As the fall season comes to an end, winter sport athletes are getting ready for the upcoming season. Anticipation is building with students preparing for tryouts across various sports such as soccer, basketball and wrestling.
Soccer
Kicking off first is soccer, which has men’s teams and women’s teams. Generally, these sports have a varsity, JV and sometimes freshman team, but the latter is dependent on the number of interested players.
Most winter sports teams have had an interest meeting to get an overall idea of how many people are planning to try out.
“We will have another interest meeting anywhere from two to three weeks before tryouts […] to refresh about getting cleared for tryouts, to cover the tryout process and how that’s going to work, and then just kind of touch base on what they need for tryouts,” Coach Kasey Addiego, the women’s varsity soccer coach, mentioned.
This year, another major change for women’s soccer is the structural change to the NCS playoffs.
“This year, because of how they changed the league games, while, yes, they’re always important, [they have] become even more critical to us,” Coach Addiego said. “Because we’re a division one team again, all of the games are now more important. So every single game, whether it’s divisional or not, matters.”
Preseason weights for women’s soccer have already begun, and they take place on Mondays 4 p.m., Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m., and on Fridays at 6 p.m.
Wrestling
Unlike most other sports, wrestling is a no-cut sport and requires no tryouts or experience. It grew in popularity last year after many underclassmen gained interest through a practice session during their PE class.
Wrestling officially starts in the first week of November. According to the DVHS website, last year, practice took place from Mondays to Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and on Fridays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
After a few weeks on the team, tournaments start taking place, which last a day. Men and women are always separate for tournaments, but can occasionally spar based on weight classification.
Although wrestling is a no-cut sport, it still has varsity and JV teams who travel for tournaments and represent DV.
Offseason practice started on Sept. 3 and ends on Oct. 31. It takes place on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Basketball
Basketball continues to be a key sport at DVHS, especially due to the men’s varsity team winning the NCS championship last year. Last year, men’s basketball had a varsity, JV and two freshman teams.
The coaches for men’s and women’s basketball are Coach Mike Hansen and Coach Kris Birco, respectively. They’re looking forward to tryouts with strong interest and stability within the teams.
In an interview with Coach Hansen, he stated, “Our freshman JV staff are still pretty much a go. So [there is] pretty much a lot of stability in the program. Which is good, you know, good returning players.”
With winter sports approaching, DV is preparing for an active season. With dedicated coaches and hard-working athletes, students are encouraged to come support the teams and foster school spirit.
