By Jeremy McDonald

jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com

Recently I have spent time in the North and Northeast side of Salem, Oregon; covering and being around the athletes at North Salem and McKay High School for this very site.

What I’ve picked up from my wife and my mother-in-law, both Sprague-Alumni’s, and noticed from personal experience is that not a lot of people respect the area that North and McKay are at.

Why?

‘It’s a bad area’ is what I keep hearing and I noticed that a lot of people write them off in other ways.  Only covering them as a filler story or if they are playing an athletically-superior team at best in the media.  Avoiding going to the area if you’re the general public because of how worn the area looks.

Confusing on making generalizations right?  Creating stereotypes?

I think so.

During the last month or so since I started this site, I’ve spent a good chunk of time around North Salem and McKay and noticed that they are good kids, good people over there.

Probably some of the hardest working people in the city.  Very comparable to the South and West Salem area.

They are hungry to prove themselves, hungry to show that they are better than the city and other schools are saying about them.  They are starving for truth.

As the South Salem’s, Sprague’s and West Salem’s are working and receiving the praise from everywhere, these guys are saying ‘Why not us?’.

Let me use the example of North Salem Girls Basketball and McKay Boys Basketball.

I’ve covered the Lady Viks once and the Royal Scots Men’s Team twice and I can tell you first hand that they are vocal on changing the culture in their programs.

They’re positivity, the coaches are breaking them down and building them back up to challenge teams.  Maybe not to win initially, but to compete.  To make teams hate playing them and second guess their generalization of them.

With North Salem Boys Basketball and McKay Wrestling, I noticed that ‘Quiet Strength’.  They will beat you up in competition, look you in the eye and shake your hand afterwards and get ready for the next round.

I must admit, I had my opinions entering the area; only because of my wife and my mother-in-law mostly.

But once I got to be in the area, I noticed the hard work and sacrifice that these programs put in that makes them comparable to the 6A State Champions South Salem Girls Program, powerhouses South Medford Boys Basketball and Crater wrestling from the South-End of the State.

For me as a journalist and as a regular citizen, I don’t like seeing schools and student-athletes get the shorthand in things because of what adults are saying about them in passing.

Moving into basketball season and beyond, I’m going to be in the area a lot covering athletics and I hope to bring a light to these schools and any other that may want some in the Salem/Portland area.

Because these athletes at every level, good, bad.  Middle School, High School, College, what have you; deserve to be noticed and shouldn’t be told no because of a win-loss record or the area you live in.

Jeremy McDonald is a professional sports journalist in the Salem/Portland area and is a member of the Society of Professional Journalist in Oregon with B.S. degrees from Southern Oregon University in Journalism (2011) and Health/PE (2013).  Got a story idea? Email him at jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com or on Twitter at @J_McDonald81!

Like us on Facebook at Jmcdonaldmedia!