As a sportswriter, I’ve learned covering your son can be a thankless job

I have worked at the Charlotte Observer since October 1988. I’ve written about Super Bowls and Olympics and Final Fours, and I’ve written about some of the greatest high school athletes this area has seen, including Independence quarterback Chris Leak, Providence basketball All-American Antawn Jamison - and even a basketball player from Charlotte Christian named Stephen Curry, now an international phenomenon.

I’ve written some difficult stories, too.

But I don’t think I’ve ever done anything as hard as trying to write about local high school sports while my son is playing them.

Trey Wertz is a 6-foot-5 junior at Providence Day School. Trey is his nickname. He’s Langston III. He’s ranked among the state’s top 10 players in the junior class and has 10 Division I scholarship offers, including two from the nation’s top conference, the ACC. Almost daily, he hears from college coaches and programs you’d instantly recognize when you see them on TV. He’s a very good student and I always swell with pride when coaches, teachers or friends talk about his maturity or kindness or determination.

If he were any other kid on any other team, playing as well as he has, I’d write a big story about him. I’d write about how he was most valuable player of the 2016 state championship as a sophomore, having to move from his natural wing position to play point guard when a teammate was in foul trouble.

It bothered me that I watched my son put on one of the top 10 state finals performances I’ve seen and I couldn’t write about it. Another reporter covered the game, which my editors and I agreed made sense. It was the right call.

When Trey has a good game, I fight my instincts. When I watch him play, which is not nearly as often as I’d like, I now try to bottle up my emotions the way I saw Dell Curry do it when his son, Stephen, was winning the NBA championship two years ago with the Warriors.

It’s funny because Dell Curry and Muggsy Bogues, another former Charlotte Hornet, used to give me advice on Trey’s shooting when Trey was much younger.

When Trey was a freshman two years ago, before I tried to control my emotions, I got excited when Providence Day rallied for a big win at a local rival. I wasn’t there as a reporter. I stood and cheered when my son hit a basket and later when his teammate dunked the ball at a key moment.

I was lost in the game.

Then I looked up and saw a parent from the other team taking pictures of me. I walked over to the other side of the gym and politely asked why. She said she planned to email them to my bosses at the Observer -- to show how biased I was.

I just wanted to watch my son play, like so many other parents.

But I get it. I’m a journalist. I’m supposed to cover all kids in the area. I think I do a good job of it. I haven’t written an in-depth story about Trey, nor have I ever interviewed him. I probably never will. I do include him in daily roundups that I compile, along with dozens of other area players. Every time I include Trey in something, I receive emails or calls about my bias toward Providence Day.

The school also has one of the region’s best girls’ teams. They have won seven straight state titles and 101 consecutive conference games. According to MaxPreps, a website that follows high schools, Providence Day’s boys have the state’s hardest schedule, often playing against nationally ranked teams. This week, for example, Providence Day played in Orlando (Fla.) in the Montverde Academy Invitational. Montverde Academy has won three of the past four DICKS’ National Championships, a tournament in New York that Providence Day played in last April.

That kind of success means Trey’s name and his school will often appear in the newspaper. I never saw this coming, but I often wondered how to handle covering him when he reached ninth grade.

In 2009, when Arizona’s Cardinals were in the Super Bowl and Larry Fitzgerald was arguably the NFL’s best receiver, his father, Larry Sr., was working for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder, covering his 29th Super Bowl. He found himself writing about his son. Back then, Trey was a promising grade-school player who won a local free-throw shooting contest and was stacking up youth basketball state and national championship trophies with his travel team, the Queen City Athletic Association and coach Mike Praeger.

I was an assistant coach on some of Trey’s grade-school teams. It’s such a joy to coach your son when he’s enjoying that kind of success. I couldn’t wait to get to practice, as he was on a great team with great teammates and great parents. From the bench, keeping statistics on my iPad, I watched Trey hit two shots to win Division I state championships in back-to-back years, and two free throws to win a national title. I also saw him fail -- and vow to try again. I don’t think I’ve ever had as much fun in sports as in those days.

I thought Trey might become a decent high school player. I had no idea he would achieve the things he has, but I did worry about how I would cover him. So I asked Larry Fitzgerald Sr. for advice. He battled some of the same questions about fairness and bias.

He told me something I’ve never forgotten: Be fair and cover your son the way you would anyone else.

Honestly, that’s what I try to do.

This story was originally published January 28, 2017 at 10:42 AM with the headline "As a sportswriter, I’ve learned covering your son can be a thankless job."