Upper School athletes reflect on each team’s best sports experiences of the year
DAISY DOMINATION The Varsity Lacrosse team rushes to touch the trophy after defeating St. John's to win the State Title. Photo provided by Megan
Championship Wobbling
This fall, Hockaday Cross Country won its first Southwest Preparatory Conference Championship since 1987. But instead of passing around their trophy, the team “wobbled” with it.
“Our wobbling party, featuring all members of the team along with Coach Bean, Coach Aasha and our beautiful trophy, was a perfect end to the season,” senior team captain Erin said. “It captured the essence of HXC ‘11: one big family always ready to crank up the music and have some fun!”
D2 Championship
Hockaday Varsity Field Hockey closed their season by winning the Division II Championship in early November. Coach Jennifer Johnson, although pregnant during the season, continued to provide the team with undying support throughout the last moments of the team’s final game, said junior Marzia.
“Usually, teams who start the first half well, tend to almost ‘give up’ in the second half and end up losing. Coach Johnson reminded us it is the final push that makes the difference,” Marzia said. “All of the training during the summer and the past games, wins, ties or losses, contributed to that [championship] game. We could not give up but had to keep going, keep running and keep playing like a team.”
Half-Court Point
In Varsity Basketball’s game against Casady, freshman Samantha shot from the half-court line when the timer began to count down the last ten seconds. The resulting swoosh nearly bridged the gap between the two team’s scores. Although Hockaday lost the game by one point, Varsity Basketball Coach and Director of Hockaday Athletics Tina Slinker, said the team qualified for Division I because of each player’s unremitting effort.
“The kids were so excited, but at the time we didn’t know that this shot would make the difference in getting us into Division I,” Coach Slinker said. “After the game with Casady, I was just thinking more about the close loss,” Slinker said. “Good lesson to learn: sometimes it is the process, the journey, the effort and not just the outcome that can make a difference.”
JJ’s Return
Senior Varsity Soccer player JJ broke her leg in the first game of the season on Nov. 15 against ESD after scoring two points. She made it back, however, to play in the last counter game on Jan. 26th, in which the team once again faced the Eagles.
“It was devastating breaking my leg in the first game,” JJ said, “especially in the last few minutes of that game. But the support and encouragement that my teammates and coaches offered me when I came back was tremendously helpful to get back in the swing of things.”
JJ found a few of Varsity Soccer Coach Rodney Skaife’s words particularly inspiring.
“I will never forget what Coach Skaife said to me during my first game back on the field in January,” she said. “I passed the ball to Maggie and Maggie scored, and Skaife pulled me to the sideline and said: ‘Thank god you’re back with Maggie, I need you two up there.’ I know he meant it jokingly, but that was exactly what I needed to hear after being on the bench for the whole season.”
This final counter game against ESD ended in Hockaday’s victory by four points.
State Champions
The Varsity Lacrosse team won the State Title on Sunday, May 13 beating St. Johns 19-18 in overtime. After intense training, the Lacrosse team saw their hard work pay off.
“Winning the state championship this year was the most unbelievable feeling. We were the underdogs going into both the semi-final and final game. The other teams were bigger and maybe more skilled than us, but we wanted to win. We wanted to bring home the state title. As they say, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog” senior captain Maggie said.
Water Balloon Training
The Varsity Softball team thought of a novel method for practicing their catching, throwing and sliding skills this year. Through water balloon practice, the team was able to train while having fun.
“I really enjoyed the team bonding during this event, and the rest of the team did as well,” senior Jessica said.
North Zone Domination
On April 21, the Track and Field team won the crucial North Zone meet, which helped the team set up expectations for SPC. This championship pumped the team up and proved that the team members were prepared to perform confidently at SPC.
“It gave us a really exciting and encouraging feeling as we look to SPC in two weeks,” senior Team Captain Ellen said. “All of the pieces, from distance to throwing, to sprinting and jumping are beginning to come together.”
