By Renae Brown
Bzzzzt! Tweet! Smack! Bang! The last sounds from this year’s middle school Fall sports are fading away, but the football, volleyball, golf and cross country teams left with notable highlights throughout the Fall season.
Middle-school flag football welcomed 25 players this year and they ended with five wins and three losses. However, the three losses were hard-fought. Truth be told, the flag football team was too good for the other B teams, so they switched to competing against A teams. Unfortunately, they suffered three losses once there, their only three losses. Regardless, they still grew as a team and learned to be cooperative while listening to their coach.
Next up is middle-school volleyball, generally a popular sport at TPA.This year was no different: with a whopping 37 players this season, volleyball was the only middle-school sport with an A and a B team. Their combined record was 17 wins and 8 losses. One area of improvement was serving skills. Head coach Angela Gore said in an email, “Some of the girls weren’t able to get the ball over the net from behind the line at the beginning of the season and could at the end.”
Middle-school golf also had a successful season. There were 13 athletes this season, of whom 10 had played previously. The team placed sixth out of 13 teams in the GHMS State meet, and one golfer, eighth-grader Cooper Furiga, placed sixth out of 63 golfers. One of the coaches, Curt Hudek, said in an email, “The team was especially attentive and we were able to develop some golf skills both at the practice areas and on the golf course.”
The middle-school cross country team of two dedicated athletes was small but mighty. Coached by Mr. Wilkison, the team, displayed continuous progression at every meet. During their last race, both runners set personal records in their greatest mile pace of the season.
Throughout the Fall season, middle-school athletes have learned and played hard. Make sure to stay tuned for exciting updates on middle-school winter sports.