Great start to the season!

All of The Woods basketball teams have had a great start to the season. So far, all Varsity and JV teams have perfect records, no games lost. I am sure as the season goes on, games will become more intense and competitive. I have seen some very competitive games thus far and cannot wait to see what the future brings for the remaining games of the season. Please see notes below.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

Christy McCauley


Varsity Game Highlights…

From Coach Ricca: The Varsity girls started the season off with a win versus Sheridan!  They worked hard and came out aggressive and with intensity.    We played tough defense and executed our full court press with ease.   They pushed the ball up the court and scored off fast breaks.  All girls on the team contributed and did their part throughout the game; playing tough defense, rebounding, running our offensive and taking it to the hole.  Kathryn Malone led the team in scoring to help contribute to the win.  It looks like we are heading in the right direction this season!

From Coach Ken: 7^th and 8^th grade boys’ basketball played their first game of the season at Sheridan. The boys got off to a good start to the season with a 10 point win and were led by Amara with 18 points. The boys gave a great effort and played really well on defense. Nick and Ryan did a great job at point guard and Reilly and Chris rebounded very well. Charlie hit a few keys shots as well including a buzzer beater at the half.

This week in sports...

Monday, December 17th : Varsity A Boys and Girls @ St. Patricks, 3:45pm and 4:45pm, girl's first. They will return back to The Woods at 6:30pm. JV A Boys and Girls, home games against The McLean School, 3:30 and 4:30, girl's first.

Tuesday, December 18th: Varsity B Boys @ St. Anslem's Abbey School, 3:45pm. They will return back to The Woods at 5:30pm.

Just a reminder: There are no practices or athletic study hall, December 18 - 21st.

Don't forget to check out our new sports hotline: 240-395-1551

 

 

It’s a thin line…

by Christy McCauley

Tis the season for gym rats to lace up their sneakers and hit the floor running.  The Woods basketball players are filled with excitement for the upcoming basketball season.  All of our teams have been practicing hard, working on both the offensive and defensive sides of the coin. The JV team players could barely contain their excitement in anticipation of today’s games.  

Both of the Woods JV teams dominated their opponents today. It is a thin line in knowing when to hold your team back to keep from running up the score while at the same time trying not to be insulting to the other team by slowing the ball down by just passing it around. Does doing this make the opponents feel as though they are not worthy of our full effort? I honestly felt as though I rotated my players equally throughout the game and at some point in the game commanded that they pass the ball around 8-10 times before scoring. After the game, a parent of the Sheridan team accused me of running up the score.  Maybe my efforts to not run up the score were taken too late in the game due to my lack of watching the score.   In a perfect world, all of our opponents will be competitive and worthy of our full efforts and I will not have to unfairly sit players who have worked so hard in practice to be able to shine in games.  

None of The Woods coaches, including myself, are in the business of trying to humiliate young children by running up the score.  I do believe in my heart, that we all (coaches) take as much precaution as possible to keep from making our opponents feel humiliated. There is only so much that can be done when playing a poorly skilled team.  Win or lose, I am praying that we have tougher opponents for the remainder of the season.  

Game Highlights…

From Coach Washington...The boys executed our offense as well as expected for a first game. I was very proud of how well they transitioned up and down the court from defense to offense.  Overall it was a great game. Ugo E. led the team with 10 points, while David-Gem dominated the boards with 5 rebounds 2 blocks and 3 assists. Patrick D. scoring 8 points, had a perfect shooting game, he was 3 for 3 from the floor and 2 for 2 on the free throw line. The boys worked hard as a unit on defense as well as offense.  We beat Sheridan 37-20.  I look forward to a productive and fun season.

From Coach McCauley… My girls played their hearts out today, beating Sheridan 40-6.  We generated many points by running our motion offense and playing a great defensive game. Nicole B. led the team with 6 rebounds and 5 blocked shots.  Inez grabbed her share of rebounds by snagging 5.  Megan L. had her say in the matter of rebounds by grabbing 4. Sidra S. led the team in assist (2) and Briana had 5 steals.  Three players scored 8 points each; Catherine H, Briana L, and Nicole B.  This was a great effort by all players. Job well done!

Remaining games this week...

12-Dec	Varsity A Boys @ Sheridan	3:30pm	Return: 6:00pm
12-Dec	Varsity A Girls @ Sheridan	4:30pm	Return: 6:00pm

13-Dec

JV Boys A vs. Heights

3:30pm

Due to a conflict, the JV Boys B game against Jewish Primary Day School (12/13) has been cancelled. JPDS did not have enough players to send over due to a Hanukkah celebration conflict. We are working hard trying to find a date to reschedule the game. 

Don't forget to check out our new Athletic Hot-line 240-395-1551

Is it fair?
by Ms. McCauley

Is it fair that we played seven players on the field against their eleven and still be accused of running up the score? Is it fair that our players have worked extremely hard since the first day of tryouts only to have to sit for most games because the scores are so lopsided? Valuable lessons regarding empathy, sportsmanship, and teamwork are learned, but frustrations slowly build because kids just want to play... they have been so often told "if you work hard, you get to play" Is it fair for me to keep my starters in a game where the score has already gotten to 3-0 in the first ten minutes of a game, and it is obvious that we are going to pummel the team very easily?  Isn't it more fair to just let those few none starting players play for most of these types of games to help build upon their self confidence and skill level so that they become better players, and so that our team becomes stronger as a whole? Not only is it fair, but it's the right thing to do. The right thing do, is to try as hard as humanly possible not to humiliate the children who play on these weak teams just because we want everyone to get equal playing time. Is it fair that our children learn valuable life lessons while riding the bench? In this circumstance, I do believe so. 

This week in sports....

Wednesday, October 10th

JV Boys B  vs. NPS (Home) 3pm

JV Girls B vs. NPS (Home) 4pm

All other teams: Practice

Thursday, October 11th

JVBoys A @ ICS 3:30, return 6:30

JVGirls A @ ICS 4:30, return 6:30

V Girls A vs. Westminster 3:30

V Boys A vs. Westminster 4:30

No B Team practices

ICS Address: 6915 Braddock Rd, Springfield, VA 22151

Last Week in Sports...

From Coach Michelle...

The Girls JV B team ended in a tie. The game was intense. Green Acres started off strong and scored early in the first half but the woods girls were determined to get that goal back. After a few chances, Genevieve Thibodeau had an incredible goal, dribbling the ball in and out of Green Acres’ defense and planting her shot to the left side of the net, far from reach of the Green Acres’ goalie. After that, the woods continued to dominate the rest of the game with impressive passing by Megan Lynch and Sophia DeCain.  I am so proud of my girls. They played very well. With no subs and an extra five minutes of overtime, the girls were exhausted, but they didn’t give up. Genevieve Grenier had two great saves in the first half. Emma Chiaramonte and Caroline Holman played tough defense in the second half and India Daniel saved a major goal in overtime. All the girls played with strength and determination. As a coach, I couldn’t have asked for anything more. 

From Coach Pablo...

The Girls Varsity A team had a fun game against St. Patricks. We won 4-1. Both Camille and Carlota scored goals, and Isabel was able to put the ball behind the goalie twice.  This win has helped us keep our perfect record this season. The girls are playing great! 

From Coach Ronnie...

We had a tough game, it was pretty even at the beginning, but Congressional scored the first goal and we lost our composure and gave up 2 other goals.  The second half was much better for us, Noah scored an amazing 35 yard free kick!! We played much better and controlled the half but could not stop Congressional from scoring a goal.  We had three pretty good chances to score,  but failed to capitalize.  Overall I am very pleased with the work ethic and fight our team showed in the second half.  Our game against St. Patricks proved to be an exciting one! We had 6 different Wood players score goal during this game...this has got to be a school record. I was so excited that Nick and Nathaniel scored goals for the first time this season! Great job!

From Coach Jae...

Woods faced Westminister on Thursday and was ahead in the first half with an early goal by Sidra Swift. In the 2nd half Westminister answered by putting the ball in the back of the net.  The Woods girls kept pushing on offense, with several opportunities to score.  Just a couple of minutes before the game was ended, Sidra gets her 2nd goal of the game. This sealed the deal for a Woods win. A huge thanks go out to Nicle, ET, Ines, and Catherine for their defensive efforts. Great job girls!

This Week in Sports…

Monday, October 1^st                                   Varsity Boys @ Congressional    3:30pm    Return to Woods:  6:15pm
 

                                                                        Varsity A Girls @ Congressional    4:30pm    Return to Woods:  6:15pm 

                                                                        JV A Boys vs. Mater Dei                  3:30pm – Home Game 

                                                                        All other teams: Practice              3:30pm – 4:45pm

 

Wednesday, October 3^rd                           Varsity Boys @ St. Patrick’s          4:45pm    Return to Woods:  6:15pm

                                                                        Varsity A Girls @ St. Patrick’s     3:30pm    Return to Woods:  6:30pm  

                                                                        JV A Boys @ Congressional          3:30pm     Return to Woods: 6:15pm   

                                                                        JV A Girls @ Congressional           4:30pm      Return to Woods: 6:15pm 

                                                                        JV B Girls vs. Green Acres             3:30pm   - Home Game 

                                                                        NO VARSITY B GIRLS GAME – IT HAS BEEN RESCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER 17^TH

                                                                        All other teams: Practice              3:30pm – 4:45pm

 

Thursday, October 4^th                                  JV A Girls vs. NPS                               3:30pm – Home Game 

                                                                        JV A Boys vs. NPS                                4:45pm – Home Game

                                                                        All other teams: Practice                  3:30pm – 4:45pm



Last week in sports...

Last week proved to be a great week for The Woods soccer players. Overall our record for the week was 5 -2. Our Varsity Boys team had a tough match against a strong Norwood team. Our boys put up a great fight but lost 0-5 to Norwood. The Girls A Varsity team beat Norwood 2-0. Woods dominated the Norwood team, only allowing them three worthwhile shots on goal. Our JV Boys B team lost 2-3 against a very strong 5-8th grade team from Christ Episcopal...we held our own. Both JV A Boys and Girls teams brought home two wins each, both against Green Acres and Westminster.  Our overall combined record is 9-4-2. Not bad!

This Week in Sports…

Patrick G. taking a goal kick!

The Woods soccer teams ended the day on Monday with a 3-1 record. Here are the scores from Monday, September 24th games:

Varsity Girls A vs. Norwood (2-0)
Varsity Boys A vs. Norwood (0-5)
JV Girls A vs. Green Acres (5-0)
JV Boys A vs. Green Acres (7-1)

Schedule for the remainder of the week is below.

Wednesday, September 26^th      JV B Boys vs. CES            3:30pm (Home)

                                                         Practice for all other teams:        3:30 – 4:45pm

Thursday, September 27^th           JV A Boys vs. Westminster            3:30pm (Home)

                                                          JV A Girls vs. Westminster            4:30pm (Home)

                                                                                       Practice: Varsity Boys & Girls     3:30 – 4:45pm

Last week in sports…

We had some very intense soccer games last week! The Varsity Boys lost 0-3 at Green Acres; they had seven good opportunities to score goals in that game.  The Varsity A Girls had a great week! According to Coach Pablo “Every single player knew what they had to do out there on the field; the girls are very focused on getting the job done. Tough schedule is ahead of us but we are going to keep working hard in order to keep winning games. 10 goals were scored in the games against Sheridan and Green Acres. Those goals were scored by Carlota, Isabel, Kathryn, and Chrissy!  Special thanks for great defensive efforts by Mary, Lindsay, Ana and Maria”.  The JV B Boys team had a tough loss against a very strong Sheridan B team - Zubin Eimen and John Mikita put up a tough fight trying to put the ball behind the goalie. The JV A Girls team obviously has been working on their passing game.  The girls had a series of combination passes that helped them beat Norwood 4-2! Sidra Swift ended the game with a hat trick – scoring three of the four goals. Ines Andres scored a beautiful goal that sent the Norwood goalie diving to the ground.  Our JV A Boys team may have had the most intense game of the week!  The boys dominated Norwood’s defensive end of the field for most of the first half of the game. At the very end of the first half, Jean Tostain took a rocket of a shot, with his left foot, which bounced off of the keeper, giving Alexandre Crepin the opportunity to score a goal.  Norwood came out strong in the second half, scoring a goal within seconds of the kick off!  The game ended in a 1-1 tie, great effort by all.