Ian Roberts feels a sense of relief and excitement these days.
That’s because he no longer has to deal with the stress of angry inmates, which has been replaced by the excitement of young people enjoying sports and growing as athletes and responsible adults.
Roberts served 14 years in corrections, ending March 31 when he officially resigned as Montgomery County Jailer.
He began April 1 as the new programs director for the Mt. Sterling-Montgomery County Parks and Dept.
“It feels like 1,000 pounds have been lifted off my shoulders,” Roberts told the Advocate.
Roberts is passionate about youth sports.
Roberts fell in love with sports as a youngster playing baseball and basketball. He was quite good at baseball in particular. He played at Montgomery and Bath County high schools.
In high school he had 17 Division 1 baseball scholarship offers, he said. At 17, he was a left-hander whose fastball was clocked at 92 miles per hour with a curveball in the mid to high 80s.
Roberts traveled all over the country playing baseball and pitched in showcases before scouts from the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox and Colorado Rockies.
That’s before he tore his rotator cuff in his left shoulder and the ACL in his pitching arm.
Roberts said he now looks forward to working with youths interested in athletics, including his two children and two stepchildren.
He’s thankful to now have time to see his children enjoy athletics.
“It’s a big change for me,” Roberts said. “I’ll be able to spend more time with my family.”
His Little League baseball coach was Phil Gross, who is now executive director of the dept.
They are back together again and Roberts said they have had many discussions about how to improve youth sports in Montgomery County.
With that in mind they are trying to make the youth sports program at parks and rec a good feeder system for the middle school and high school programs.
They are working with varsity coaches at MCHS to do so.
Parks and Rec is adding youth bowling for ages 3 through 12th grade, as well as volleyball for third through fifth or sixth grade.
They are also bringing back tackle football this fall.
Roberts said he is always open to ideas and encourages the public to contact him at 859-498-8728 or msmcprogramsdirector1@gmail.
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