Since the coronavirus outbreak began to upend the athletic calendar, ESPN’s SportsCenter has regularly been showing footage of teams that have had great seasons scrapped. What about teams and athletes, though, who will not even be able to take to their respective playing fields to display their talent and grit this spring? In Damascus, Virginia, Trailhead Designs furthered its reputation as a trusted source of screen printing, embroidery, signs, banners and graphic design projects by producing banners of 14 Holston High School athletes who will not have the opportunity to compete this season.
“A parent approached us maybe a month-and-a-half ago about honoring the student-athletes, even before matters had become really intense with respect to the spread of coronavirus,” manager and graphic designer Devynne Napier said of the endeavor. “We thought it would be a great way to acknowledge the sacrifices that they have made to become so accomplished in their sports and to show them that we feel sad for them since they won’t be able to finish their high school journeys on their terms.”
The depicted adolescents represent the secondary education site’s track and field, cross country, softball and baseball teams and have thus far helped Napier and the Trailhead Designs family, which recently launched its initial online store, to be a light in what has become a pretty dark time across the country. The manager noted that the banners will likely hang on Main Street through May, and that the company has thus far received favorable feedback for its tributes to the teenagers.
“We have felt the love that this community is well known for, and I love that we’ve come to rally behind the Holston High School students,” Napier said. “We’ve worked with the school in obviously much more pleasant times, but even though our interactions with everyone now have a different tone, we still see the root of the relationship as being one that’s filled with positivity. Once this is all behind us, we expect for that to continue.”
That mindset from Napier should be an imitable one across the promo world. The coronavirus pandemic has rendered our present days not as a time for selling, per se, but for assisting. As the future unfolds for the Holston High School registrants who will graduate minus memories of their senior seasons, they and the entire Damascus community will be able to look back and realize that their efforts to be the best, overcome adversity or just make friendships with other athletes will always be banner occasions to celebrate.
