by Steve Dunford

Tornadoes form both the girls and boys teams gather for a group photo last Saturday while serving the Seniors dinner in their community. (Photos courtesy of Randall Risley)

When it was dark in most gyms last Saturday, because of threatening weather, there was a packed house in the Zeigler-Royalton Elementary/Junior High School cafeteria.  Both Tornado girls and boys basketball teams fed Christmas dinner to several senior citizens across the community.

The Z-R community has a storied history of coming together.  One was several years back for Tyson Kretz helping when he was in junior high with his battle with illness.  Kretz is a senior on the basketball team.

Over the last several years, Zeigler-Royalton athletics has been involved with Coaches-vs-Cancer.  These efforts has been spearheaded by Tornado Super-fan Randall Risley.  There have been several national awards given to Z-R for their efforts.

I heard about this event around Thanksgiving.  Someone posted about it on my Facebook blog covering high school sports in the county.  There were flyers circulating around the Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament about the event as well.  Myself, along with others were blown away by the idea of service of these young people.

Matt Morgan, the head boys high school basketball coach, and Jeremy May the girls coach were the ones who guided their players in getting the event together.  Here is what Coach Morgan had to say about the day:

“It was a great opportunity for our kids to give back to the community. One of the most important things we try to teach our athletes at Z-R at all levels is that they can contribute to

Coach Morgan and his assistant coach Scotty Clark in “pregame preparations” before the meal Saturday.

something bigger than basketball or any sport that they can play. It is a very important message to get across and I feel like our school does a good job of it.

Granted, it makes it a lot easier when the families are on-board with developing that same culture. We are fortunate that our families at Z-R support us 110% in what we try to do. Seeing the smiles on the senior citizens faces on Saturday meant a lot to all of us that were there. Our entire community is so good about pitching in and helping support causes like this.  I’m blessed and very fortunate to be able to work and live in a community like the one that I do!”

Going into the Sesser-Valier Holiday tournament the boys team is 1-4 on the season.  They have a tough task waiting for them on the 26th as they face Wooldawn, who finished fourth in the state in Class 1A last year.  The girls team has not won a game this season.

Very few kids will come out of Franklin County playing college athletics.  The most important things is the lessons learned on the hardwood, diamond, or gridiron can translate into being better citizens, employees, and most importantly better mothers and fathers.  The biggest W of the year by any of the Franklin county teams took place in a tiled-floor multi purpose room this day.

Something else that took place a long similar lines that is noteworthy. The Home Economics department of Christopher High School had a similar event for the senior citizens of their community on Friday.

I am around teenagers a lot in various circles of my life.  This generation is a better bunch of kids than mine was in the 80’s, as a whole.  They are selfless, and have much more compassion than we did.  A great example is what took place last Saturday at Z-R.