MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) – Last summer, the South Carolina High School League realigned the regions including ones in the Grand Strand.
Before the realignment, there were countless games, where the team and parents would have to travel around two hours. Now, more parents and fans are making it to the games.
“It does allow our parents to stay at work, and then attend those games, or if there are other functions to do in our area they can probably attend both of them, so that is a good thing for our spectators to be able to do in this region,” said Jason Cox, Director of Athletics for Horry County.
The new Region IV-5A is known as the “Beach Region” which includes six schools all in Horry County: Conway, Myrtle Beach, North Myrtle Beach, Socastee, St. James and Carolina Forest.
The fall sports like volleyball and football saw an uptick in attendance at games, and the trend looks like it will continue, as each drive is now less than 30 minutes.
“It is not so demanding, not only on the kids,” said Latoya Simmons, parent of Myrtle Beach basketball player. “They are home at a good time, especially with basketball. You travel two times a week if you have a game on a Tuesday night and you have to drive two hours, that is not something you look forward to. Families have expressed that they are fortunate not to have to travel so far on weekdays.”
For the players, they are excited because every game is now a rivalry game with even more on the line.
Now we get to actually compete,” said John Simmons, Myrtle Beach basketball player. “The games mean something and not a glorified scrimmage in the regular season. It actually means a lot to compete against my best buds.”
Since the change, every gym has become filled every game day.
“Once we enter their buildings, we actually played St. James,” said Jeremy Howard, Assistant basketball coach at Myrtle Beach. “The crowd comes, they have had our number the last couple years, and this time it finally counts. The guys are excited about it.”
Beach Region play for winter sports started on Jan. 1.
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