Personally, I've always considered news to fall into one of three categories - good, bad or indifferent.
When I arrived at work on Tuesday I ran across all three, but two of them stood out.
Having spoken with Bill Isaly, the director of marketing at Mountain River Physical Therapy, I learned a few interesting tidbits.
Owner Burt Reed and fellow therapist Gray Cook, who is well known for his Functional Movement Screen invention and runs a MRPT clinic in Chatham, Va., recently had an interesting experience.
Reed and Cook, in conjunction with Duke University's KLab (human performance research), helped treat Gilbert Arenas of the Orlando Magic before the NBA had its lockout with a knee problem he was having.
MRPT also recently opened its athletic performance center in Vienna, which will help area athletes with strength, conditioning, speed and agility.
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, MRPT brought in special guest Lee Taft. Taft, uncle of first round NBA draft pick Jimmer Fredette, is a guru in speed and agility training.
"The Parkersburg South girls basketball team was there on Tuesday and did an hour long session with Taft," said Isaly, who noted Reed and Joe Leaman had been in Chicago to pick up a few things from Taft.
"He came down to demonstrate what he does with local kids so that our staff can observe and implement what he's done."
Another interesting tidbit I got from Isaly was about former Spencer High School and ex-Major League Baseball pitcher Kane Davis, who is not far off from starting his own pitching school at the MRPT athletic center in Vienna.
One more nugget of interest is the high speed treadmill they have, which goes up to 21 miles per hour.
"When you hear of coach (Bob) Huggins throwing the kids on the treadmill, they go on that," Isaly added. "It's pretty brutal.
"I was doing some cross training the other day and part of the workout was 11 miles per hour and I thought I was going to fly back through the wall."
I've always enjoyed working with Jaime and everyone is wishing her well while she is seeking treatment at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown. A benefit fund was started in her name and anyone wanting to help can send a donation c/o Community Bank-Vienna, 2400 Grand Central Ave., Vienna, W.Va. 26105 or call Jan Rapp at 304-615-3374.
Although nothing is yet official in regards to a final decision, the Titans currently are without a head golf coach and even if they had a coach they might not have enough players to field a team. The Titans pulled out of Wednesday's St. Marys Invitational and will not play at Wirt County's Invitational on Friday.
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com
