As we head into these winter months, we all seem to take our minds off of what happened in the season prior. The stress of preparing for Christmas replaces the anticipation of a home team victory, and many of us forget about sports altogether. Take a moment to distract yourself from the lack of Christmas shopping you’ve done to see what this year’s winter sports have in store. Fall sports teams headlines, it’s time to see if we can make it happen with winter sports too.

Boy’s Basketball

This year’s boy’s basketball team is a very young team, with only three seniors. With such a young team comes some concerns.

“The thing that worries me the most this year is that we have such a young team and we need to grow, it might make it a bit harder to compete,” said junior Julian Sanks.

But, even with set these setbacks, the team is ready to take on their greatest rivals.

“Mars is going our greatest opponent this year. The Carmody brother’s (Mars Senior Robby Carmody just committed to Notre Dame) can definitely play,” said freshman Rocky Kopac.

With some difficulties ahead the players have to keep faith in their team if they want to have a good season.

“If we just trust each other and know that we have each other’s backs and work hard everything should go good,” said Sanks.

The seniors this year can also help the team succeed.

“The seniors offer so much to us. They’re really good players and have been through everything we have, so they know what it’s like,” said Kopac. “ With their experience, they can help you through almost any situation along with the coaches.”

Girl’s Basketball

While there is never much talk about the girl’s basketball team, this year, they plan on changing that.

“We have a lot of energy this year and a drive to win,” said senior Gabby Fennel. “We’ve had great leadership this year, not only from the seniors but some sophomores as well. Our coaches have pushed us a lot and we will compete in every game this year.”

Along with great leadership and hard work, the girls have a few other tricks to stay ahead this season.

“I think our biggest strength is our speed and overall skills. Most of us girls have been playing seven-plus years. We have the knowledge of the game, all we have to do is execute the play,” said senior Anna Neff. “We just have to remember that we can’t do it alone. We need the whole team behind us 100%.”

Teamwork seems to be a common topic with Neff and her teammates.

“I think the hardest part is to remember we are a team,” said sophomore Abbey Shearer. “It isn’t about any one person. We will play as a team, win as a team, and lose as a team.”

With all their strengths and weaknesses in mind, the team believes that they can make it far this year.

“The team, seniors especially, have had a lot of different coaches in the past and sometimes that makes it hard to get a good solid foundation for the team. But, this year we will definitely be competing with our section,” said Neff. “We’re going to be a very hard team to beat this year, and I think everyone can expect a lot of winning from the girl’s basketball team. Our goal will definitely make it to playoffs and hopefully, take the section!”

Swimming

Throughout the school, and most sports, there seems to be a trend of a mostly younger team, and swimming is no exception.

“I’m feeling pretty confident about this season, however, the team is very young, especially the boys, where we have just three upperclassmen,” said senior Ian Gumto.

Even with a young team, there is still a lot of hope for a good season.

“We have a lot of excellent swimmers this year, so I feel the team(girls or boys) may be able to win the section like we have in the past,” said junior Abby Markle.

Many teammates seem to agree with Markle in saying the team has many ‘excellent swimmers.’

We have a good group of young swimmers combined with very strong upperclassmen which helps us to be better as a whole,” said freshman Michael Phillips.

Although the team may be strong, they can’t do it without the help of their coaches.

“Among our experienced leaders, is our head coach Corrie Jones, who is the best around,” said Gumto. “She’ll give us everything we need as long as we take advantage of her knowledge.”                                                                                                                                              

With great leadership from teammates and coaches together comes a strong team with strong bonds.

I’m very excited to be apart of this team and I can’t wait to see where we can go together,” said Phillips.”As a whole, this team is much more like a family to me because we all care for each other a lot and want to help each other succeed.”

Wrestling

This year the wrestling team seems to have grown with the addition of many talented freshmen. The size of the team is one thing that has helped to build their courage.

“We have a lot that came out to wrestle, they’re a great group who work hard and have tons of talent,” said junior Saavon Mosby. “

Others also commented on the benefit of the size of the team.

“I think that this year will be much better than last year since we have more people and the talent that they have,” said senior Eric Green.

Although there may be more people, there will still be teams that will compete right with them.

“The match against Seneca Valley will probably be the biggest,” said sophomore Kameron (Kam) Grassi. “They’ve always had a tougher team and they have some good freshman coming up.”

When things get rough, there are always a few things you have to remember, whether it be to not give up or even stay focused. One teammate gave a tip to his peers.

“Don’t worry about winning as a whole. Worry about winning your match and everything will fall into place,” said sophomore  Earnie Zilka.

If they remember Zilka’s tip and work hard, they will be set to have a good season this year.

“My expectations are high and I’m looking forward to us being the best wrestling team Knoch has ever had,” said Mosby.