m very proud of all involved.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a Track & Field fanatic. Track paid for my college education. My wife has been the Raider Track & Field head coach for a long time and we have our tickets for the Olympic Track & Field Team Trials this summer. Several Raider athletes made it to the state championships in multiple events this past weekend. Carly Neddo and John Cooley were medalists and Caden Portch set personal bests in his events. I want to say thank you for the State Championship Track & Field T-shirt with the Raider coaches and athlete qualifiers I was given. It means the world to me.

My wife had great, hard-working athletes on this Raider squad who did very well. However, she and the athletes also had wonderful support from the coaching staff. Ashley Atkins (who also coaches cross-country) made tremendous progress with her distance runners and now that we have pole vault pits, she’ll be able to make progress in this event. Berlyn Carkner (a two-time state champion for Coach Adkins) had a state medalist and is building a strong foundation of throwers. Christy Portch volunteers her time as a coach (she was a past state medalist for me and a Raider Cheerleader for Coach Adkins) adding her expertise in multiple events.

In closing, I’ll embarrass my wife, but after four decades and counting as a teacher and coach of multiple sports, various people spoke very highly of her to me this past weekend. All of her coaches told me she is an amazing person and they love working with her. One of Coach Adkins’ present athletes (who is a multi-sport athlete) said she is the best coach she’s ever had.

I bumped into one of her former students at dinner one night and was asked if I remembered her. To her surprise, I did after a few decades! Then she went on to tell me Mrs. Adkins was the best teacher she ever had. This included college instructors.

My wife Lori has taught and coached thousands of student-athletes and is still doing so. Her work ethic is unmatched and she always does everything at a very high level. I’m very grateful that people admire and appreciate her. She always puts others ahead of herself and enjoys their successes. We’ve supported Raider Nation for decades and it’s always fun!

Genuine caring matters!

John M. Adkins