Sports

The Graham Steers and Lady Blues are looking for their next generation of inspired youth to lead their tennis programs. The first step in that was their summer tennis camp which took place this week. 

Graham’s tennis camp ran in conjunction with Steers basketball camp from Monday to Wednesday, June 9-11. 

The first through fifth grade campers started off each day's worth of sessions from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. Meanwhile the sixth through ninth grade campers finished off the day with the 10 a.m. to noon sessions. 

The Graham Steers 7on7 team concluded their regular slate games Saturday in Jim Ned. 

The team traveled to Tuscola coming off of their most successful day of the summer season so far. In Brownwood, the team qualified for the state tour tournament after sweeping their four matches on the day. 

They faced teams like Andrews, McGregor and Lake view and defeated all of them 33-6, 47-16 and 35-26 respectively. 

The team then moved on to the championship game where they defeated Gatesville 33-25 to punch their ticket. 

It was a big weekend in athletics for both Graham and Newcastle. Several of their finest high school athletes from this past academic year competed in a series of showdowns during the annual Big Country Fellowship of Christian Athlete’s All-Star Festival. 

For the Steers, Lady Blues, Bobcats and Ladycats, their events took place Thursday, Friday and Saturday, June 5-7 at ACU Moody Coliseum and Shotwell Stadium. 

Athletes from the Steers included Harison Brockway, Jordan Dunson, Mason Milton, Ty Thompson and Mateo Rodriguez for football. 

The FCA All-Star Festival wasn’t the only platform Graham athletes had to shine this past weekend. Several more Graham athletes traveled up to Wichita Falls for the 88th annual Oil Bowl Classic. 

The two day event, which took place at Wichita Falls Legacy and Memorial High Schools, featured sports events such as boys and girls basketball, girls volleyball and a closing football match. 

For the Lady Blues, their platforms to shine came in the basketball and volleyball events.
 

Graduation may have passed, but Graham athletes are still being recognized for their efforts this past season and academic year. Several members of the Steers baseball team were recently presented their district awards. 

Despite the Graham Steers athletes being honored already at their spring sports banquet, they had not actually received their official district awards yet as they were still competing in the postseason. 

After weeks of anticipation, those awards were finally announced Saturday, May 31. 

The community celebrated Memorial Day not that long ago and that means the unofficial start of the summer. With that being said, Graham and Newcastle athletics have fully shifted into their summer leagues and camps. 

Lady Blues volleyball had its start to their league Monday, June 2 and Steers and Bobcats basketball picked things right up with their league openers Tuesday, June 3. However, both of them, in unconventional fashion, did not finish the night as planned. 

Both the Steers and Lady Blues have been busy so far this season coaching up their players in summer leagues and introducing the youth to sports with summer camps. 

The Steers picked up their schedule this week with baseball camp. The camp, which was held alongside Lady Blues basketball camp, was held Monday, June 2, to Wednesday, June 4. 

Incoming second through fifth graders held the opening session of the day and the incoming 6th through 9th graders took the later session.

On top of summer leagues going on for high school athletes in Graham, the community also likes to work with the up and coming youth with their summer camp programs. 

That trend continued this week with a basketball camp from the Lady Blues.
 
The Lady Blues have already run several camps over the past month for a variety of sports. Mainly, the team held the first summer camp of the season with volleyball camp in mid-May and continued their summer camp schedule to end the month with softball camp. 

Another familiar face from Graham Athletics is going to be representing the community this summer. Steers catcher Tripp Mahaney will be playing for team Texas in the High Plains Shootout tournament.

Mahaney, a rising senior for the Steers, was the first athlete under head coach Allen McGee who earned the honors to participate in the tournament. 

“I’ve been coaching for a long time and this is the first time I’ve had a player selected to this all star game,” McGee said. “Super proud of Tripp on this accomplishment.” 

The Graham Steers lineman showed out in a big way this spring during their annual offseason program. The unit competed in the lineman challenge and advanced to the state tournament. 

Similar to how the 7on7 leagues are opportunities for skill position players to build chemistry with their teammates and show off some of their playbook for the upcoming season, the lineman challenge is meant to show off the strength and skills of the lineman units while also building camaraderie.