As the fall sports season approaches, Dewain Hulett of TSSR Game Time Live is teaming up with Shelby Burget of Community News Brief and the Rushville Times to host a series of roundtable discussions featuring local coaches and athletic directors.
The discussions will also be recorded as an online podcast.
Three roundtables will focus on football, volleyball, and the 2025-26 school year in general. Each event will take place at Sports Corner at 124, beginning August 20.
“We’re bringing the football coaches together, the volleyball coaches together, and the athletic directors together,” Hulett said. “Hopefully, it’s something where we can learn not just what’s going on, but what they deal with, what they’re going through, and what they have to do to get ready for the fall seasons.”
The schedule starts Wednesday, August 20, with a football roundtable at 7 p.m. Coaches from area schools will be split into two groups to cover West Prairie, Beardstown-Pittsfield- Camp Point (B-PC), West Central, Macomb, Rushville- Industry, A-Town, and South Fulton.
The volleyball roundtable follows Thursday, August 21, also at 7 p.m.
On Sunday, August 24, an athletic directors’ roundtable will begin at 5 p.m. This session will cover other fall sports, preview upcoming seasons, and address issues affecting high school sports locally and statewide. Depending on attendance, the discussion may be divided into one or two segments.
Hulett said he’s excited to collaborate with Burget, a longtime sports editor in western Illinois. Hulett has been involved in local sports journalism since 1994, including broadcasting for WLMD.
The pair are also known for their informal Friday sports talks, which they have hosted for years at Aurelio’s and later Gelsosomo’s in Macomb.
“This is, I hope, kind of the same thing,” Hulett said. “It’s a group of sports people who love what they do and are great ambassadors for it, getting together and just talking about sports.”
The roundtables promise to offer fans and community members in-depth insights as the new sports season gets underway.
“Just sitting around the table, talking about sports and the high school experience from an athletic director’s standpoint,” Hulett said. “We’ll have some fun and maybe take questions from the public while we’re at it.”
