First time’s the charm
Rookie athletes try something new
“I’m just learning as we are going on,” junior Maggie Glosson said about her first year playing water polo at St. George’s. Glosson is just one among the many upper school students who have become first year athletes this school year, along with senior Keely Cox, sophomore Emma Stevenson and junior Beck Sims, to name a few.
Glosson, who is playing water polo this spring for the first time, said this year has been a year of trying new things for her. After acting in the fall musical “Bye Bye Birdie” and participating in mock trial this winter, both of which she did for the first time, Glosson thought she should “keep the trend going” with water polo, even though she had no prior knowledge of the game.
Having never played water polo or even been on the swim team, Glosson has experienced her fair share of challenges this season.
“It is so much harder than I expected,” Glosson said. However, Glosson said that the experience has been so much fun, and she feels like a part of the team already.
“People helped me put on helmets and everything because I had no idea what I was doing,” Glosson said.
Similarly, senior Keely Cox is stepping up to the plate by playing on the softball team, the first outdoor sport she’s played.
“It’s my senior year, and I obviously wanted to do something my last trimester,” Cox said. “I’ve never done a spring sport either, so I thought that it would be really cool to try softball.”
Cox is also a varsity volleyball player and has been playing volleyball since her freshman year. To Cox, softball is different from volleyball because volleyball practice is held rain or shine, while softball practice is often cancelled due to the unpredictable spring weather.
Cox also enjoys being part of the team because she gets help from the softball players that have been playing for a while.
“Caroline [Zummach] was teaching me how to do things since she has played since she was in third grade,” Cox said. “It’s cool to learn from younger people.”
Sophomore Emma Stevenson, a first year athlete for the girl’s soccer season earlier this fall, had never played soccer for the school before. Stevenson said soccer differed a lot from other sports she had played, like tennis. However, Stevenson said she had fun being part of the soccer team.
“Even though I wasn’t good, I still felt like a part of the team,” Stevenson said. “Everybody is together all the time, so there’s not a lot of JV [and] varsity separation.”
Junior Beck Sims, another first year soccer athlete, credits soccer’s exciting feel for the reason he wanted to join the team, even though the last time Sims played soccer was 10 years ago in first grade.
“I played lacrosse last year and I play recreational basketball every year,” Sims said. “Lacrosse is not very similar to soccer, and basketball is in no way similar to soccer.”
Despite the obvious differences between soccer, lacrosse and basketball, Sims soccer has been enjoyable so far, and he feels like a part of the team even though he just started playing.
Even with the differences in sports and levels of difficulty, all four of these first year athletes, including the many others, agreed that trying out for a sport for the first time was a great experience.
“I definitely recommend trying out for a sport for the first time,” Cox said. “I think it’s awesome, and you get to meet so many new people.”
