With the first day of winter sports on Oct. 30, Amador Valley basketball, soccer, and wrestling have all begun their respective preparations for the 2023-2024 winter season.
“I’m definitely excited to get back out there, play for my school, and go out for NCS. I’m also really excited to go out and play with friends and go against different schools,” said AV soccer player Nikhil Bhargava (‘25).
Every sport has tryouts before the season, which usually involves a few days, where under and upperclassmen get to demonstrate their skills through a wide variety of drills and practices.
“The tryout process is three days where we go through a lot of drills and scrimmages and the coaches judge us based on how past players pick up skills and directions as well as their talent,” said AV basketball player Anika Kaushik (‘25).
Teams need team chemistry as a key factor for a successful season. Many sports teams utilize the summer and fall for building relationships which ultimately enhances teams in the winter.
“The team prepares by having open gyms during the summer and bonding to get to know each other so we can perform the best we can during the season,” said Kaushik.
With strong seasons coming from all the winter teams in 2022-2023, Amador is looking to capitalize and use that momentum for another positive season.
“Our past season, I would say, was kind of a roller coaster. We definitely had some good times where we’d get on a winning streak and then there’d be some bad times where we’d lose some really easy games or we’d go down early and not be able to fight back and win,” said Bhargava.
Amador’s winter sports never disappoint. With the Dons showing Amador spirit all game every game, this year’s winter season looks to be another special one.
“I am most excited to learn and get better, being an upperclassman means a lot more responsibility and teaching the younger people but I also get to get better,” said Kaushik.
