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Rome High Varsity Basketball Play in Exhibition at State Farm Arena

School Corner January 7, 2022 , by
ROME, GA— For decades, young athletes have watched their sports idols on television and dreamed of one day competing at the highest level of play. During the holiday break, Rome High School’s varsity basketball teams had the unique opportunity to launch three-point shots on the floor of State Farm Arena in exhibition with Americus-Sumter High School’s Panthers. It is important to note that this floor is the same floor where the Atlanta Dream and Hawks host pro teams for home games in Atlanta, Ga.
This opportunity was born from a relationship RHS Principal Dr. Eric Holland formed during his early days of coaching high school basketball.
“Many moons ago when I coached basketball, the team at my former high school was actually one of the first teams to participate in this program,” Dr. Holland explained. “I met a guy who worked with the Atlanta Hawks organization, and his name was Carter Berry. At that time, I wanted to create an opportunity for South Georgia kids, because many of them had never left South Georgia. We started a program called the Court of Dreams where our students were offered the chance to play in exhibition before a Hawks game and stay to watch the professionals play later in the evening.”
Dr. Holland said that normally, the students would get a pre-game introduction with the cheerleaders, giving the experience an immersive feel and allowing students to dream about one day running out of the tunnel as a professional athlete. But, with COVID numbers on the rise, he was happy that he was able to continue this tradition with RHS students and offer Rome’s boys and girls teams the chance to compete in this special way.
“I was able to reach out to Emily, who now helps us with this program, and after talking with Coach (John) McFather and Coach (Thomas) McAboy with our boys’ and girls’ basketball programs, we were able to get our kids down to State Farm Arena to play a game. It is wonderful to watch them play on a professional court, but our primary focus is to allow them to create lasting memories together.”
The girls took the floor first and were able to secure a win over Americus-Sumter, and the boys fell just short of the win. However, not one student left the arena without a smile; they all realized that these games were more about the opportunity and less about the win.
“I think this court was definitely great for our conditioning. It is quite a bit longer than a high school floor,” said McAboy with a chuckle after the game. “After the Christmas Tournament, we really did not practice much due to a couple of our players falling ill, so this has been really great for our team. I am proud of how we played, but
I call tell you that they were more concerned about who was going to be famous by being seen courtside before the Hawks game.”
Coach McFather also said that his guys were thrilled about the chance to play in a pro arena. “We had one message for today, and that was to dream big,” McFather said. “We believe in that. When we look at Trae Young and follow his example, we see a young man who dreamed big. A lot of people thought he was undersized as a 6-foot-2-inch guard, but here he is today leading the Atlanta Hawks. He fulfilled his dream, and we always say that if you play with heart and passion, there is no dream that is too big. Hopefully, this day will inspire some of our guys.”
When asked, the students said that the intent hit the mark and they will never forget playing a game at State Farm Arena.
“This was a great experience,” said Breana Griffin, a sophomore guard for the Wolves. “It was awesome to see the lights, play on a big court and have my family come down to watch.”
Allison Loveman, a senior, echoed Griffin saying, “We played together, and we passed the ball well. I am glad we shoot free throws at practice because we see that they are important to win late in the game. But we are just all happy to spend some time with our teammates and for the opportunity to play on a professional court.”
Pinky Nation, another senior for the Lady Wolves had had few words about the game, but her face said it all when she was asked about the experience. “It was so much fun,” Nation said with a grin that could stretch from baseline to baseline.”
We are proud of you all! Go Wolves!!!

Trump team present alleged voter fraud in Georgia

Feature News, Featured, Featured News, Featured Stories, News December 4, 2020 , by
Voter fraud

ATLANTA, Ga – According to Trump attorneys, newly released video footage of State Farm Arena from election night demonstrates voter fraud.

During the Georgia Judicial Subcommittee hearing, Jackie Pick, volunteer attorney for the Trump legal team, presented surveillance tape of Fulton County election officials continuing to count ballots after poll watchers left for the night.

Pick shared the accounts of the two Republican poll watchers who were only allowed to observe from the media area. At around 10:30 p.m., a female Fulton employee announced to the room that they were halting the count until morning.

Once the majority left, the blonde woman and three other women began counting ballots again. A man is seen in the video as well. The blonde woman pulled containers full of ballots from beneath a table. The earlier footage shows poll workers taking similar ballot containers from a stacked pile in the back of the room.

Jackie Pick, volunteer Trump attorney

Jackie Pick, volunteer Trump attorney

The Fulton election official in question moved the table into place at 8:22 a.m. It’s unclear when someone placed those ballots under the table or if the table was close to the stacks of containers. The security camera setup provided a disjointed view of the room. State Farm Arena owns the security cameras.

Senator Blake Tillery (R – Vidalia) asked in closing statements why it took a month to see this video and why they didn’t see it first from the Secretary of State’s office. He said the video is one thing he “can’t explain.”

They continued to count ballots until past 12:00 a.m. After 1:00 a.m., the Republican poll watchers returned and confirmed they missed approximately three hours of the vote tally process.

Pick couldn’t answer all the senators’ questions because the legal team hadn’t reviewed the tape in real-time. They just received it last night around 1 a.m. She said she would give the information to the senators at a later date.

Read about Lin Wood telling Georgia GOP voters to not vote. 

Senator Elena Parent (D-Atlanta) strongly questioned Pick asking why the attorney brought up an alleged fraud that “had been debunked for weeks by the Secretary of State Office.”

Pick simply responded, “They haven’t seen the tape.”

No representatives from the Secretary of State’s office were in attendance to refute her claim.

One question asked by Senator Tillery was the location of the Secretary of State monitor within the room. Pick was unsure because they hadn’t spoken to the Secretary of State’s office or Fulton County elections officials yet.

At the end of the day, Parent stated that they identified the monitor as a young white man in a blue jacket present in the video.

Senator Elena Parent (D-Atlanta)

Senator Elena Parent (D-Atlanta)

Fulton County officials and Commission Chairman Ronald Pitts addressed the Oversight Committee in the morning. They addressed the claims about vote tampering in State Farm Arena.

An election manager at State Farm Arena did direct some of the staff to leave at 10:30 p.m. Election Director Richard Barron said they could not go and must continue working. Some employees did leave at 10:30 p.m., and the observers left. The election official recounting the story didn’t witness the event.

She did say that a Secretary of State monitor remained in the room, and after it became clear that the vote count would continue, more monitors returned.

“There was no intentional misleading of anyone. There was nothing untoward that occurred, but some workers stayed some left. Some of the observers left, but a Secretary of State monitor stayed the entire time,” Fulton Director of External Affairs Jessica Corbitt-Dominguez said.

Chairman Pitts cleared up the water leak issue. The leak began at 6:07 a.m. and was fixed by 8:07 a.m. No ballots were damaged, and it occurred on a different floor.

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