GREENBRIER COUNTY (WVDN) – Two Greenbrier County families have put their energy in to supporting their children’s sports interests and have found themselves competing on the national level.
The Scott family of White Sulphur Springs and the Hawver family of Ronceverte are both on the same journey but in very different worlds of sports.
With two kids, the chosen sports in each family are different too, so time and effort become split yet the unity within the families gives confidence and opportunity to their kids.
Telford Scott’s daughter, Makayla, is a shotgun and skeet shooting star. She has been profiled in national magazines and in statewide news publications over the years and has built, with her parents’ help, a Field of Dreams on a part of their own property which now is leased to the Greenbrier County Clay Crushers.
Makayla Scott, 20, started shooting in 4-H and really excelled. When the local 4-H program lost their access to a practice/performance facility she found it very difficult to locate another nearby. She was 12 when she started, and her adoptive father Telford Scott said, “there are many sports available for kids to enjoy but Makayla was not really sparked by the ones she was trying until she started the shooting program. She just took to it.”
Scott says, “I can’t throw a ball, can’t run, I was desperately looking for a sport that was right for me.”
So, like any supportive parent, Telford Scott stood by Makayla and tried to help her realize her goals in a sport that is not hugely popular for middle school students.
Firstly, there were no teams in West Virginia at the time, so she started one. There are college scholarships for plastic target marksmen so there is some validation to the effort by her family to help her keep working for her dream.
Today, their Field of Dreams is open to the area 4-H and others who need to have a certified facility with the technology to sling the targets into the air, the set-up to allow for changing angles of firearms, and the grounds for stalking through woods and field.
“We have shooters coming from Pocahontas, Monroe, Greenbrier, Nicholas and one from Kanawha counties so far,” said Telford Scott.
More upgrades to the facility are necessary to satisfy Makayla Scott, besides the 15 machines in an underground bunker, she needs lights for after dusk shooting during the shorter days in the fall and spring. After school is a time for practice and lighting is necessary for that, she says.
Makayla Scott is a member/sponsored by SCTT and through them she is a spokesperson for CZ-USA, Midway USA, and MEC Outdoors. Her local sponsors are Boone Tractor, Greenbrier Technologies and others.
She is aiming to compete in the 2024 Olympics in France and that will be her first trip for international competition.
After college she became a certified instructor at Paragon School of Sporting in North Carolina and became hired by The Greenbrier as a shotgun instructor.
“Many of my students there are new to firearms, some have never held one before. It is so important for their sense of confidence to have a proper course on using this equipment,” she said.
Scott’s little brother chose a different sport, or so he thought – bull riding.
“But guess what, he needs shooting skills to participate in that sport as well, so my field is going to help his goals too!” said Scott.
Calling her brother an adrenaline junky, Scott also gives her older siblings credit for introducing her to the challenges of 4-H shooting. Five children in the Scott family have really all found their own thing.
Scott said, “My younger sister can shoot too, but she loves softball.”
“I want to be that parent who inspires their kid,” said Scott, looking toward the future.
Another local family has found themselves competing on the national stage as well.
The Hawver family of Ronceverte found their regular camping and hiking trips were just not enough as the COVID-19 shutdown brought things in closer to home.
“We decided to buy some bikes and start doing that together,” says Sherry Hawver.
COVID-19 affected that as well since there were not bikes for sale, not enough of the right size for their family of four.
Finally, they were able to locate a bike for their 13-year-old son in North Carolina, and a friend was able to bring it up to West Virginia for them.
Mountain biking is a challenging sport and there are a small group of avid riders, in no time at all their son, Sam Hawver, made friends with fellow rider Cameron Little of Lewisburg and the “race was on.”
Serious riding and serious competition in one year took both boys to the National Championship in Winter Park, Co., this past July.
Sam Hawver talks like a true sportsman, familiar with his equipment and his goals.
He had a 14-year old’s dreams come true and dashed at the competition so far from home.
“I started in the back of the pack, at 39th place and made it up to third in the first lap, then I had handlebars clipped by another rider and we crashed. (I quickly climbed back on) only to discover my shoe was torn by the crash and kept sliding off my foot, so I lost some of the ground I had gained and finished 9th,” he said.
In West Virginia, the sport is growing.
The National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) had 20 kids in their West Virginia organization last year and 10 made it to the races.
This year the practicing numbers have already doubled. West Virginia State Parks provide these riders with trails that are challenging and authorized. In Greenbrier County that is the backside of Kates Mountain in the Greenbrier State Forest.
Meanwhile, Sam’s sister, Abby Hawver, has been serious barrel racing competitor outside of riding bikes with her parents and little brother. Abby Hawver likes the technique of barrel racing riding, and she has had a good horse for years and competed locally.
This year she had a newer, younger horse she took to the international competition in Georgia, which happened the same week that her brother was riding his races in Colorado.
This did cause some travel challenges for the parents, who can’t be in two places at once. Fortunately, Abby Hawver is part of a team of riders who got her and her horse to Georgia, and her mother flew in from Colorado to participate.
Sherry Hawver was impressed with the program there.
”This was the first out-of-state competition for Abby. The NBHA-WV04 is our local chapter, and 17 kids went as a group, mostly Greenbrier and Monroe County youth. We were impressed there were riders who came with their horses from Australia, Canada, and Panama among other places,” she said.
When asked if she ever worries about dangers to her kids in these competitive sports, and there are physical dangers, she says, “They can get hurt doing anything, or nothing, you can’t keep them in a bubble.”
With the cross country riding she says there is an app on her phone that tells her where her son is riding, and if he is still moving.
When asked if she and her husband can keep up with their son, she demurred, describing a recent trip.
“In the Moab in Utah last spring the boys road 60 miles, the parents did 10, and we felt we had done plenty,” she said.
