I began writing at L’OBSERVATEUR in 2007, just before my 24th birthday. It has been a really fun and rewarding ride ever since.

That ride is coming to an end after eight years and change. The coming Wednesday edition will be my last with our newspaper as I’ll be pursuing another job opportunity after eight years of covering sports out here with you guys.

It’s hard to believe you all have been putting up with me for almost a decade! But I’ve been fortunate and blessed to work with a great many good people both inside the L’OBSERVATEUR walls and outside in our community. And I’ve also been extremely fortunate to be able to cover a sports region chock full of rich, winning traditions over the entire sports landscape.

Look at just the past month alone of feature stories we’ve done on subjects hailing from the River Region, including a sophomore guard who was among the top scorers on a Louisiana-Lafayette team that took home the championship of a major postseason tournament (Jaylyn Gordon); LSU’s ace left-hander who helped spur his team to the College World Series (Jared Poche); a quarterback at Southern who captured MVP honors at the Bayou Classic (Austin Howard); and today, a terrific volleyball player who led her Tennessee Volunteers team in kills in her first season with the team (Kendra Turner). Then consider that not one of those four accomplished, collegiate athletes is even beyond their sophomore seasons yet.

I’ve been lucky enough, within St. John Parish alone, to cover seven state basketball champions between Reserve Christian and Riverside (thanks, Timmy Byrd!). I watched St. Charles Catholic bank the first state football championship in school history in 2011, overcoming injury and winning a tense final game in the Superdome. The Comets also gave me one of the most thrilling games to cover of my career when SCC captured that 2008 softball championship over Parkview Baptist, winning on a play at the plate — you couldn’t have scripted it any better.

I know plenty of sports reporters from other areas, and I’ve learned that I’ve been pretty spoiled by this region. Not everyone (…anyone?) gets to cover so many traditionally winning programs.

I covered sports for one year before accepting the L’OBSERVATEUR job. You guys have watched me grow up in the position. Trust me, I know I was a bit rough around the edges at first. I’d like to think I became pretty respectable along the way. For all you athletes and coaches that I’ve had the pleasure to interview over the years, I thank you for bailing me out on many an occasion and making my stories pop with interesting quotes and viewpoints. And for all of you parents and fans of the local programs that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, thank you as well. So many people have offered me kind words over the years — I’ve even received a few thank-you notes, and they never failed to make me remember why I enjoy doing what I do.

Finally, I’ve worked with a group of great editors and co-workers who both pushed me to be better at my job — and indeed made me better, each in different ways — and made coming to work super-enjoyable day in and day out. And because of that, though Monique Roth beat me in football picks this year, I forgive her and still leave with my head held high.

Kinda. Sorta.

I’ll be handing off these duties to a returning L’OBSERVATEUR alum, Kyle Barnett. He’s a quality writer and I know this sports beat will be in good hands. He’ll do a tremendous job.

So I’ll end this column by hammering home one final “thank you” to all of you. This place has been a huge part of my life that I’ll never, ever forget.