Winter Sports Make A Comeback After Taking A Season Off
Katie Vastola and Moira Sirois
Editor and Staff Writer
The 2021 winter season marks the first season of winter sports since 2019 at Alexandria City High School. The winter sports include basketball, swim and dive, gymnastics, wrestling, indoor track and field, cheer, and ice hockey. Tryouts will be held throughout the week of November 8, but dates vary based on the sport.
Similar to previous years athletes will need to submit physical forms. Starting this season, there is a Covid-19 vaccine requirement for all athletes. There are religious and health exemptions, but those approved for one have to provide a negative Covid test daily. All winter athletes that are trying out need to have their Covid vaccine card approved through the RankOne website.
Boys basketball tryouts will be held at the ACHS gym. During the off-season, some athletes who plan on trying out did “cardio work and weightlifting,” said Junior TJ Ceesay.
Girls Basketball tryouts will be held at George Washington Middle School. Senior Taryn White plans on trying out and said, “I think the vaccine mandate is really smart especially given the fact that this is an indoor sport in close contact.”
Swim and Dive will be holding tryouts at the Chinquapin pool. With renovations and updates to the pool deck and locker rooms ending on September 6, 2021, the team will be ready to dive into their season. Senior Chris Bright said, “I am excited to get back in the water and have a senior season.”
Bright also said, “I haven’t been in the water for a little over a year because of the pandemic, but after a bit of practice I will be able to settle into the season.”
Tryouts for indoor track will be held at the ACHS track. Senior Jason Dresen said, “I feel pretty prepared for the season because most of the people who run distance participate in cross country, so they already have a season of training.”
Dresen also said, “We haven’t been able to practice on our track since March 2020, so it’ll be great to get back to that.”
The Ice Hockey team had their first game on Friday, November 5 against West Potomac. They were able to keep a lead the whole game and won 6-5. Ice hockey is now a co-ed sport with two girls on the varsity team.
Isabel Hernandez-Wilson has been participating in competitive travel ice hockey, which has a season last year. “I feel prepared given that I was still able to train and compete for my travel team.”
Gymnastics tryouts will be held at various places in Northern Virginia, and run from November 9 through November 13. Tryout locations include Jefferson High School, ACHS, Falls Church High School, and Virginia Youth Sports Gymnastics.
Wrestling tryouts will be held in the ACHS wrestling room the week of November 8th after school. Senior Abdel Abdelsadig has played for two seasons and has prepared for this season by doing workouts on his own.
Even though the wrestling team has had preseason practices, Abdelsadig says, “I don’t think anyone’s ready to hop back into it… and until the first competition, we can’t tell the difference between preparation and overconfidence.”
Abdelsadig said, “the most disappointing part is that last year we lost most of our roster as they were seniors, and now we have to rebuild from scratch.” Since wrestling is a compound learning process, Abdelsadig knows it will “take time to get back to where [they] were” but he has no doubt they will get there.
Finally, winter cheer tryouts will be held from November 9 through November 11 after school in the ACHS auxiliary gym. Freshman Susan Jackson did fall cheer, and this will be her first season trying out for winter cheer. She is excited to continue cheering, and said, “[the vaccine mandate] will help us with safety to push forward to a normal season.” Even though she is happy about the vaccine mandate, she said, “it is sad to see girls go because they don’t have the vaccine.”
For more details on when and where tryouts will be held for every winter sport, refer to @actitanathletics on Instagram or the ACHS Athletics website.
Photo by Moira Sirois
