The End of a Season: On Fall Sports
“It was a great season for all teams, a great year for all. A season where players grew and accomplished. Next year, students should look forward to the heights each team will reach.”
The end of the fall season of sports has led to the start of the winter season. However, we shouldn’t immediately forget about what the fall teams accomplished. This leads me to wonder what the coaches thought of how the season ended, and their team. I want to hear about their highlights for the team, areas to improve in, and any final thoughts, especially for their seniors.
Highlights
To start off, I wanted to first have the coaches highlight any part of their respective season. Whether that be a moment in practice, a player’s performance during a game, or just something good to share from the season.
Coach Sturdy was the first of the four coaches to be interviewed. When I asked him this question, he spoke about the season as it went on. He told me, “We hit this flow pretty much at the mid way point. We hit a spree of winning 4 games in a row. It wasn’t the wins that interest me as the coach. It was the chemistry that was at 11, the communication that was at 11. People started to believe in themselves more, people started to connect. The endless amount of passes is my highlight of the season.”
Flag football coach, Coach Stewart spoke more about the players while bringing up the team as a whole, similar to how Coach Sturdy did. He told me “Seeing all of my players in action was a highlight for me. Everyone had a chance to play, see reps, see game time. Starters had a bunch of reps, new stats. Overall making the playoffs. Not many teams are playoff contenders in their first season. We also won a game with just 7 people and no subs.”
The JV basketball coach, Coach Reardon also brought up the players in a similar way as Coach Stewart. He said “My main highlight was bringing a group of kids together, who mostly didn't play together. Not building a perfect team culture, but building a strong team culture. I guess I'm most proud of being able to bring 9th graders to understand what high school basketball expectations are. I'm proud of finishing second in the league, but I'm more proud of the way our guys carried themselves compared to other schools.”
Coach Marisa was the last of the coaches to be interviewed. When I asked her this question she said, “I really enjoyed watching the girls get closer to each other because we have mostly 9th graders and they were so new to the school. But they did a good job of becoming close with their teammates in other grades, and those teammates in higher grades did a good job at welcoming them.”
Areas for Improvement
Something a lot of players should be thinking about is what they should work on during the off-season – any training and practice they can do on their own, or with others. This led me to ask each coach what they want their players to improve, or focus on during the off-season.
For the soccer players, Coach Sturdy wants the players to be “Cleaning up their first touch, more movement. These are things we improved on as the season went on. But if we want to start off strong next season, we have to improve on these things. We can also up the communication”
For the football team, Coach Stewart said “I want my players to embody kaizen. It’s when you try to improve on something, everyday. I want my players to improve their mental toughness. We have high expectations, and it’s hard on a loss. It’s something the sport teaches them. I also think each player should improve their sport IQ, consuming and learning the game. Just finding a way to improve on the little things.”
Coach Reardon also has skills and ideas he wants players to learn. He stated “basketball IQ and understanding of the game. I want guys to watch more films, more games from a critical lens, not just to enjoy it. We don’t do very well in terms of off-ball movement and spacing. So I think we got a lot of guys who play park ball, and a lot of guys who’ve been coached AAU style. They think of basketball as individual skills as opposed to those developed within a system.”
Like any other sport, volleyball has skills players need to work on. Coach Marisa gave me her answer on what she wants her players to work on and said “I want them to sharpen up their skills and definitely think about how they can improve their communication on the court and with the team. Sharpening some of the basics like passing and setting, and working on hitting so that we can start off the season doing more hitting. This year we started off, fading into it and it would be nice to start off next year already doing it.”
Final Thoughts
I also wanted to know what the coaches felt with how their seasons ended. I wanted to know their final thoughts – their takeaways.
Coach Sturdy kept it simple and stated, “Overall when you looked at the whole season. Pretty satisfied, especially after you see the change from the first game, to the four game winning streak. We went from a team that did not know how to move as a unit on the field to a team where we can penetrate past the defense to Shaq and AK, looking for that final shot.”
Coach Stewart had a different side for how the season ended. He stated, “We had a lot of resilience. People battled through injuries to do what they enjoy. Not many teams can deal with injuries. As the season ended, I could’ve been a stronger presence. I could've been more present helping players with intangibles and I believe we had championship expectations, when it should have been something different. We won our spring division, and we expected that success to translate to this new league when there were new things we had to learn and go through. Every team faces adversity, and I just have to make my team more resilient.”
Coach Reardon brought pride with his thoughts when he said “The season ended as well as I could possibly ask for, other than winning the championship. We played well until the end and we had our heads held high. I think everyone could look themselves in the mirror about how we played. We got into a game against All Hallows after the championship game with two missing starters, half the team not practicing for two weeks. We still played them to one point. It shows the progress of the program that we can hang with old established programs.”
Coach Marisa mentioned the accomplishment of the team and the growth of the team.“I think we kind of left the season for the most part knowing where our strengths and weaknesses were. By the end we were doing a better job at working to improve those weaknesses. I was excited that we were able to make playoffs because we didn’t do that the year prior. I feel like we were doing better with communicating, I feel like the girls were able to help pick each other back up.”
Lastly, with each passing year, eventually you become a senior and play your final season of a sport in high school. This final question is more directed to the seniors who played this season. Each coach offered some words for their seniors (or sophomores for JV basketball) as a final parting note.
Messages for Seniors
Coach Sturdy: “Denisse, thank you for being the leader that this team needed. All captains were voted in by the players, and she ran practices for me when the season was done. Thank you for taking charge when the team needed you most. All of these kids look up to you for leadership. AK, thank you for your jokes, thank you for smiles. I'm thankful for how much he cared about the sport. I hope you continue to play soccer, because you love it so much, and I hope you continue to watch it when you’re an adult. Soccer is a sport that will love you throughout your whole life, not just when you’re young. Manny, our defensive bedrock. The season doesn’t function on a defensive end, without you. The long balls you can drop on a dime will be missed. I look forward to seeing you grow since you’re so well rounded. You’re sporty, nerdy, and smart. Whatever you hope to be, you can be. Adam, you made goals look easy, you made passing look easy, you made leadership look easy. But I hope you do realize underneath all these ease, how much power you have amongst the people around you. I know you’ll always use that force for good, but in the end it’s okay if things don’t always look easy. People will still look up to you through your productive struggles.”
Coach Stewart: “We wouldn’t be here without you. You and your class were extremely instrumental in creating our flag football program. So our doors are always open for you. You are always welcomed back in this community, this team we call a family. To coach, to speak, to motivate, you can be that presence for our youth, and right now I appreciate the wisdom you all give to the underclassmen. You have a place in this game called football. There are many paths and opportunities for success. I encourage you to seek out those opportunities to go on a lifelong journey through football. Keep that grit and determination with you, because you will need it when your life feels like third and long.”
Coach Reardon (For Sophomores): “I think they need to understand how big of a jump it is, and understand in some ways they had a better than average JV experience. Our games often had quite a few people at them, whereas most JV kids will play in an empty game all year long. They were integrated in and were made to feel a part of the varsity program. We have a somewhat issue with our younger guys being entitled to getting more from their coaches than more students get and are reacting like they are being given less. I don’t want us to be like other programs, but I want kids to understand how different our program is compared to other schools. Also to stop feeling like playing time is a right, instead of a privilege.”
Coach Marisa: “I know I'm gonna miss them, I also know that they really impacted the team. They were good role models for the younger kids. I would just hope that they know that once you're a part of the team that you’re always welcomed back for games and practices. If they ever want to give any words of encouragement there is always a place for them. As a coach and as a team we really value them. I want to shout out Susu for taking the role of being the voice of reason. She’s really good at uplifting the team and knowing what we all as a group have to work on. I know the girls and myself are really going to miss that push. There’s only so much I can say as a coach, and I know it’s helpful for the girls when Susu uplifts the team and acts as our voice of reason. Sometimes players need to hear from their captain over their coach sometimes.”
It was a great season for all teams, a great year for all. A season where players grew and accomplished. Next year, students should look forward to the heights each team will reach. Fall of 2025 will be filled with even more accomplishments than this year. Good luck to all teams, and farewell seniors.