March Madness is a term originally coined as a marketing slogan for the NCAA Division One basketball tournament. It’s a clever concept that includes one-time original phrases that have now turned cliché, such as Cinderella stories, “bracket busters” and “bubble teams.”

However, I think a local version of March Madness is much more appealing than one that uses college kids to generate billions of dollars for institutions of higher education.

Anywhere I seem to go within the community, someone has a question about local news, sports or a story that I should have covered.  

Telling stories about local life is perhaps the most appealing aspect of my part-time job. Just in the past two weeks, there’s been a bit of madness in trying to fit in everything that deserves coverage.  Wrestling, gymnastics, local government elections on the horizon and the list goes on and on.

But let me stop for a quick breath to say thank you to the amazing coaches of local sports and activity teams who go above and beyond in their efforts to recognize their programs and participants. I appreciate all the emails, phone calls and submitted photos that help me to tell the stories that people want to hear.

It’s more than just the stats — which are obviously important — but some of these coaches also go out of their way to share the details of the participants who experience their own level of success after putting in the hard work.

It’s the new speech team member who tries out a category for the first time, or the bench player who has to step onto the court and play serious minutes due to a teammate’s misfortune. 

Congratulations to all the local coaches and participants who have made our local March Madness even more impressive than the one that garners all the media attention.  

It’s an honor to share your stories.