One major upcoming event at Concord Academy is the start of the winter season, with tryouts for sports and auditions for the play happening from November 16 through 18, and seasons starting just after Thanksgiving Break on November 28. CA offers four different winter interscholastic sports: basketball, squash, skiing, and wrestling.
Basketball is the most widely participated winter sport at CA, with four different teams: varsity and junior varsity levels for both girls and boys. Last year, the boys varsity team was able to secure fifth place in the Eastern Independent League (EIL), a respectable position. In the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC), they were able to place sixth. The girls earned ninth place in the EILs, even with many of their games being extremely close; some of the losses were by less than five points, and the league as a whole had very narrow margins. They were also able to improve an incredible amount over the season, managing to win all three of their last games.
Squash, though one of the more niche sports among high schoolers in the United States, still has plenty of participants at CA. William Gladstone ’23, a varsity squash player who has been playing for ten years, explained the sport, “You use a racquet to hit a small rubber ball, which barely bounces. Once someone serves the ball, both players alternate hitting, and whoever hits the ball out of bounds or can't hit the ball before it bounces twice loses the point.” Gladstone is an accomplished squash player with many impressive achievements; he was the only freshman to make the boys varsity team his first year, and he was undefeated at NEPSACs. Ever since ninth grade, he has thoroughly enjoyed his time on the squash team. He mentioned how, even though squash is an individual sport, they progress as a team and encourage each other to work harder while bonding and having a good time. “We have a lot of personalities on the team. It is a lot of fun,” said Gladstone.
Alpine skiing is both one of the more adventurous sports at CA as well as a travel-heavy sport, since the team goes to Wachusett Mountain twice a week. Senior Tory Adams ’23, one of the girls varsity captains last year, described her experiences on the team, “We have a really close-knit team and we bond on the bus rides to Wachusett. John McGarry and PJ [Peter Jennings] are incredible coaches.” She shared some of their 2022 highlights in the Central Mass Ski League, which included Adams herself placing first, Tess Mooney ’22 finishing fifth, and Mandy Adams ’24 finishing tenth. Additionally, in the NEPSACs, Adams placed first in the Class B giant slalom race and third in the slalom race. As for the boys varsity team, they also had three top ten finishers for NEPSACs: Tyler McGarry ’22 finished sixth, William Kim ’24 finished eighth, and Gabe Wexler ’25 finished ninth.
The wrestling team participates in a rather niche sport, though it is still a very fun and competitive experience. They had a successful last year in the EILs, with CA placing first in the league overall by quite a large margin. With a record of 6–1–0, they easily claimed the championship. In the EIL invitational tournament, CA had an impressive score of 180, earning them second place, with an extremely close margin of 5.5 points from first.
Still, no matter what happened last year, all of these statistics are from the 2021–2022 season—this year is a clean slate, an opportunity to work harder and improve. Good luck to all CA teams this winter, and go green!