Warming up for Winter Sports

 SHS Winter Sports

By Charlie Diamond

Winter sports are coming up and we’re very excited for them. SHS offers the following options for students interested in winter sports: 

• Basketball

• Bowling

• Ice Hockey

• Skiing

• Swimming

• Unified Basketball

• Winter Track

• Wrestling

High school students who play sports are less likely to drop out and their participation in sports results in a higher GPA. Former student athletes tend to earn higher incomes in the future and earn up to 40% higher on test scores. (source: https://www.atyourownrisk.org/benefits-of-sports#:~:text=Youth%20sports%20helps%20young%20athletes,school%20boy%20and%20girl%20athletes)

Many athletes treat a winter sport as their main sport and many participate as a form of a conditioning activity for spring or fall sports. Each team has a booster club and all of them need your help, so when you see them selling merchandise or having fundraisers, please contribute. Most need sponsors in order to pay for pricey equipment or travel expenses. 

I selected 3 sports to write about with a special mention to Unified Basketball and their head coach, Mrs. Schock who is not only an awesome coach but who was also recently recognized as the Teacher of the Month. Mrs. Schock’s dedication to Unified Sports allows students with disabilities to seriously compete and also have lots of fun.

Basketball: Sparta basketball is a hugely popular winter sport and Sparta is really great at it! Girls’ team is coached by Mrs. Wille and the Boys’ coach is Mr. Brennan. The SHS girls team were also 2022 NJAC American Division Champions.

Skiing: The Sparta Ski Team is an alpine racing team with Coaches Calafati and Moriarty. The team is a highly competitive race team open to skiers who are at least at intermediate level. They are awesome and they are winners. Check out their website: www.spartaski.com

Winter Track: This team is led by the wonderful coach Sierra Mitchell. The events are: distance, sprint, throwing, jumps,  hurdles, and other field events. They practice in the cold but most events are held indoors.

Just because it’s winter, it doesn’t mean you can chill. Participate in Winter Sports and don’t lose your groove.