Putting together all of the America 250 series this summer was fun.
It was a history lesson and a walk down memory lane in a lot of ways.
But something else happened this year that had me reflecting on my own career more than anything else.
It was the moment I saw Hamilton’s Braelyn DeHorn on the softball field.
What is so special about Braelyn DeHorn, you might ask.
Well, she was an all-conference player as a freshman this spring – a very fine season, but not necessarily overly memorable to a reporter.
But DeHorn is the first child of a former varsity athlete I covered to be a varsity athlete themselves, making it the start of a second generation.
Now before I feel even older than I am, Braelyn’s mom, Stephanie Poll (DeHorn) and I are just a couple of years apart.
She was the first Hope College volleyball player I ever interviewed in my first year at The Sentinel, and she was the first elite setter in this past two-decade dominance at the position in Division III for the Flying Dutch.
Poll was a senior at Hope when I met her, and later met her husband Kurt DeHorn, who played football at Hope (I wasn’t the Hope football beat writer at the time … it was when we actually had a full sports staff of five, not the solo act most papers have now).
So Poll has always been a memorable athlete for me because she was my introduction into this incredible Hope volleyball program.
She then stayed close to home in the Hamilton area after graduating, bringing up another generation of athletes in the area.
Poll has been a coach in multiple sports since her graduation and our paths cross often because our kids are similar ages, and they have competed against each other in a few sports growing up.
So seeing Braelyn as a varsity starter as a freshman was mind blowing to me. This is someone I saw as a baby and am now seeing compete at a level that has her poised to be a college athlete just like her parents.
Full disclosure, I never thought I would be in Holland this long. I am not from this side of the state and it was the first place I landed after college.
But there is something about this place, and after 22 years here, I find myself answering “Holland” to people who ask where I am from. It took me a long time to get there.
Now that I have been here for two generations of athletes, it is much easier to say. I have lived here half of my life now.
And the next generation is coming up fast. Braelyn is the oldest of four kids in the DeHorn family, and it is only a matter of time before I cover someone as a high school freshman that I also covered their parents as high school freshman.
Thankfully, Stephanie and I are close to the same age, so that is still a few years off – but then again, this milestone came up faster than I expected.
It once worried me that I would feel old when this happened. Now, it just proves to me that I am where I belong.
Contact sports editor Dan D’Addona at Dan.D’Addona@hollandsentinel.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @DanDAddona or Facebook @HollandSentinelSports.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Next generation of athletes has me feeling old, and at home | D’Addona
Reporting by Dan D’Addona, Holland Sentinel / The Holland Sentinel
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By Dan D'Addona, Holland Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
