As the fall sport season closes, captains and athletes encounter a speedy transition into their winter sport. Many teams just recently ended their journeys, and multi-sport captains and athletes must now face a quick turnaround, and in some cases an overlap, with their winter sport pre-seasons and tryouts. 

Captain of the football and boys’ basketball team, Jake Thaw ’20, explained that as captain he must do many things to quickly changeover from season to season. 

“The transition is pretty much immediate,” Thaw said. “As soon as football ends, I’m back in the gym getting ready for basketball.” 

With no break for these high school athletes, it is important that captains like Thaw are getting all of the players on the same page and assisting them in making sure they are doing their best on and off the court. 

“I feel like I help streamline communication on our team,” Thaw said. “I really help out with providing motivation.”

Similar to Thaw, Abby Carter ’20 holds large responsibility as captain of the girls’ cross country team as well as girls’ basketball. 

“The transition is very quick,” Carter said. “We were already starting preseason for basketball when I was still training for states and FCIACS for cross country, so I was sometimes going to two different practices a night.” 

Not only does she need to worry about her performance in her own athletics, but she is responsible for all of her other teammates. 

“As a captain, I have to be a leader ,” Carter said, “and when it comes to running 4-7 miles a day or practicing basketball for 2.5 hours, it is important to keep everyone focused.”

Another senior athlete, Ben Howard ’20, is not a captain for two sport teams, but leads different teams for all three seasons. As captain of football, boys’ ski and boys’ lacrosse, he has a jam-packed schedule. The minute the last football game ends, Howard holds the responsibility for ski team. 

“The week after Thanksgiving, I’ll hop right into those [practices],” Howard said, “and help my other captains, Emerson Anvari and Edan Leshem, lead those practices.” 

Although this transition is abrupt for Howard, he has much to look forward to with what he explained to be a group of quality skiers, who all have a positive mindset to do their best, and hopefully be the most successful in the league.

The rapid transition into the upcoming winter sports season –despite lack of downtime– has captains as well as all student athletes excited to start their next journey. With the help of Thaw, Carter, Howard and all upperclassman captains, everyone is hopeful that this will be a great season for Staples. 

“We’ve just got to make sure we’re all on the same page,” Thaw said. “There is no replacement for the chemistry between teammates, and that goes a long way, especially when things get tough.”