January is always an interesting month for our Junior School Athletics program. For our hard-working young athletes, a three-week break in the middle of an athletic season is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it provides an opportunity to recharge our batteries, on the other is inevitable that our games and skills will become a little rusty. Fortunately, our girls are keen and we jump right back into the fire of competition.
JUNIOR SCHOOL SWIM TEAM
The team put a couple of practices under their belt and then attended the St. George’s Elementary School Swim Meet on January 26th and 27th. This is our first of three major meets over the course of the next several weeks. It provided the team with an opportunity to test ourselves against that very tough opponent – the clock! Our team was highly successful in many individual and team swims with two highlights including winning the Grade 3 team category, and our own Ryan, Gr. 3, setting a new meet record in one of her swims. Way to go Tigers! Our next event is the WPGA Invitational Swim Meet on February 8th at Watermania (Richmond). Good luck Tigers!
JUNIOR SCHOOL BASKETBALL
All three of our Junior School teams have played multiple games over the past few weeks. Our Grade 5s played twice and Coach Kanavos and Coach Bird are very impressed with the girls progress. They noted that the girls always learn so much from their game experiences, and the following practices seem to see a jump in intensity! The Grade 6 team has also played twice and Coach Bester is very pleased with the improvement from the start of the year. Although “finishing” a scoring play is a challenge at this age, our girls are playing some good basketball, and the future of this team looks bright indeed. The Grade 7s played their final league game last week and being truthful, we are not winning any games. Still, our coaches are very proud of the team. The girls are working pretty hard, and they are having lots of fun! Their season will wrap up on February 21st at the ISEA Tournament. Best of luck to all teams over the final three weeks!