Hilton Head Sports

USCB PLANS MOVE UP TO NCAA DIVISION II

Anyone who has followed along since the University of South Carolina Beaufort launched its athletics program in 2007 has wondered the same thing at one time or another: When are the Sand Sharks going D2?

The time has finally come. 

SENIOR SOFTBALL LEAGUE DEBUTS WITH SPRING SEASON

For a decade and a half, the organizers of the new senior softball league in Beaufort County took on the young bucks, and they held their own just fine, thank you very much.

“But 15 years ago, I was only 53,” Rick Trenary says with a laugh.

FIRST TEE OF THE LOWCOUNTRY INSTILLS CORE VALUES IN KIDS THROUGH GOLF

The first time Nick Dunham volunteered to teach a program at the First Tee of the Lowcountry, he was hooked. 

The Syracuse, N.Y., native came here to pursue a career in the golf industry as a student at Bluffton’s Professional Golfers Career College. What he found at First Tee was a way to use his love of golf to teach kids important life skills through the game.

EMBRACE THESE BENEFITS OF ENJOYING THE OUTDOORS

“Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air.” 

Healthy and playful advice for 2021, yet written by mid-19th century American poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. It’s a direct invitation to embrace the world outside, and studies suggest the elements are powerful medicine. 

The Lowcountry has always been a paradise for fishermen and shrimpers, many of whom have made their living on their skill on the water, thanks to the pairing of the tidal marshes and creeks with ample opportunity for deep-sea and freshwater fishing. 

And the kayak has long been an excellent mode of transportation in and around the calm waters of Broad Creek and other estuaries separating our sea islands. 

BASKETBALL STANDOUTS MAKE MOVE TO THE LOWCOUNTRY

During a time when the sports scene in the Lowcountry was quieter than usual, the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic last spring also brought an influx of next-level basketball talent to the area.

FALL SEASON PRODUCES STATE-TITLE TEAMS 

The fall high school sports season began with trepidation and proceeded with cautious optimism. But for a pair of Hilton Head Island teams, it ended in glory. 

The Hilton Head Island High School volleyball team capped an incredible season with a South Carolina High School League Class 4A state title in November — the program’s first championship since 2015. 

HHI CREW FOSTERS VALUABLE LIFE LESSONS ON THE WATER

Trying to build the next generation of Hilton Head Island’s rowing community was enough of a challenge before the concept of social distancing became a ubiquitous phrase in the vernacular.

But Dave Erdman and Chuck Yocum have kept paddling.

HHI Crew has been a mainstay since 1995 — save for a brief hiatus in the mid-2000s — but the COVID-19 pandemic presented a new challenge, and right when things were really starting to sail. Yocum rejoined the organization in September 2019, and the program flourished, drawing rowers from throughout Beaufort County and across the Savannah River.

GROWING SPORTS PODCAST EMERGES AS A MUST-LISTEN

When Justin Jarrett launched Lowcosports.com in 2017, his vision was to promote the athletes and teams of Beaufort and Jasper counties.

The platform has thrived thanks to Jarrett’s insatiable passion for highlighting the stories of the Lowcountry, and an audience hungry for quality local content.