You might remember me mentioning our Varsity All-Stars. These are the coaches who help us with the Varsity Web site.

Varsity was set up by our people in California so it would be easy to use. Not just for us, but for you, too.

It’s true: The program is very easy to use. However, it takes a lot of time to enter stats. If we had to enter stats for every single game every night, we’d never get done. We just don’t have the staff to do it.

We depend on coaches to help us. Many do. But these are no ordinary coaches. They’re coaches who are so enthusiastic about their sport, or their team, or who are so proud of their players, or who are so appreciative of their team’s fans, or who are just so happy to have the opportunity to coach and touch the lives of our young people that they’re willing to take the time to enter their stats online.

Those are our All-Stars.

It’s a simple stat program, and it’s kind of neat the way they put it together. If you enter stats for each game, the Web site will do the rest, adding together stats for each player game by game. You can compare stats in any number of ways. For basketball, for instance, you can click on points, and the site will rank the players by points. Click on steals, and it will rank the players by steals. But you probably already knew that.

As I said, there are some coaches who think this endeavor is worthwhile enough to help us. Routt football was among the best this year. Coaches entered stats for their games THE NIGHT OF the game. Triopia did, too. West Central always had their stats entered before the weekend was out. Pittsfield, too. And Pleasant Hill.

We had some great ones in basketball as well. Coach Todd Bradshaw made sure Griggsville-Perry’s stats were updated. Calhoun, Waverly, Brown County, Pleasant Hill, A-C Central, Rushville-Industry and even Westfair — they all helped. Others, like Jacksonville, at least furnished all their stats — steals, rebounds, assists and the other things that don’t show up in the nightly box scores.

Girls’ basketball teams helped, too. Waverly girls’ basketball coach Scott Hendricks was a Varsity All-Star. Pleasant Hill. Routt coach Joe Eilering, whose team went further in the playoffs than any other team in the area, filled in all of his team’s stats. Calhoun entered stats and uploaded mug shots of all their players. Absolutely outstanding. Carrollton. Greenfield. Triopia. Brown County. They all helped. Volleyball — Carrie Jo Donnan at A-C Central was a Varsity All-Star. Routt coach Pat Gibson entered his team’s stats. Triopia helped. I’m hoping I haven’t left anyone out. But if you’re a regular visitor to the site, you know which schools helped, and which did not.

So to our All-Stars, we say thank you. You should thank them, too, if you’re a fan who enjoyed seeing updated stats of your favorite players.

If your team’s stats weren’t online, or they weren’t complete, ask your coach why. Or better yet, volunteer to enter them for your team.

In a small way, you can touch the lives of our young people, too.

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