Letter to the Editor: Belgreen volleyball’s celebration cut short

Dear Editor,

On Saturday, October 3, 2026, the Franklin County varsity volleyball Tournament was held at Phil Campbell High School. My daughter is a senior at Belgreen.

We arrived around 8 a.m. for them to begin warming up. Our girls were set to play Phil Campbell at 9 a.m. They won the first set, then lost the second and the third putting them into elimination bracket. They turned around and beat Vina, Tharptown, sat a game (Phil Campbell vs. Red Bay), and played Red Bay and won.

Now it’s time for final game (or two if they won the first game) against Phil Campbell. Belgreen won the first set, lost the second, then won the third. Now it’s time for the championship game. Belgreen wins the first set, loses the second set, then wins the third for a championship title. Our girls were celebrating, parents cheering, everyone so excited for this win.

Bart Moss walks out and just hands our coach the trophy and walks away. No announcement, congratulations, nothing. My daughter has played volleyball since youth league. I have never seen someone not announce first and second place while presenting trophies, even if they didn’t have a sound system (which music had been being played in the gym while Phil Campbell girls were warming up). I remember seeing a microphone lying on a speaker sitting on the stage. Well anyway, no announcement of any kind.

I have pictures time stamped at 4:36 p.m. when the final point was scored and by 4:44 p.m. Bart Moss and Coach (Amy) Moss were turning the lights off to tell us to leave. It was honestly a battle of the light switches for a few minutes. A Phil Campbell student even yelled “go home” during all of this. By 4:51 p.m. parents and players were outside finishing up pictures. Our girls fought hard to win on Saturday and they deserved more respect than what they received.

I posted Saturday night on Facebook about the disrespect and by Sunday afternoon Bart Moss had posted an excuse of being tired and missing the first half of Auburn ball game. He ended this excuse with “Lights out! Love you all!” No apologies, an excuse.

Well, there is no excuse for unsportsmanlike behavior. I have been a part of many tournaments, many lasting over 12 hours and have never witnessed or been a part of behavior like theirs. The winning team deserves to get to celebrate. At our Bulldog Bash many parents were there before 6 a.m. and did not leave until after 11 p.m. The winning team took pictures and even made a TikTok in our gym. They won and they were allowed to celebrate and be excited—not have their win tarnished by a temper tantrum.

Belgreen varsity volleyball deserves a face-to-face apology from the Mosses.

Our community needs to keep this and all previous acts of unsportsmanlike behavior in mind if he decides to run for a public office.

Michelle LeMay