SHS Bobcats mentor Elementary Kids

After seeing the stands full of young fans on Jan. 16 when his team played their rivals from Daniel, Seneca High School Varsity Boys’ Basketball Coach Kevin Padgett started thinking about giving back to the community that comes out to cheer for his team. “I guess about three or four weeks ago I just noticed we were missing something. We were winning ball games but we have a young team and some life decisions we need to do a better job of and so the idea kind of came to me that we need to give back.” Motivated by the huge home crowd, the Seneca varsity boys’ team beat Daniel 75-67 and Coach Padgett decided to take his team to an elementary school to mentor those young fans. “I talked to Lisa Simmons at Blue Ridge Elementary and worked with my administration. They allowed us to go over there this past Wednesday. We went to recess and ate lunch with the kids. We played kickball, basketball and football with them at recess. We wanted to get into the classroom and just talk to them to try to make an impact.” It was a mutually beneficial day, concludes Coach Padgett. “I think we, as a basketball team, got just as much out of it as these young kids did.” Coach Padgett plans to continue taking his team to local elementary schools to mentor young students in the coming weeks ahead.