It’s that time of year again–as winter comes to an end, Northwood is preparing for the spring sports season of the 2020-2021 school year. Some fall sports that were canceled because of Covid-19 have returned to practice. Continue reading for updates on sports being offered during the spring season.
Track and Field: Although the season has been delayed, Track and Field is returning to Northwood and will last until the end of June. Cameron Isenhour and Terrence Gary will be coaching this year. If you are interested in Track and Field fill out this google form. The first meet is scheduled for May 6 at 4:30 pm.
Isenhour explains that he is excited for the Track and Field season. At meets, he says, “you [get to] see implements flying high, athletes soaring to new heights, and batons in motion.”
Baseball: This season, Skip Thibault is coaching JV Baseball and Dave Miller is coaching varsity.
“[I am] most excited about getting back into team activities and practices,” Coach Miller says. “We will have a particularly young team, so I am also excited about the challenge of trying to get a relatively inexperienced group ready for competition.”
Tryouts for JV and Varsity Baseball will be held April 12. The first game will be April 27 at 5 and 6 pm.
Softball: Pre-season softball practices started last week and tryouts will be March 1. The first scheduled junior varsity and varsity games will be at home March 16 at 5 and 6:30 pm respectively. Butch Edenfiled is the varsity coach, and Jackie Sculli is the JV coach and assistant coach for varsity at Northwood. She is thrilled the team is starting to play again.
“Softball only played 2 games last season and it ended abruptly due to COVID-19,” Sculli said. “No closure, not much of a warning, so being back on the field is extremely amazing.”
Soccer: Girls’ and Boys’ Soccer will both have active seasons this year. For the girls, Ascary Arias coaches varsity and Keith Shea coaches junior varsity. Tryouts have not yet taken place but will occur before the end of February.
The Boys’ Varsity and Junior Varsity soccer teams, coached by Kevin Forster and Ascary Arias respectively, are currently in session and Varsity played Feb. 9 against Northern Durham High School.
Lacrosse: Boys’ and Girls’ Lacrosse have already started their seasons. Randy Cox is coaching the boys’ teams and Larry Fritsche is coaching the girls’ teams. The Boys’ Junior Varsity and Varsity teams hosted Carrboro High School Feb. 3. The next varsity and JV games are scheduled for Feb. 17 at 7 and 5pm respectively vs. Chapel Hill High School.
Girls’ Lacrosse has also started practices and have already played five games. Varsity will host Carrboro and Chapel Hill High Schools Feb. 10.
“Our student athletes have been so focused and committed to developing our skills and teamwork,” Coach Larry said. “We won our program’s first conference game ever the other night 16-0. So proud of this fantastic team!”
Boys’ Golf: Golf will be having another season this year while being Covid-19 safe.
“In terms of restrictions, we are lucky,” Coach Chris Atkins says. “Golf is by its nature pretty socially distanced so we are not overly inconvenienced and just have to do the temperature checks, etc.”
If you are interested in Boys’ Golf you can email Mr. Atkins at ceatkins@chatham.k12.nc.us, and he will provide you with more information.
Football: The football season is back in session after cancellation in the fall and will begin games in March. Workouts have already begun for the varsity and JV teams and the first varsity home game is scheduled for March 5 at 7 pm against Chapel Hill High School. Cullen Homolka will be coaching varsity this season.
Dance Team: Dance Team will be performing half-time shows at all of the home varsity football games this season. Practices for Dance Team began Feb. 8.
Photo courtesy of Imagene Cooke.
