Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Today’s newspaper is obviously focused on the Troup County team that represented Georgia and won the O-Zone division of the Dixie Baseball World Series earlier this week.

In an article in today’s paper, we talked to most of the team members, asking them about their experience in the world series.

And we’ve got to tell you, we were impressed speaking to those 11 and 12 year olds.

Not only were all of them well-mannered, all had plenty to say about their experience. Perhaps, most impressive of all, was the way each spoke about their teammates. Just about every player we talked to said one of the keys to their success was the players around them.

They talked about being down in games — as they were against Tennessee Thursday and Florida on Wednesday — and about how they never lost focus. They never thought it was over.

So often in that situation, we watch professional and even college athletes look at the scoreboard, hang their heads and appear to let defeat set in. Not the Troup team.

They were expecting to come back each time, and they did, ending a perfect run at 10-0. We all face adversity every day in our lives, whether it’s part of an athletic event or not.

How do we deal with that unexpected thing that pops up in our day? How do we overcome that setback that we weren’t expecting?

Perhaps we can learn something from this team.  In those moments, we should pick up the bat and keep swinging, just like our local all-stars did. Congrats to the world series champions, and most of all, thank you for representing Troup County so well on your journey.