As coaches of high school athletes, we know well each season brings with it a new set of challenges - new roles, replacing graduating seniors, injuries, snow, rain, more snow. Navigating the unknowns keeps our job exciting. For girls’ varsity lacrosse coaches Jill Jones Grotnes, Kate Austin ‘01, and Caroline Murphy, this spring has done exactly that. As the team prepares for two games this weekend, the leadership of captains Makena Gorman ‘17 and Emily Saef ‘17 will prove critical to guiding one of the youngest girls’ varsity lacrosse teams in the league to a successful campaign.

For many, the game is too slow. Pitchers amble around the mound, rub the ball, peer around the bases, shake off signs … and drive many sports fans to reach for the remote and another channel. In any given game, 90% of the players on either team might be idle and have nothing to do except find the Gatorade cooler or a packet of sunflower seeds. Outfielders can stand for inning after inning and never see a ball in their zip code. At its most blistering, baseball keeps pace with golf. Football, soccer, and lacrosse – those games move at broadband speeds compared to baseball’s dial-up pace. 

And yet, maybe baseball is the game we need more than ever.

Calvin Johnstone '15 (Bates College '19) shares the second in our series of Young Alumni blogs on life in college for Proctor graduates. Calvin experienced tremendous growth during his four years at Proctor, participation in Learning Skills, European Art Classroom, and both the varsity football and baseball programs. Read Calvin's thoughts on Proctor's ability to prepare him to be a collegiate athlete at Bates College! 

The winter athletic season has come to a close for the vast majority of Proctor athletes and coaches. However, Proctor’s USSA/FIS ski program season continues well into March with more than a dozen skiers competing at the Eastern Championships later this month. For the thirty skiers involved in Proctor’s elite level ski program, this season has seen unprecedented success alongside remarkable individual growth in all areas of boarding school life on the snow and off.

In his end of season remarks to the community at last Friday's athletic awards assembly, Gregor Makechnie '90 shared an excerpt from Mike Krzyzewski's autobiography, A Season is a Lifetime, recounting the remarkable journey an athletic season provides its athletes and coaches. As much as things may remain the same from year-to-year within a team, never does the same group of individuals share the same journey. With Sunday's 53-48 win over St. Andrew's School (RI), Proctor's girls' varsity basketball team arrived the same destination as they did last year (NEPSAC CHAMPIONS!), but the journey itself was wholly unique! 

Last Sunday afternoon I walked through the Norris Family Theater to the sound of power drills and pieces of the set for The Foreigner thumping to the ground. The living room, the fireplace, the windows, and the doors – everything was gone. Where the night before there had been the beckoning magic of Cooper and Amanda conjuring a separate reality, now screws clattered to the floor and lumber was being stacked. Jacob pushed through with a broom, a visual cue to the lessons of deconstruction. Moment passes to moment, season to season, term gives way to term. 

Proctor Academy's boys' hockey, girls' basketball, and boys' basketball teams have earned the opportunity to play in the NEPSAC Tournament for their respective classes this week. Each of the teams will play their NEPSAC Quarterfinal game at a neutral site on Wednesday afternoon at 4:00 PM as they seek a run at a New England championship. Read on for details on each of the teams and their tournament chances and links to Livestream video of games!

With NEPSAC playoffs still on the horizon for a number of our varsity athletic teams, and ski races continuing well into March break, we have not yet quite arrived at the official end of the winter athletic season. Despite this staggered end to the season, Thursday evenings team gatherings and Friday morning's assembly recognized individual award winners from winter sport teams. Congratulations to all of this season's award winners, and many thanks to all of the coaches, athletic department staff, and Proctor Ski Area crew for making this winter season a success!