An old adage advises "keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."  High school athletes do this often with one another.
   Rivalries are strong between Corbin and other local schools.  They are separated by more distance than most suburban regions, but the alignments of the regions that Corbin are in generally do not radically shift, so the ‘Hounds play the same schools year after year.  For example, CHS has played Middlesboro High School for almost an entire century.

   Lots of students transfer to Corbin for academics or sports, or other reasons.  With this wide array of students from other schools, many times athletes are friends with lots of athletes from rival schools. 

   Senior Hunter Sizemore said "I moved to Corbin from South Laurel, and most of my friends are at South Laurel.  I had friends from Corbin before I moved, and I’ve become better friends with them, but most of my close friends are at my old school."

   Another reason that athletes are friends with rivals is because of where they live. 

   Freshman golfer Alex Davis lives in London and is neighbors with North Laurel students, but he goes to Corbin.  He said "I live at Crooked Creek, and I am friends with a lot of kids from North.  We play golf together, and hang out together and other things, I know them really well.”

   With many athletes being friends with their rivals, trash talking occurs frequently between them.  Sometimes it is serious, but mostly it is just friendly banter. 

   Senior volleyball player Mandi Robinson said "I am good friends with lots of girls from rival teams, but we have been on the same travel teams so I have played with them.  We don't trash talk much, but because they are on rival teams I already want to beat them, but there is a little extra drive playing against the girls I know so well."

   There are upsides and downsides of competing against friends; and the pressure of competition could go both ways. 

   Some athletes feel they have less pressure when they are playing alongside their friends, but that could also come back to bite them in feeling they can be more relaxed and maybe even complacent when they're playing with someone they know so well.

   Junior soccer player Alison Warner said “playing against people I know doesn’t really affect my game; I just see them as opponents while the game is going on, but after the game I talk with them and everything.”

   Junior golfer Eric Jones said "I am friends with players from other teams that we play against during the season, and when I play with those guys I'm way more relaxed.  That's bad sometimes because I don't concentrate like I should, but I feel that I can play more consistently when I'm playing with someone I know."