By Larry Vaught

Former Lincoln County Teammates Maddy Boyle and Emma King Stress More Than Just Basketball to Youngsters

Posted: June 11, 2023
Vaughts Views

Tracie Boyle Photo

Some days remind you of what can be so special about high school athletics and Saturday was one of those days for me.

I went to Junction City Baptist Church where former Lincoln County High School player Maddy Boyle, who now plays at Campbellsville University, was hosting a youth basketball camp. Not only did she want to help youngsters enhance their skills but she also wanted to help enhance their spiritual lives.

Boyle and Campbellsville teammate Bailey Pedigo are using proceeds from the camp to help offset some of their expenses for working a church camp in Texas in July. This is not a basketball camp but a camp based on faith.

Boyle invited former Lincoln teammate Emma King, who plays at Kentucky, to speak to the 25 campers. Boyle joked Campbellsville was a “small school” about the size of Lincoln County and Boyle County high schools combined where King played at a “really big school.”

King told the campers she told her father when she was in fifth grade that she wanted to play for Kentucky — and she has for four years and will be back for a fifth season, too.

“It took what you are doing today for me to get to Kentucky,” King said. “You have to make sacrifices, make basketball a priority. I have had a super cool four years at Kentucky. I get my school paid for. Last year for Thanksgiving we played in the Bahamas. This year we are going to the Virgin Islands.”

She talked about the academic workload and how coach Kyra Elzy constantly reminds the players they are students first and then athletes.

King will graduate in December with a degree in human health sciences and minor in business. She will start work on her Masters in finance the second semester.

King and Boyle both posed for pictures with participants after camp ended and took time to encourage both athletically and spiritually.

Was there another future Division I player there? Was there a player who might make the NAIA quarterfinals like Boyle did last season? Probably not just because of the odds against any young player making it to that level. However, King and Boyle once were in the same situation and they made their dreams come true.

It was just nice to see players I had watched in middle school through high school put their talent to such good use helping young players while also stressing more than just basketball.