As a bachelor with no kids of my own, I often feel as if the hundreds or thousands of high school athletes I've covered and watch grow up are distant nieces and nephews.

It's impossible to get close to every young man and woman I cover. It's equally impossible not to form a close bond with a few athletes in every class.

Like a proud uncle, I watch as the young men and women spread their wings as they leave high school and their home stomping ground in Okaloosa County. I try to keep up with some of these young people on Facebook. I even have a few of their numbers in my cell phone.

Even with the joys of social media and modern technology, it's still hard to stay in touch with those athletes that I've been closest to through the years.

That's why it's always special to unexpectedly see or hear from one of them.

I've had two of those pleasant surprises in the last couple of weeks with a couple of former Crestview stars who have been away from the area the last few years.

Catching up

I was talking to Crestview baseball Coach Tim Gillis on May 9 in his office when Anthony Brown, a 2006 CHS grad, dropped by to see his old coach.

Anthony, a standout in baseball and football for the Bulldogs, played a few years of minor league baseball. He is one of those guys who, when the time comes, should be elected to Crestview High School's Sports Hall of Fame.

Coach Gillis had to get to a dodge ball tournament and, after he left, Anthony and I stood in the parking lot for 30 minutes just catching up.

He continues to represent his school and community well eight years after graduating.

NFL dreams

Chris Pickett has been out of high school four years, and I've seen him at a few basketball games when he was home from Troy University, where he played football.

Recently, Chris — who graduated from Troy a few weeks ago — posted a Facebook status message that said he had a tryout with the Jacksonville Jaguars. I got in touch with him last Tuesday at the Bulldog football practice to talk about his National Football League dreams.

I was always as impressed with Chris' manners and his athletic talent. He has always been a, "yes, sir; no sir," young man who respects the game and those who have coached and, in my case, written about him through the years.

With his degree in hand, Chris will go far in life, no matter what the football world holds in store for him.

Some advice

In a few days, the Class of 2014 joins Anthony Brown and Chris Pickett as high school graduates. As has been the case for several years, I have watched this class grow and mature through their four years of high school.

It will seem strange next football season not writing about Denzel Ware at Crestview or D.J. Thomas at Baker. In my own way, I will miss all of the young people from the Class of 2014 who have made my job a little easier and more exciting.

I hope I have played some small part in capturing the memories of their high school careers.

As the Class of 2014 steps into a world full of mystery and promise, I'd like to offer a few words of advice.

Hold tight to your high school teammates and friends because you will find they will always be the ones that know you best and love you the most.

Remember the lessons of discipline, teamwork and perseverance your coaches taught you, for those are the foundations of a successful career and life.

Finally, don't be afraid to love and risk loving — even when it hurts. If you learn to love God, others, yourself and the work you choose to make your life calling, you will live a successful life.

Congratulations on a job well done.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Good times remembered

The time of year I love to hate is upon us.

When spring football practice ends Thursday, the 2013-14 sports seasons end as well. And it will be, for all practical purposes, summer.

Mid-August to mid-May, it's easy to fill a sports section with local news, and I usually have more going on than I can get to.

The truth is, there is a wide world of sports out there that vary greatly from the more traditional sports local athletes enjoy.

Summertime is when I can tell the unusual as well as the individual and team stories of local athletes young and old; stories I don't usually get to tell during the school year.

I just need your help identifying these stories.

Just what I'm I looking for?

Maybe an elementary school kid running in their first 5K race and finishing well.

If you know a junior (or senior) golfer who is competing in or won a local, state or national tournament, that's also something I'd like to know about.

In fact, we would be happy to do a story about a golfer of any age who's doing well or has a unique story like, perhaps, that first hole-in-one.

If you are into kayaking or canoeing and most of the time feel left out of the sports scene, this is the time to let me know about your passion.

Tell me about your traveling baseball, softball, volleyball, basketball or soccer teams that are doing well. So if you have an AAU team with a large number of athletes from the Crestview, Baker and Laurel Hill communities, we are interested.

If your park or recreation league is hosting a tournament or a camp, that's news.

Whether your passion is archery, bowling, wrestling or any of the countless other sports and recreational activities available in the area, chances are good that there is a story to tell about that passion.

If you provide stories, photos and scores from your local league's games, those photos and scores will be used in print, online or both, as space allows.

I want to fill the paper with that local content that is, in part, driven by reader participation.

Just email your ideas and content to sports@crestviewbulletin.com.

Thanks for your help!

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Have a story idea? I'm listening!

There's an old black and white photo on my Facebook page that was was taken 40 years ago this fall. I was somewhat younger and weighed about half of what I now weigh.

In fact, the photo is the Gulf Breeze High School 1974 football team photo.

Some of my coaches and teammates in that photo have passed away. In my mind, those coaches are still strong young men and those teammates are fuzzy-faced kids with worlds to conquer.

I've been thinking a lot about those guys the last few days as spring football started last week. Two teammates in that photo, Ken Hardy and Mort Deer, were my best friends in high school and remain the very best of friends today.

I still see other teammates from time to time at ball games or class reunions. I'm Facebook friends with a lot of the guys and friends with other teammates' wives not on Facebook.

And then there is a group of guys that I look at their once familiar faces and try to recall a name or when I last saw them. Time has a way of rushing past and covering memories with passing years.

The youngest of those teammates will turn 55 this year. Those old friendships and team bonds seem even more special now that we are all closer to the end than the beginning of the journey.

In the last 40 years, I've been a part of some great organizations in the workforce and in churches I've attended. From a team perspective, none of those groups match the experience of being on my high school football team.

Too often, clichés such as family, brotherhood and bond are used to express a group's unity. Those words didn't do justice to my high school football experience.

My teammates and coaches were, and remain, my family and brothers in life.

The coaches pushed us to find something deep within that we didn't know we had as they pushed us through grass drills before practice and wind sprints at the end of the day.

When we were punished with extra running or extra hitting for missing an assignment on the field, it was to strengthen our resolve, not to make the mistake again and to be a better teammate.

I won't pretend there weren't problems on my team or, for that matter, every team. I've seen teammates fight each other after practice on Wednesday and stand together against a common opponent Friday night.

Team members, like family members, might sometimes fight with each other, but they will always fight for each other against a common foe.

Yes, I still miss playing football. And I'd be willing to take the field to practice a few more times just for the opportunity to hit someone and compete.

But it's the relationships with teammates and coaches I miss the most as I think about the start of spring football practice.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: All about teammates

Every now and then, something happens that puts sports in perspective.

Crestview High School’s baseball team was supposed to travel to Tallahassee on Wednesday to play Chiles in the state playoffs quarterfinal. I was going to catch a ride on the bus with the team.

As an old athlete, I’ve had my share of team bus rides. I’ve even hitched a few rides on a team bus since I started writing sports. Believe me, riding a team bus isn’t all that glamorous, and it has changed since back in the 1970s.

But a not-so-funny thing happened before the Bulldogs could leave for Tallahassee. For a day, we experienced a flood of biblical proportion.

Many of you experienced it in ways you don’t want to think about. I was hit hard by the rain, too, with my house in Fort Walton Beach receiving flood waters that reached between 4 and 6 inches inside and knee level and higher in the yard.

Floods across Northwest Florida, tornadoes that devastated our neighbors to the north in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee, hurricanes and things like last year’s terrorist bombing at the Boston Marathon help put sports in perspective.

Anyone who knows me will tell you I love to compete. And more than my love for competition is my desire to win. If I’m playing dominoes with my family, bowling with friends or taking a photo that will appear in the Bulletin, I want to be better than those I measure myself against.

Most athletes and coaches I know are that way as well. If you aren’t going to have a winner and loser, why keep score? And if you don’t keep score, why play?

There’s nothing wrong with that. America was built by men and women with a competitive fire that drove them to succeed in business and industry. Winning and losing are important.

But to say, as I have in the past, that winning is more important than a matter of life or death does injustice to those who have lost loved ones in the recent storms.

To say winning is more important than a home lost is at best careless and at worse callous.

The lessons we learn competing in athletics serve us well in life when facing tough moments. I’ve used some of those life lessons to put my relatively minor flood damage in perspective.

A postponed baseball game will be replayed. Athletes and coaches recover from lost games. Sometimes you never recover from a lost loved one, and it’s a lot easier to recover from a lost game than a lost home.

Sports have always been a part of our society. They lift our spirits in the hard times after tragedies or natural disasters. Sports remind us that valuable lessons are learned in both winning and losing.

Sports are important, but this week we were again reminded that our games must be kept in proper perspective.

 Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Flood helps us keep sports in perspective

I attended my first flag football game Thursday night when Crestview High School hosted Fort Walton Beach.

I hoped to make it to a game earlier in the season, but things kept popping up. I even showed up for the April 3 game with Choctawhatchee — only to find out it had been postponed.

Before Thursday's game, won by Crestview 7-6, I asked officials in the parking lot to briefly explain the rules.

Being an old lineman, my idea of flag football is flagging the opponent with a hard hit.

I quickly learned — much to my dismay — my kind of flagging would draw a penalty.

Guess that means I better stick with writing sports.

Flag football has been played across the state for several years, but only this year was it introduced as a sport in Okaloosa County.

In two years, local teams will be able to compete in state-sanctioned events and the playoffs. For now, coaches, players and local officials are learning the game's finer points.

I have yet to develop an opinion about flag football.

I think I like it.

It almost would go against everything in my being not to like something football.

Girls flag football reminds me of the 7-on-7 passing leagues varsity football teams have in the summer, only without the contact associated with the guys.

Having covered most of the girls on the Crestview team in some other sport, I wasn't surprised by their athleticism or toughness. Many of basketball, volleyball and soccer's skill sets transition well to the flag football field.

Perhaps the best thing about flag football is it gives more young women an opportunity to compete and embrace athletics for the first time or to discover a new sport.

Any time young women or men have a chance to be active, we all win.

It was cool and overcast Thursday, and it would be a stretch to say attendance was sparse. I don't know if the weather had anything to do with that, but I do know athletes compete better when fans are in the stands.

Still, this is just the first season, and it takes awhile for any sport to build a following.

I doubt that Jack Foster Stadium will ever be packed to capacity for a flag football game, but I believe local fan interest will grow with the sport.

Players on this year's Crestview team will never lift a championship, but they can take satisfaction in knowing they have helped build a foundation for flag football's future at their school and in the county.

Randy Dickson is the Crestview News Bulletin’s sports editor. Email him at randyd@crestviewbulletin.com, tweet him @BigRandle, or call 682-6524.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Flag football comes to Crestview