With the advent of the winter season, so too are winter sports now underway, with the Marriotts Ridge wrestling, hockey, basketball, and indoor track team breaking into their official playing seasons with a bang after much dedicated practice in the off-season.
The wrestling team, coached by Coach Muscato and Coach Lee, had their season officially begin on the 5th of December in a match against Atholton. With the team coming into the season with returning players like Rocky, Adrian Pinos, Jamie, Jonah, Boden, and Ja’Kaylen, the wrestling team is optimistic about their performance for the season despite an initial loss.
“I’m pretty confident about our team… We lost some good wrestlers last year, but we have a big team and a lot of up-and-coming players,” stated senior Adrian Pinos.
Likewise, the boys’ basketball team, led by Coach Wilhingham and Teodosio, also had their season start early on December 6th in an away game against Glenelg High School, which unfortunately ended in a defeat, 37-54. Regardless of the loss, however, they are still confident about how their season will play out.
“I feel like we can do good,” stated sophomore Julian Clay, “We just have to bond well as a team and do what we need to do.”
Alongside them, the girls’ basketball team, guided by Coach Miller, remains optimistic on the prospects for their season. Although they are coming into the season rebounding from the loss of junior player Sydney Proper, due to a torn ACL from the beginning of the season, they expect the team’s performance to pick up in the later half of the season due to the efforts and talents of its younger members.
“We are rebuilding this year,” assured Coach Miller, “We have a lot of really young talent, both in grade but time spent on the court. So I anticipate us really hitting our stride in the last third of the season.”
Additionally, the indoor track team, coached by Coach Smith and Coach Parson, is diligently practicing everyday afterschool in preparation for their first meet on January 11th. Individually, the players are confident about their performance in the upcoming track meets, and are in high spirits about the team as a whole.
“Personally, it’s hard to predict how [the season] will go, until we actually step on the track I can’t say anything for sure,” asserted senior Trey Montogomery, “but I think that individually at least I’ll perform well.”
And lastly, although their season is already close to being finished, the ice hockey team, coached by two alumni, Coach Beschner and Jones, plans to finish out the rest of the regular season strong, leading into the playoffs.
“I think it’s going to be a similar situation we had last year, where we aren’t the greatest during the regular season but come playoffs we start performing significantly better,” stated Andrew Eaton.
Regardless of their performance though, the integrity and efforts from both the players and coaches of the Marriotts Ridge winter sport teams are the most important factors to their success, their diligence paying off dividends for their season and future.
