Oconee County, GA Politics

13 year old Athens Academy phenom Lowell Matthews checks out the very few scuff marks on the new solid plexiglass backboards of the outdoors Sprite Spark Park funded basketball courts at Herman C. Michael Park in Oconee County, Georgia (Photograph by Daniel J. Matthews - fully licensed and copyrighted photograph may not reproduced without permission or at least proper accreditation and some advanced mutually agreed to compensation). The new outdoor basketball courts at Herman C. Michael Park are ready for some serious sweaty competition whether between father and son or four buddies not wanting to wait for the indoor courts to come open. I like the padded goal stand and even tugged a few of the velcro straps together, and the stone benches add a nice touch. The plexiglass backboards do not wobble in the least, nor do they have that patented "THONG" sound that so many of us used to playing on school yard courts recall from launching bricks landing on the standard metal p...

Any Oconee County soccer or baseball playing families who have not done so should check out the well maintained athletic facilities hidden behind Westminster Christian School here off New High Shoals Road just outside the 441 Bypass very near Watkinsville. The Oconee County Futbol Club calls this their home field this season, and the quality of play is light years ahead of the similarly aged Oconee County Recreation Department level of play. Of course playing elite traveling teams from closer to Atlanta often means your team will get stomped with near World Cup level passing and kicking on corner kicks, it also means that some day your youth could be that proficient as well. The 7 on 7 soccer works well on the smaller fields of Westminster Christian, and it will be interesting to see if that translates well to the five viable High School sports programs in the next five to 10 years. I formerly lived just down the road from this school and it is interesting to see how it has evolved...