“Being a ‘Varsity’ runner has honestly been a pretty big confidence booster because having something you know you’re good at feels really good, and it’s amazing to feel all your hard work pay off,” freshman Addie Williams said.
In any school athletics program, you’ll find that Junior Varsity sports teams are typically composed of freshmen and sophomores, while varsity is typically composed of juniors and seniors. The Varsity teams almost always have a couple freshmen accompanying the upperclassmen. On a team where everyone is one to two years older, how do these freshmen secure their spots?
Though the Cross Country team is a bit too small to distinguish JV and Varsity, not every freshman runner gets placed on Varsity at certain competitive meets. Freshman Addie Williams has been running with her dad for as long as she can remember and she chose to refine this skill further by joining the Chicago Rabbits run club in middle school. “The intense but well planned workouts pushed me to rapidly improve. Everyone in the club was also very passionate about running and made me want to get better,” Williams said. With placements in the top ten in every race this Cross Country season, Williams’s experience is apparent. Similarly, freshman Lucas Pelleissone has been playing soccer for nine years. “I put in a lot of work and time to be able to become good at my sport,” Pelleissone said. However, not all athletes have been playing their whole lives. Freshman Aïda Davis has been playing volleyball since the sixth grade. “I play year round, and I take private lessons to just work on certain skills that I struggle with 24/7,” Davis said.
Practice and physical exertion isn’t the only thing that contributes to one’s success in athletics. Mindset plays a vital role. “I think during a meet I get pretty competitive and tend to picture specific goals for myself. Practice on the other hand, I think about pushing myself, but mostly hanging out with my team,” Williams said. Pelleissone shared the same experience. “During my games, I was really locked in on the game because I really wanted to win. In practice, I thought about practice, but realistically had a lot of thoughts about the stuff I was gonna do after,” Pelleissone said. Williams, a 12:56 two-mile runner, faces no pressure from adults or other athletes. However, she often deals with internal expectations. “I think the most pressure I have is from myself, because I want to be the best runner I can be. Still, I can put myself down if my times aren’t what I wanted,” Williams said.
This seems to be a common theme among the freshmen. “At the start I did [feel pressure] because I didn’t want to let anyone down, being a freshman, but it went away after the first 2 games,” Pelleissone said. Athletics Director Nick Kocsis feels that teams at Parker is something that holds “merit.”
“That’s a really loaded question, and the first thing we have to do is define how many “so many” [freshmen on varsity] is. I looked at this fall’s varsity rosters and the most freshman assigned to one varsity team roster was five out of thirty. The majority of teams either had two or one freshman roster. Athletics should be among the most merit based opportunities any school provides. If someone can excel at that level and help the team have success, that is all that matters,” Kocsis said. “At the end of the day, age is irrelevant. We all have a job to do and an athlete’s age is not the most important factor.” As a former freshmen varsity player herself, sophomore Sonia Pettinelli has taken freshmen under her wing. “With the freshmen that were on varsity field hockey this year, it felt like a responsibility to take them under my wing,” Pettinelli said. “I know the pressure and nerves you feel for being the youngest on the team, and the struggle of walking into a group that’s already played together. I think this year’s freshmen went in with confidence…which set them up for immense success.” One thing that Williams and Davis agree on is how much the upperclassmen have taken them into the team.
“Because Cross Country is such a small team, there isn’t really a Varsity or JV. But I think this just means the whole team is closer and very supportive,” Williams said. She spends time with both teams during her time at practice. Davis, while in separated groups, feels close to both upperclassmen and the freshmen. “I love the older players so much. I feel like I have such a special relationship with all of them,” Davis said. Pelleissone feels that he has also been welcomed. “They took me in with a lot of respect, and actually never did anything bad to me. They treated me very well,” Pelleissone said. Playing on higher level teams as younger team members leaves a lasting impact on players. Davis has improved her volleyball skills throughout the season.
“I feel like my skill level has increased a lot, and I’ve learned how to play smart. For example, I have learned how to control my strength and get the ball to go where no one is,” Davis said. Aside from athleticism, Pelleissone has learned valuable lessons from his time on the soccer team.“It’s [being on varsity] helped me handle pressure and helped me learn to help others,” Pelleissone said. One thing seems to be the key amongst the freshmen on varsity: balance. “My advice is to do a sport you’re passionate about and then find a way to balance school work and practice,” Williams said.
On the same note, Davis had a few words to say. Davis agreed. “Manage your time well, do homework in any free time you have so you can focus more on your sport, but make sure to keep the balance between sport and school,” she said. Pelleissone suggests that not only freshmen, but Parker athletes as a whole should be putting maximum effort into their sports. “My best advice to other student athletes is to really lock in and get some culture around our sports to try and put Parker sports on the map.”
