Every year we take on the challenge of producing the Marion County Football Guide, and it is one heck of a trying experience.
You see, as much as we would like to get a head start on it and work on it little by little over the course of a couple of months, we simply can’t. That’s because the four area teams aren’t allowed to start practicing in pads until days before school starts, and we have to send the magazine to be printed — in this year’s case — the day after school begins.
Coaches don’t have a true feel for how position battles will play out until practice gets underway, and it’s hard for many players to get rides throughout the summer to consistently make workouts. So we’re left to produce a full-fledged magazine in the matter of 10 days or so. To top it off, we decided to make this year’s guide 64 pages compared to 48 in years past.
It may have been a big challenge that forced us several of us to work multiple 12-plus hour days, but boy oh boy was it worth it. When I got to work Tuesday morning, I got my first glimpse at it and it came out just as I had hoped.
One of the primary focuses of this year’s magazine was to allow the players’ personalities to shine through the pages. That’s not always easy to accomplish, especially at the prep level. What we ultimately did was set up a photo shoot with 15 players at the Crystelle Ford Auditorium at Columbia High School and allow them to be themselves. And rather than use those pictures small throughout the magazine, we blew them up across two pages to truly highlight them and make this year’s guide have the look and feel of a major magazine.
It’s a great feeling when your vision comes to life, and you can actually see the fruits of your labor. That’s what we have with this magazine. But this football guide isn’t about us here at The Columbian-Progress. It’s about the kids.
Obviously, a project like this isn’t possible without the assistance of a lot of parties, and in particular, the coaches, band directors, cheer and dance sponsors and advertisers. They had to go out of their way to accommodate us and work us into their schedules. It was their sacrifices that allowed us to give all of the players, cheerleaders, dancers and band members the recognition they rightfully deserve.
Fans and parents often times don’t witness the process. They only get to see the final product at Friday night games or competitions. But these kids have to make serious commitments not only to their coaches and teammates but themselves as well. Those commitments are time consuming and exhausting and well worth being recognized.
That’s why we put so much into this magazine, and I surely hope you all enjoy it.
