Well, isnÂ’t new technology grand?

A year ago we here at The Porterville Recorder were just getting use to this internet thing.

We put videos up when we could and we began a radio relationship with K-TIP 1450 radio.

Now as the 2007 prep football season begins, itÂ’s really the dawning of a new era here at The Porterville Recorder, and moreover, the sports department.

Beginning Friday — crossing our fingers and toes — a new web site will debut on the internet.

The Recorder’s high school varsity site — www.recordersports.com — goes live and interactive.

And itÂ’s one supplied not only by The Recorder sports department but there will also be community content as well.

Not only will there be columns and stories from the Recorder’s sports department, but all six local schools — Exeter, Granite Hills, Lindsay, Monache, Porterville and Strathmore — will have their own home pages. Also, we haven’t forgotten about Porterville College. PC’s women’s volleyball schedule is already up and we’ll have stuff for the basketball, baseball and softball teams later in the year.

On those home pages will be the aforementioned schedules for all the Fall sports, and statistics from games and stories that pertain to that individual school. Already the football, volleyball and tennis schedules are posted with water polo, cross country and golf to go up in the coming days.

WeÂ’ll have a weekly poll with questions that pertain to sports in the Valley

Also, we plan on having more videos from football practices and games as well as photos that arenÂ’t published in the following dayÂ’s sports section.

It will be our job to supply the stories and the schedules.

But youÂ’re probably asking, what about volleyball, tennis, golf and cross country? They deserve to have their coverage too.

I totally agree, but since we’re such a small staff — two writers and a freelancer currently — we can only be at so many places at once in the area on any given day.

And thatÂ’s where you the proud moms and dads, as well as the glowing grandparents, come in. We canÂ’t be everywhere, but you certainly are taking pictures with your digital cameras or shooting video with a new camcorder. So why not show off your son or daughter and their athletic exploits.

ThatÂ’s where www.recordersports.com comes in. YouÂ’ll now be able to upload photos and videos to the web site. Now, they wonÂ’t go up right away: As with anything that goes out onto the world wide web, we have to make sure the content itself isnÂ’t lewd, crude or in bad taste. WeÂ’ll be checking the web site on a daily basis and will try to be as timely as possible with getting the content that we receive up and onto the site.

It should fun as in time, hopefully soon, there will be Recorder sports blogs so that all of us can talk about the great game Friday night or create anticipation for this yearÂ’s Granite Bowl.

WeÂ’d appreciate the communityÂ’s help in any way possible as we start out in this new endeavor. And if you think there are ways we can improve the new web site, feel free to give us a call or shoot us an e-mail. WeÂ’re always open suggestions and new ideas.

HereÂ’s to another great prep sports season and another year of CIF championships for the South Valley.