With the rigors associated with education – classroom instruction, home work, tests, etc. – it’s tough enough just being a typical high school student.

Compound those normal educational elements – along with a routine social life – with being a high school athlete and see just how little time is left in a student’s day.

It’s for those reasons that this newspaper prides itself in the coverage of high school athletics.

Tucked inside today’s edition is a special section, one that despite our longtime dedication to reporting the efforts of the prep athletes in our four-county coverage area, is unique in its own sense.

Over the years, Roanoke-Chowan Publications (the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald and Gates County Index) has saluted the high school athletes in Bertie, Gates, Hertford and Northampton counties by way of selecting All-Roanoke-Chowan teams. This effort began in earnest in the late 1980’s by recognizing the football standouts at our local public and private schools.

That annual salute now extends to the majority of athletic offerings at the high school level.

Thanks to the efforts of our staff and the help of local businesses and athletic booster clubs through the purchase of advertising, the special section in today’s edition was published in tribute to our young student-athletes who excelled in the Fall 2009 sports – football, boys soccer, girls tennis and girls volleyball.

There are First-Team and Second-Team All-Roanoke-Chowan selections as well as special recognition for Players of the Year, Offensive Players of the Year, Defensive Players of the Year and Coaches of the Year.

To each of those standout performers, we salute your efforts. More importantly, we stand in awe of each one of our prep performers, whether or not they were publically recognized, for the commitment they make to balance academics and athletics and to represent their schools and communities on the field of play.