Rock Hill High recognized as school district’s top athletic program for 2023-24

Head coach Kenny Orr and Rock Hill High School’s girls’ basketball team accumulated over 1,000 community service hours during the 2023-24 school year.

They have done work with Men on a Mission, Boys and Girls Club of York County and local elementary schools over the past year.

It’s something that Orr credits to Jackie Jones, mother of former players Jada and Layla, who wanted to see the girls involved in the community. Orr said the team was doing “just enough” at the time but committed to doing a lot more after the suggestion from Jones.

“It just helps our team be more in touch with the community,” Orr said. “It gets them out and gets eyes on them not just on the basketball court but also being outstanding young student-athletes.”

That work done in the community helped Rock Hill win the inaugural “District Cup,” given to the high school in Rock Hill Schools with the best overall athletic program, besting Northwestern and South Pointe.

Schools are scored over three categories: community service (number of hours), academics (highest overall GPA within the program) and athletics (how the three school fared against each other in sporting events). Rock Hill finished first in community and academics and finished second to Northwestern in athletics to take home the title.

School district athletic director Jimmy Duncan said the genesis of the cup was to generate some friendly competition among the high schools while also promoting positive morals for its student-athletes. He said that student-athletes in the district combined for an overall GPA of 3.78 and over 15,000 hours of community service, and there are plans in place to exceed those numbers next year.

“I think it was a huge success,” Duncan said. “There may be a few tweaks, but overall, it was incredible. It was a very tight race between the three (high) schools. No one was lacking in an area; everyone was excelling and pushing their student-athletes and coaches.”

Rock Hill High’s athletic director Eric Rollings said a factor in their winning academic marks is a program called Rock 101.

Coaches and administrators monitor the grades of student-athletes over the course of the year. If a student’s grades slip below a certain point, they must attend mandatory tutoring sessions — they are not allowed to play.

The program was implemented by previous athletic director Bill Warren when Rollings was still coaching boys basketball, but he’s seen it pay dividends in the classroom and the lives of his students.

“It’s taken a while for our kids over the last several years to really buy in to it and understand what we’re trying to do,” Rollings said. “But as you can see, it has been tremendously beneficial to our athletics here at Rock Hill.”

School principal Ozzie Ahl appreciates the work of the coaches, teachers and administrators for raising the bar for academics. He does not want academics to be a hurdle that his student-athletes can’t clear to play in the next level, and the District Cup competition proves there is merit in expanding a student-athletes strengths beyond what they can do on a court or field.

“I don’t think athletics is necessarily wins and losses,” Ahl said. “I think athletics teaches kids how to be good members of a team. It teaches them how to be good citizens. (It’s) the life lessons you learn in athletics, and the vast majority of kids that participate in high school athletics aren’t going to the next level for athletics, they’re going to the next level for something else, and we’re helping them prepare that. So yes, wins and losses are important, and next year I hope we win the athletic piece of it, but the concept of the whole student-athlete is extremely important.”

Dutchman Creek won the middle school District Cup for 2023-24.