Kicking Off the Spring Sports Season
Photo Credit: Linh Nguyen
With spring’s arrival, Hamber’s fields, courts, and tracks have come to life. Less than two months remain before summer break, and the spring sports season is in full swing. Fifteen teams are competing this season, and Hamber’s athletes are looking to build on their progress and make the most of the experience.
The Senior Girls Soccer team started their season off strong, coming together as a team quickly. “There's a lot of grade 8 players now, so a lot of younger players,” shared Hamber soccer player Madi Wong (12). “I think the new players really stepped up, and they’re doing really well. [They’ve] melted into the team very nicely.” Wong stated how everyone knows each other’s playing style, which helps with moving the ball up the field and scoring goals, she said.
The team has won most of their games so far, and their season is shaping up nicely. Reflecting on a recent highlight, Wong shared that they “had a penalty shootout against Churchill that we won […] because our goalie made some really amazing saves and everyone who got to take a penalty scored. It was really nice to see.” She also emphasized the positive environment that the team creates, adding, “I get to be friends with some people who I would never even talk to […] and everyone on the team is super nice and super welcoming.”
On the Bantam Ultimate team, Bradley Gingras (8) has had a season full of growth, teamwork, and unexpected success against older, more experienced opponents. “We have a team made of Grade 8 players, so going [up] against Grade 9 and 10 teams is pretty hard,” he said. With growing interest in the sport, Hamber introduced an exclusively Grade 8 team this season, meaning they often face older opponents.
“We can do all the things the Grade 9 and 10 players can, but we’re just a bit smaller physically.” Gingras also described how the team has become more coordinated and confident over the season. “At the start of the season it was very disorganized […], but now we’ve put it together […] and got some really good plays going.” The team exceeded expectations in their first tournament at Empire Field; they won multiple games and finished fifth out of twelve teams.
Kingston Tam (10), who plays on the Junior Boys Badminton team, said that Hamber has had great success with badminton. As of Apr. 17, the team had only lost one game, which Tam shared was by a very small margin. “Our game against Lord Byng was a really close turning point [...] where we barely lost, and this helped push us to work harder for the rest of the season.” Tam shared how the team’s focus for the rest of the season was consistency in cheering each other on. “Now [..] we’re [...] very supportive of each other and giving each other feedback on what we should do differently.”
For the Bantam Boys Volleyball team, success has come quickly, as they remain undefeated in league games, as of Apr. 15. Reflecting on the team’s progress, Kento Sasaki (8) said, “We started off not very great, but as the team got closer together, our communication and teamwork [got] way better than what we started with.” The team’s biggest strength this year is their attacking line, though they aspire to continue developing their communication, defensive line, and serve receive.
According to Cara Rudolph (12), the Track and Field team has had a strong season of performances so far, as well. “I feel like [...] the runners who do sprints are really strong in our team,” she said. So far this season, the team has competed in a mix of events, including one sprint and one long-distance race.