- [Narrator] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

- Just ahead on Carolina Impact.

- Motorsports in the military, working together with this plant in Concord.

I'm Jeff Sawyer, stick around.

We'll show you the next generation of Battlefield ready, SUVs.

- Plus our region is the third hottest market in the country for home sales.

We'll have tips for buyers.

And how it be like to be a high school athletic director during COVID?

We'll take you inside to see some of the difficult decisions being made to keep high school sports safe.

Carolina Impact starts right now.

- [Narrator] Carolina Impact, covering the issues, people and places that impact you.

This is Carolina Impact.

(upbeat music) - Good evening, thanks so much for joining us I'm Amy Burkett.

It's NASCAR season again here in the Carolinas.

Race fans heading back to the track after Coronavirus kept the crowds away last year.

But while fans focus on the finish line, the race car builders at GM and Hendrick Motorsports are sharing their NASCAR know how with the US military.

Jeff Sonier has more from Concord, where a tough new troop carrier is ready to roll off the assembly line.

- Yeah, this building here in Concord is where General Motors was planning to do their racing research and development.

But now, those plans are changing just like the sign outside the building, which now says GM Defense.

Motorsports in the military now working together on a new project here, which actually starts with our fighting men and women up there.

(airplane engine roaring) (soldiers shouting get ready) - [Jeff] This is US Army Training Video high over Fort Bragg.

(soldiers shouting) The 82nd airborne on board C-130s and C-17s.

(soldiers shouting) Altitude 1250 feet above the jump zone for now.

But, - [Female] Five, four, three, two, one, green light.

- [Jeff] This is what these elite soldiers trained for and when they hit the ground, (upbeat music) well, this is the elite new vehicle they've been asking for, to transport them into battle.

- They're gonna be the first unit equipped with the ISVs.

GM is gonna be building the ISVitself right up the road in Concord and then the first unit getting those ISVs for employment is the 82nd just down at Fort Bragg so it's a real neat Carolina story.

- [Jeff] We're on a Zoom call with Marshall Carlson, president of Hendrick Motorsports.

(commentator speaking) The championship race team that's also part of the production team for the militaries new infantry squad vehicle or ISV.

Hendrick's, high tech, high performance race car builders, transferring their NASCAR knowledge from the track to the battlefield.

(crowd shouting) - How much of a stretch is that for your crews?

Or is there more of an overlap with building cop cars and building military vehicles than we actually realize?

- We've got a very, very highly skilled workforce here.

They were able to adapt to GM's design requirements.

And there was a lot of crossover between building these race cars and building this ISV chassis to deliver the best for the soldiers who are going to be using them and so we've taken really our best and brightest and put them on this project to create the highest quality product possible.

- [Jeff] Hendrick is hand building the exoskeleton for those high quality ISVs with the same high strength low weight steel they use in NASCAR.

These photos on the Hendrick race shop wall show the finished product.

A modified for the military off road Chevy pickup truck that will roll off GM specially-built ISV production line.

- We had an existing facility there in Concord about 75,000 square feet.

So location, great to the workforce there and extensive experience in developing race cars, you know, high load, high risk environments.

- [Jeff] GM defense president Tim Herrick says, high load high risk also describes the battlefield conditions for the ISV (soldiers shouting) which has to be big enough and tough enough and quick enough to get these training troops wherever they need to go.

- [Tim] That's like agile.

Its all-terrain troop carrier.

Nine soldiers have been in it, they can put their rucksacks up on top, they can carry their weaponry with them being able to rock crawl being able to go fast across various terrain, so instead of walking down range we have in our infantry squad vehicle and execute their mission.

(airplane engine roaring) - [Jeff] And when one mission is over the ISV is also small enough and light enough for the 82nd airborne troops to take along on their next mission.

- They can sling it under a Black Hawk helicopter, or inside a Chinook helicopter, they can transport it.

- [Gentleman] This prototype of vehicle rolled out of the shop in the Fall of 1960.

- [Jeff] The Charlotte area has a history of manufacturing for the military.

- [Gentleman] It was named Gama Goat.

- [Jeff] Including these so called Gama Goat vehicles that were built for the military during Vietnam, at what is now Camp North End in Charlotte.

But that was that and this is now.

Motorsports and the military working together.

It's a relationship that race fans feel every race weekend, Charlotte Motor Speedway.

(organic music) A special relationship that the race teams feel too.

- Always there's a presence of the military at the races.

And so kind of culturally, there's a real gratitude and appreciation for that in our company.

We're asking those folks to do some of the hardest work possibly that can be done in defending our country, in faraway places and really at the end of the day, they deserve the best this nation can provide them.

- And while North Carolina's 82nd airborne begins deploying those homegrown ISVs tested out at Fort Bragg and built right here at the GM Defense plant in Concord.

Well, Hendrick Motorsports says there is one big difference between building for NASCAR and building for the military.

- No sheet metal to put a sponsor on.

- There's not a lot of sheet metal on the ISV.

But I think it's sponsored by all of us.

And so, we're really grateful again, to be a part of the program.

- Yeah program where the goal is still winning, but where performance is all about getting first to the frontlines instead of to the finish line, Amy.

- Thanks so much, Jeff.

That training video of the 82nd airborne paratroopers was shot by the soldiers themselves at Fort Bragg.

You can find out more about their new Concord-built Troop Carrier on our website at pbscharlotte.org.

Well, if you're looking to buy a house in our area, there's a lot to consider.

Interest rates are down but housing prices continue to skyrocket.

Charlotte ranks as the third hottest housing market in the country.

Carolina Impacts Sarah Colon-Harris, breaks down what you need to know.

(upbeat music) - [Sarah] For longtime realtor, Bobby Sisk, business is booming.

- I personally had a record year.

- [Sarah] The past year proving to be his highest selling year yet, despite the pandemic.

- We thought when the pandemic hit, that we were probably gonna see a slowdown.

And we did for probably a month or so.

The month of March the month of April of last year.

And then really by May and June, it picked back up.

- [Sarah] And now in 2021, the real estate market even busier making the hunt for a new home, quite an endeavor for search.

- It's competitive.

And so we understand that and we're not gonna blow out our budget just to land something.

- [Sarah] Michael Hopewell and his wife relocated to Charlotte from Southeast Asia shortly before the pandemic to be closer to families.

- Guess before then we could go see the other one that you mentioned.

- [Sarah] It's their first time buying a home.

- We don't have much to compare it to but based the experience that we were expecting, it's definitely been a little bit more compressed in terms of the timeline for each individual house with the amount of interest we're seeing in the houses that we're looking for, you know, that means we have to make a decision pretty quickly usually within 24 hours of seeing a house.

- Chances are if you're seeing one of these in your neighborhood, it may not last long.

Charlotte is now ranking number three in the housing market.

Here's why.

According to Realtor.com, Charlotte ranks nationally right behind Sacramento and San Jose, the median home price, nearly $370,000 many buyers from out of town.

- You're competing maybe with 10 or 20 people who are moving from New York and LA and other places across the country who are coming here.

So that poised with a lack of inventory of homes and condos.

for sale is what's leading to this kind of high demand and back into multiple offer situations, which is what we saw back when I covered real estate years ago, in 2005 through 2007 or eight - [Sarah] Sisk says Charlotte's cost of living attractive to people working from home, no longer bound to big city living.

- The other thing that we've really seen is people who were in small spaces.

They were either renting small spaces or living in small houses, who are like, okay, not only are my wife and I or my husband and I home working, our kids are here right now too.

And this is the time to make a transition, while interest rates are so low to go ahead and kind of buy the dream house.

- [Sarah] Mortgage lender Shantell Maddox, recently moved from an apartment to her newly purchased home in Southwest Charlotte - With this process, it actually took me about 31 days from start to finish.

- That was quick.

And you say that's because you knew going into it exactly what you want?

- Absolutely, I think I looked at four houses total.

And this house kind of this.

When I came in, it just kind of took my breath away.

- [Sarah] But she says not everyone is so lucky.

The so-called seller's market, creating bidding wars among anxious buyers.

- I've seen people who have written letters that have included their kids, their dogs, what their house, the new house they're trying to purchase have meant to them.

(upbeat music) - [Sarah] To speed up the purchase process, Maddox recommends a few tips.

To get started towards owning your next dream home, be sure to keep your credit in good standing, save for a down payment.

Pay all credit card payments on time and avoid any new credit inquiries.

- Anyone that is doing.

Going about trying to get a home.

You know, take a chance is, it's worth it.

It means a lot once you're able to do it.

Because you know you feel so much better in your own space.

It's not a hard process.

Make sure that you talk and answer all the questions or ask all the questions that you need to.

- Yeah, this was a total addition on the back at some point.

- [Sarah] For Michael and his wife, the search for the perfect home continues.

In the meantime, they're hopeful their dream of becoming homeowners will soon become a reality.

For Carolina Impact, I'm Sarah Colon-Harris.

- Thanks so much, Sarah.

According to Realtor.com, millennials make up about 49% of buyers in our region.

Well, to say that the last year has been unique would be an incredible understatement.

The Coronavirus has impacted everyone and everything around the globe.

And that includes athletics.

From game cancellations to playing in empty stadiums and in bubbles.

It's been a trying year for sports teams everywhere.

As Carolina Impacts, Jason Tirzah shows us competing in high school sports continues to be a real challenge for players, coaches, and perhaps most of all, school athletic directors.

- [Jason] No matter the high school sport, whether it be volleyball, football, basketball, or any other, it's been impacted in some way by COVID-19.

- You kind of get tired of giving your community bad news.

- [Jason] Much like the rest of the world, Interscholastic athletics has endured plenty of obstacles this school year.

- I'd wear a body suit if I had to to continue to play.

- [Jason] What most of us thought was gonna be an inconvenience for a few weeks, has instead turned into a full year of postponements, cancellations and uncertainty.

- Back in March when we went shut in place, we thought it'd be two weeks, three weeks, Oh how we were wrong.

- Never envisioned it would last this long.

- [Jason] Whether it's an Adrey Kell High School in Charlotte, Catawba Ridge High School in Fort Mill, high schools from both states have been doing all they can to keep playing and it all starts with those COVID protocols.

- Daily monitoring form, they have to be screened in, and there is a series of questions, symptoms checkers and things like that, always temperature checks.

- And if you have symptoms, you stay home.

You just don't come - We take it very serious here we got a great process.

We check them in.

We social distance, we keep the mask on, we sanitize.

We do everything we need to do.

- Once they get tested and they test positive that's when we kind of take action, we notify the athletic director and the decision is made then, it's pretty cut and dry when it comes to whether a team needs to shut down.

If anybody has been within six feet for greater than 15 minutes cumulative, then that person has to be quarantined and a lot of times that means the whole team.

- [Jason] Being in different states Catawba Ridge and Audrey Kell are under different guidelines set forth by state governments and local officials.

In North Carolina, it's all masks all the time during practice and in games, with players socially distancing on the sidelines.

- And that's been a challenge for the kids to get used to.

But what I'd tell them is the alternative is we don't play.

- Another NCSSA protocol, water station, players can't just go to a water station, fill their own bottle, we have actually a volunteer assigned to that.

- [Jason] But across the border in South Carolina, it's a little more lenient, and a little less restrictive.

- Anytime you stop doing anything put the mask up to talk, put the mask up, but while they're playing, are allowed to pull them down.

And the coatings that we keep large on all the time.

- [Jason] The most frustrating part of trying to play over the last year for players and coaches has been just that trying to play with multiple starts and stops, especially for the school's basketball teams.

- We lost some games in early December.

So you know, you prepare for a team and then that team can't play and then our district had to shut down around the middle of December and that kind of we've just started to create some momentum for our team.

- Lancaster High School and Indian Land, their whole school district shut them down till January 25th.

So they were closed for two weeks.

And then they come online and that's the exact same time that you work, some South Pointe we'd all played each other.

And we had some positive cases by amongst all three teams.

So all three of us have had to shut down.

- The last time it happened, it was like the morning of a game and we had to shut it down.

And it was really tough.

But it is more gratifying when you know that you're doing the right thing.

And you're keeping kids and their family safe.

- [Jason] Those stops and starts have wreaked havoc for school athletic directors, who are constantly trying to reschedule canceled events.

- Planning for the unknown is frustrating, is challenging.

We try to keep the players and the parents and the community as informed as possible.

- We've had so many Zoom meetings and we joke as we end the Zoom meetings like I will talk to you in a couple of days because that's kind of what it's been.

- Now we did have to do three different schedules.

- We tell them all the time, hey, this could be it.

We never know how it's gonna, how many more games we've got left.

So we got to take each moment.

- [Jason] The major difference between the states is football with North Carolina pushing its season back to this spring, while South Carolina played for the most part is scheduled in the fall, albeit with limited attendance.

- Once you got, kind of got past, there's only gonna be so many fans in the stands and lost a couple games.

I mean, it was just playing football again, and they get back and we had a really good time doing it.

It was nice because yeah, there's some teams that weren't playing.

There's some states that didn't play.

So we knew that we were privileged to get a chance to do that.

- [Jason] With outdoor spring sports like softball, baseball, lacrosse and tennis now upon us and the COVID vaccine making the rounds, everyone is hoping the worst is now behind us.

It's been a crazy tumultuous year with plenty of hurdles to get over and everyone managing as best as they can.

- But the guys have been really resilient this year.

I think everybody would probably say that about their programs because it's just been hard to talk to my colleagues around the area.

It's been hard on everybody but I think the guys and the ladies that have been playing have really kind of, you know, stepped up to that challenge.

- [Jason] If there's one positive to be taken from all this, the coaches say it's teaching the kids a valuable lesson.

Life doesn't always go as planned.

And you can never take things for granted.

Even playing games.

For Carolina Impact.

I'm Jason Terzis reporting.

- Thanks so much, Jason.

For many people, their morning ritual absolutely must include one or two cups of coffee.

But this coffee club in Charlotte doesn't include coffee, or caffeine.

It's actually an ice skating class.

One session may give you a jolt of energy that may surpass any cup of joe.

Carolina Impact's Todd Wallace explains.

(lighthearted music) (audience shouting) - I grew up watching Nancy Kerrigan, Michelle Kwan and I mean, those ladies were so lovely that they make anyone wanna ice skate, you imagine that you are as graceful as they are.

- [Todd] So Mary Beth Campbell stopped dreaming and became a doer.

Once her husband got out of the military, they decided to leave Texas.

- And I said, hey, there's a rink in Charlotte.

I mean, we didn't move to Charlotte just for that.

But everything lined up and I said now that we have a rink 10 minutes away, can I do this?

- [Todd] That's skating rink is Extreme Ice Center and Indian Trail.

She signed up for skating group at the center called the Coffee Club, but the way they burn calories, no caffeine is required because everyone here from Marybeth to Jennifer Lane, is doing their best to get better.

- Maybe inadequate would be the word but (giggling) uncoordinated, perhaps, but I'm just hoping that if I come enough times and keep at it, I'll get a little bit better every single time.

Coffee Club is a great group of adult skaters that just have that similar like hope to get on the ice and beginning skating, advanced skating and just meeting people who have that common interest.

- [Todd] Jenny Gwyn has been a competitive figure skater and skated professionally touring the country with Ice Capades.

She's also met or knows some of the biggest names in the sport.

This Detroit native is now a coach and director here at Extreme Ice Center.

Still though, ice skating in Charlotte.

- So in the summer, it is a great way to come in and cool off.

And then not too cold in the winter months, not like up North, so it's a good way to taste the North without full fledged getting into the snow.

- [Todd] It's a pretty cool job too, because Jenny's passion happens to be her profession.

- That is my home away from home and I love every minute I'm at the ice rink and I am so blessed and fortunate to be able to have a job that's not really a job because it's something that I love.

- [Todd] Jenny says skating in the coffee club or anytime, improves balance, fitness and coordination.

But most of all, Jenny loves that skating is really about helping people find their footing in life.

To be bold step out, even when the surfaces a little slippery.

I probably ever been on skates but with Jenny's encouragement, I decided to give it a try.

For me, the first lesson will be learning how to stand not skate, trust me when I say this is an accomplishment.

But Jenny says actually, the first lesson is learning how to fall because like in life, it's so important to know how to get back up.

- Because we know we're gonna fall that you need to get up and dust yourself off and keep moving into the next thing that's coming your way.

And that makes us stronger as people, - [Todd] Marybeth Campbell had no idea how true those words would be.

- Our daughter has special needs, and has medical issues.

So a lot of athletics are hard for her.

And ice skating, I mean, she has a hard time walking on regular ground sometimes and will trip and becomes and she gets on the ice.

And I mean, she has such joy.

- [Todd] And confidence.

- And there will be kids here and to see them treat her normal.

Like she's not some special needs kid.

And they all play together and play tag on the ice and chase after each other.

- [Todd] Now the entire family is involved.

And everyone from Marybeth's daughter, Holly, to her mom and dad are finding success through skating.

- And it teaches you about perseverance and then when you first nail it, I got it.

I got it.

I did that jump let me show every one.

- [Todd] Jenny says Extreme Ice Center is determined that joy is the only thing that spreads around here.

She says skating is a great activity, especially now.

- People are looking for a sport that's been safe within our environment right now.

And skating is providing that because we are able to spread out, we are able to work as groups, but individually and maintain safety and social distancing.

- [Todd] During these tough times, it's been skating that gives Jenny and so many more something to smile about.

She believes almost everyone should try it because just about anyone can do it.

- Oh, there is room for everybody at all ages and levels to learn to skate and to really chase your dreams that you might have had about, what they might be on ice.

- [Todd] No excuses.

- No excuses.

If you can walk, you can skate.

- [Todd] After all, we can all enjoy moments like this.

But the bigger lesson skating can give all of us is that to get back up after a fall, that's a win.

For Carolina Impact, I'm Todd Wallace reporting.

- Thanks so much, Todd.

The coffee club is divided into six levels from basic skating to more advanced skills.

I miss ice skating.

I used to do it all the time when I lived up North.

Well, that's all the time we have for this evening.

Thanks so much for joining us.

We always appreciate your time and look forward to seeing you back here again next time on Carolina Impact.

Good night, my friends.

(enchanting music) - [Narrator] A production of PBS Charlotte