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Sherry Adams Completes Appalachian Trail

Kim Gendron, Athletics Social Media and Internship Coordinator
Is there anything Sherry Adams can’t do? Her accomplishments are numerous and span a wide range of activities. She has a state championship ring for every finger in High School Girls Varsity Tennis and earlier this month, she completed her last leg of the Appalachian Trail.
 
The Appalachian Trail spans roughly 2,200 miles and runs from Georgia to Maine. They broke the entire trail down into approximately 30 hikes in the summers, with some taking a weekend and others 1-2 weeks. The huge milestone hike took 17 days and they finished with a 16 hour day to the summit of Mount Katahdin in Maine on Thursday, July 2.
 
Sherry is someone who loves being active outdoors as much as possible so when she was recovering from knee replacements in 2005 and her physical therapist mentioned hiking as a pastime, she was instantly intrigued. Five months later, her therapist took her on a hike of Jones Gap (11 miles) and Sherry was hooked. She estimates that since that first one, she has been on hundreds of hikes across the country.
 
When asked about some of her other memorable hikes, Sherry was quick to note that they are all special for various reasons. The first section of the Appalachian Trail they hiked was in Virginia and spanned across four days, with a portion of the trail running through Grayson Highlands State Park. That first hike of the trail stands out because of how excited she was to start as well as the wild pony sightings in the park. Another memorable hike was a week-long trip in New Hampshire tackling the White Mountains. Other trips she mentioned were the Smokey’s, Shenandoah and of course, the summit to finish the Appalachian Trail.
 
While Sherry’s hiking resume is certainly impressive, her coaching resume is equally so. She has been around the game of tennis for basically as long as she can remember. She played in both high school and college, then joined the Cavalier Athletics family as the Girls Varsity Tennis coach in 2007. Sherry had not coached before but was excited about the opportunity to give back and to teach in a way that goes beyond just tennis.
 
Since she took over the reins of the Girls Varsity Tennis program here at CCES, they have won ten state championships in 13 years. Sherry works hard to establish a Cavalier Mindset in each of the girls on her team. She researches all possible opponents and schedules against the strongest teams. When they are in tighter matches, the team is well prepared to dig deep and respond to adversity. In 2018, the team was the underdog against Oceanside Collegiate in the state championship, but they were able to come out on top 4-3 in large part to how Sherry prepares her girls during the season. This past season, the team competed in the Bishop England Invitational, a tournament with sixteen teams, which was very beneficial in preparing the girls for the 2019 State Championship. They defeated Oceanside Collegiate for their fourth championship in a row.
 
Similar to all of her hikes, Sherry loves each team, each season and each state championship. Additional memories that are special to her are some of the more fun things the team has done together including bike rides on the Swamp Rabbit Trail and just throwing a football around. Tennis is a mostly individual sport, but Sherry loves seeing her girls come together as a team where they push each other, cheer each other on and celebrate each other’s successes.
 
When Sherry isn’t hiking major mountains or coaching state championship teams, she spends her time in a variety of other ways. She was an art major in school and has recently been getting back into painting. Sherry loves to spend her time outdoors and be with her friends and family. She and her husband took a recent trip out west to visit family and spent some time fly-fishing in Montana. They also spend time fishing at their farm in Princeton, SC.
 
Sherry Adams is certainly living her life to the fullest. She has an accomplished list of hikes and hopes to add to that next summer with the John Muir Trail in California. She is about to start her 14th season as the Head Coach of the Girls Tennis team, where they will look to defend their title. Sherry’s life is full of adventures but she takes on each and every one with a big heart and an even bigger smile. The Cavalier Athletics community is lucky to have Sherry and we can’t wait to see what she will do next, both with the tennis team and in the hiking world!
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  • Joel Rice
    Outstanding accomplishments Sherry. Tough Cavalier...
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