Sprinting past each opponent…a shove…a push…a kick…a hit. Anything to get that first point of the game. The basketball and soccer seasons have finally arrived.

For the upcoming soccer season, the varsity team will be looking forward to a new coach, Rory O’Connor, who was a former professional soccer player, to be guiding them throughout the year.

Captain of the men’s varsity soccer team senior Ale Chiodo said that although O’Connor will be different from the team’s former coach, he is looking forward to learning new strategies and techniques from O’Connor.

“I am excited to be a captain this year because I get to be in charge of my teammates and make important decisions with the coach that will benefit the team,” Chiodo said.

Additionally, the team is anticipating the new jerseys that were ordered for their upcoming season. The new home jersey will be white, and the new away jersey will be purple.

As the women’s soccer season is approaching as well, women’s varsity captain senior Kesy Platt is anticipating for the season to finally start.

“I am looking forward to the team bonding and hopefully making it as far as we did last year in NCS and winning league again,” Platt said.

Starting this year, four new practices have been added before the season actually starts to ensure that the women have more practice time.

“One goal that I have this year being captain is to add more team bonding throughout the season because I feel that the better chemistry we have, the better we will play,” Platt said.

With the basketball season right around the corner, students are anxious for the season to begin.

Junior Clare Keating, a player on the women’s varsity basketball team, is looking forward to the season and is enthusiastic to see what new players will be joining the team.

“One thing I hope to accomplish this season is for our team to go as far, if not farther, than we did last year in the playoffs. We were one game away from winning state, so I am hoping that this year we can win the state championships,” Keating said.

Sophomore Sean Rodriguez, a member on the men’s varsity basketball team, is also looking forward to the upcoming season.

“I am looking forward to having a bigger role on the team this year. Last year, as a freshman, I didn’t get that much playing time and I wasn’t a key factor to the team. Hopefully, due to all my hard work since last season, I will have a much bigger role on the team,” Rodriguez said.

Coach of the men’s varsity basketball team Chris Lavdiotis said that there will be transfer students who will be joining the team this year.

“Playing without last year’s seniors will be a huge transition. They welcomed me and made me feel part of the team, despite the age difference. Not only will I miss them, but we lost a lot of size, leaving us a small and young team,” Rodriguez said.

As this is Rodriguez’s second year on varsity, he said that he is eager for this year’s season and anxious to see what it will be like to be a sophomore on varsity instead of a freshman.

“It feels good coming back to varsity as a sophomore. As not a lot of people play varsity sports as a sophomore, I’m fortunate enough to be able to be going into my second year on varsity,” Rodriguez said.

With the junior varsity team starting up as well, the men’s junior varsity coach John Kirby said he is looking forward to an exciting season.

“It is always fun just working with the kids. I always really enjoy being connected with the kids and getting to know them and being able to watch them grow,” Kirby said.

Kirby said there are a lot of unknowns this year, where he doesn’t have a good idea of who will be joining the team this year.

“The biggest thing is really the excitement of the new season starting up, where you don’t know exactly who’s going to be on your team,” Kirby said. “You also don’t know how well they’re going to play and work together and then you don’t know, how they’re going to do against the people the play against. It’s really fun.”