The season for high school basketball, indoor track, wrestling, and more sports are getting heated up, and of course Varsity 365 will be right there the whole way.  But as it is a new year (happy new year everyone!), and V365 is in the process of spreading its wings, it’s time to reflect on some of the games and athletes we’ve covered since changing to Varsity 365.  So here are some of my random thoughts for the very first edition of: On the Road…

It was exciting relaunching our company as Varsity 365 with the Roman Catholic/St. Joe’s Prep game.  It is still amazing how the Roman Catholic football team managed to beat the Prep’s football team for the Catholic League title, so we knew there would be a packed house for this as the athletic rivalry between these two teams reaches new level.  It was a great atmosphere, but Roman made a statement with the double digit win.

Ahh...our first game relaunched as Varsity 365.  Oh the memories.

 Impressive in that game was Maalik Wayns, and he was equally as impressive in the Roman/West Catholic game we covered.  He is a very calm player from what I’ve seen; he doesn’t hoot, holler or pump his fists or anything like that.  He just comes out and inspires with his play.  He can slash to the hole, hit a three or jumpshot, and distribute the rock very well, setting up teammates.  And as we saw in the West Catholic game, he can finish with authority (his final dunk in that game actually made people run out of the gym on their way to their homes.  It was that good).  He is a junior, but he has committed to Villanova and I think he’ll do just fine there. 

 
Track meets are pretty long.  So when you're not competing, you could either stretch, nap...or look totally awesome in a Varsity 365 pic!  

Our lone track meet so far (we will be covering the Meet of Champs in February) was a thrill, but I have to give extra praise to Ryann Krais of Methacton, who absolutely ate up the 60 meter hurdles.  She is a phenomenal athlete who has set all types of PA records and has won all types of honors including Gatorade Female Track and Field Athlete of the Year last year.  Hmm…I think that I, just at this moment, decided that we need to get an interview with her.  Yep.  I’ll work on that.

 Our last game saw two big men dual it out.  Dan Robinson of Ridley, and Greg Robbins of Lower Merion.  Dan won the personal battle (he had 20 points, Robbins had 18), but Greg won the whole enchilada as Lower Merion won, 47-44.  I saw some great stuff from these two; Robinson was aggressive, and I do mean aggressive in the interior, and he seems to command the ball.  Robbins moves gracefully inside and outside, especially for a guy so tall, and he came up big in the clutch with two three pointers that the Aces desperately needed in the 4^th quarter.  Yep, remind me of my days as the big man on court, which um…never happened :(   

 That’s it for today’s random thoughts.  I hope to see you all on the trail as we continue to cover the biggest games and the best rivalries in the Greater Philadelphia area.  If you have any comments or feedback, please send them to mwright@varsity365.com and I will share them the next time I look back.

 Comments, questions, feedback: mwright@varsity365.com