The Cocke County NJROTC competitive teams are preparing to compete against the best Navy teams from the 10 state area in which their conference belongs.

“We earned a berth in this 10 state championship because of our First Place finish at the Eastern Tennessee Drill Meet Qualifier held in December,” said Eric Abrams, the unit’s Commanding Officer. “We have been practicing for this competition since the first day of this school year and we refuse to let all that hard work go to waste. We intend to win this competition and go to the National Championship in April.”

Unlike the other high school extra curricular teams, the Navy JROTC teams compete almost year-round. This extended competitive ‘season’ is required due to the scope of competition. There are 620 Navy JROTC units in the world (some of them are overseas) and these competitions are needed to pare the 620 contenders down to 24 contenders for the National Championship, held yearly in Pensacola, Fla. Another difference between JROTC and high school sports is the difference in distances travelled between events. In previous years, Cocke County has traveled to Nashville; Memphis; Springfield, Mo.; and also Kansas City, Kan. to reach the National Championship level. 

For more details, please see the weekend edition of the Newport Plain Talk.