independent enhances sports coverage

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

As many people have likely noticed, The Van Wert independent’s sports coverage has been greatly enhanced under new Sports Editor Scott Truxell.

In addition to coverage of seasonal prep sports, Truxell also included season preview stories for county football, volleyball, cross country, soccer, golf, and girls’ tennis teams. He has also implemented an “Athlete of the Week” program for athletes in all sports who attend Van Wert, Crestview, and Lincolnview school districts. Athletes selected each week from nominations sent in by coaches from the three schools receive a t-shirt from Northwest Ohio Welch Trophy and a write-up in The Van Wert independent.

Truxell has also added a “Coaches Corner” feature that includes comments from local coaches from various seasonal sports, as well as weekly football predictions and video highlights from various sports contests, including Van Wert Youth Football.

More sports feature stories are also in the works, as well as a “Week Ahead in Prep Sports” feature that provides a look at the coming week in sports.

Truxell said he also plans to continue the above features throughout the school year.

“The plan is to have all of the above roll over to the winter sports season (boys’ and girls’ basketball, wrestling, bowling, and swimming), with some of the features also continuing into the spring sports season.

Plans are to also implement a podcast and video page that would feature sports interview and highlights, as well as news videos and other media selections.

Truxell, who got his start in radio, said some of the features may eventually be ported over to WKSD or WERT Radio, but added there are no plans to do so at the present time.

The new sports editor began adding enhanced sports coverage this past summer to give readers a “taste of what’s to come,” but most of the above features have now been implemented.

Truxell is also seeking feedback from Van Wert independent readers on the new features and any suggestions they may have on what kinds of future sports coverage they would like to see on the online news site. Truxell can be contacted at sports@thevwindependent.com.