Varsity Freshmen: Winter 2019
While freshmen making the varsity team may be rare, there are some athletes who stand out amongst the crowd. Here are three freshmen who are making impressive strides in their respective sports.
Leah Saputo, freshman, says her experience with dancing goes back to grade school. According to Saputo, she was influenced by her friends and her mother early on in life, leading her to a life of dance.
Varsity Poms
Leah Saputo, freshman, says that being on varsity has given her new experiences and relationships. The team has welcomed her and other underclassmen through “dinners, get-togethers, and parties,” Saputo says. “It’s been fun to be able to meet more people. Everyone’s been so welcoming and nice so it just makes me [feel like] a part of the team.”
While poms has given her the opportunity to forge new relationships, Saputo also says dancing on the team has been a learning experience that has allowed her to grow as a dancer. Starting in first grade, Saputo says that her influences made her go into dance early on.
“My mom danced and I have a lot of friends that dance. When I joined I ended up liking it a lot, [poms] is just something I really enjoy,” Saputo said. “I think it would be the same if your friends joined a sport, it would be something that you would want to be a part of, too. So through being on a team with my friends, or just doing something that my mom did, I can relate to [poms overall] on a higher level.”
Though poms has allowed Saputo to have fun with friends and improve in a sport she is familiar with, she also says that being on the team has given her new experiences and relationships. The team has welcomed her and other underclassmen through “dinners, get-togethers, and parties,” Saputo says. “It’s been fun to be able to meet more people. Everyone’s been so welcoming and nice so it just makes me [feel like] a part of the team.”
Gent Varfi, freshman, says that his experiences with the wrestling team have taught him discipline. According to Varfi, the upperclassmen on varsity help guide him with wrestling skills and life skills.
Varsity Wrestling
Gent Varfi, freshman, says that playing varsity on wrestling has taught him discipline, and has allowed him to create new relationships. Varfi says that the sport has forced him to “keep up with grades, work hard in the practice room, and be dedicated to both academics and athletics.”
While just being on varsity has forced him to work harder, Varfi says that the upperclassmen on the team are an influence as well. The experience an upperclassman has can help him with wrestling and life in general, says Varfi.
“The upperclassmen know a lot more than me so they can help me with life skills and on the wrestling mat. They’re really nice and always willing to help too.”
Kate Warburton, freshman, says her experiences on varsity have been much different from middle school. According to Warburton, the coaches at the high school take safety much more seriously.
Varsity Cheer
Kate Warburton, freshman, has been dancing since she was in middle school. Warburton says the varsity team is much more strict than in middle school, and the team dynamic is much different than her more relaxed experiences beforehand.
“In middle school, the structure was a lot different. It was more of a playground, whereas in high school everyone is a lot more serious,” Warburton said. “They take things a lot more seriously for your safety, but in middle school, they just said ‘oh you do this, you do that.’ They didn’t really consider the safety aspect of it. I mean the coaches were really good [in middle school], but they were just middle school teachers who wanted to coach, and that was a little less professional.”
While varsity cheer may be more disciplined, Warburton says that the team has been much more welcoming than the ruleset. All of the sophomores, juniors, and seniors on the team have been very supportive and friendly, says Warburton.
According to Warburton, one of the traditions the team does to welcome new members is to make posters to celebrate them getting on the team; the upperclassmen “would find out what team we made, and then they all brought a poster to our houses the night of tryouts.”
As a senior, this is Max’s third year on staff and first year as magazine editor in chief for the Bear Facts program. He aspires to study environmental...