Spring is finally back! The weather has been great, breaking the long winter we just had. Along with the perfect April weather, sports are back at OA. There’s nothing better than walking outside to see the turfs full of life and all the teams out there practicing. The seasons are well underway, as there has been news regarding the field situations, cuts, and the boys tennis team struggles.
One of the main headlines for the spring sport seasons is this year’s boys tennis team. As you have probably heard over the announcements, there are basically no players for them. They have five as of now, and are really looking for anybody with free time and who can pick up a racket. I asked Bill Matthews about this, to which he responded “we’re right on the bubble and are not sure if we’ll be able to play”. He even asked me if I knew enough to play, showing the desperation the team has right now. The tigers, led by Henry Simone and Marceli Tucker-Szudra want to compete, so if you are interested in playing or know someone who would want to, I would inform the team as soon as possible. Hopefully they have enough to play, and we will be rooting for them if they do.
Another major story going into the season is cuts. This is hard for any coach, but in particular Mr. Abarr, the baseball coach. He had to make the most cuts this season, and told me about his opinion of the whole process of cutting players. He said, “cutting is, without a doubt, the worst part of the job”. He only recently took over as the head coach at OA and “did not sleep at all the night before cuts were made. I have been on the receiving end of a cut/release meeting twice in my life and they were excruciating”. Through his own personal experiences, he has learned to be honest, compassionate, direct, and supportive when making these cuts. He even went over the process of evaluating players with me, and I was surprised at how much effort is put into it. It seems much more advanced and thorough then I would have ever thought. “There is a lot of subjectivity when evaluating baseball players, but we try to use as many objective measures as possible. We measure player’s 60 yard dash time, exit velocity as a hitter, throwing velocity, etc. I also video and review any players on the verge of getting cut.” Clearly, this is a difficult task but I think we are in good hands with Mr. Abarr as coach.
Unlike last year, the fields are in pretty good shape right now. This year, there’s no snow piles surrounding OA and teams should be okay! As a senior, I will definitely be taking advantage of my last opportunities to watch OA sports, and hopefully see many of you there too.