Winter sports at WJ are always a big deal. Basketball, wrestling, bocce, indoor track, cheer, swimming and Poms provide excitement and fun for all. For returning students, trying out for sports is easy, as they know what they want to do and how to do it. As a freshman, however, the process can be very difficult and different. WJ sports are more competitive than middle school sports and the process of trying out for teams is much longer and harder.

One freshman who’s playing a sport this winter is Henry Bagshaw, a swimmer. Swimming is viewed as one of the toughest sports at WJ. Training for swimming is extremely hard and takes up a lot of time, so it’s even harder for a freshman who is adjusting to WJ.

“The hardest part of swimming is waking up so early…I wake up at 4:15 a.m.. every day,” Bagshaw said. “It’s really hard but it’s also really fun because I love swimming.”

Another freshman participating in a winter sport this year is Sidney Flumbaum. Flumbaum has to juggle his new high school schedule with track. Track is also a very hard and time-consuming sport as practices can run very late and running a good deal every day tests a person’s mental and physical abilities.

“The toughest thing about running track as a freshman is the amount of time it takes away from my day and having to keep up with older kids,” Flumbaum said.

An advantage to playing a sport such as track in which you spend a lot of time with the other members of the team is that you make new friends.

“By running track I make new friends and get to hang out with new people,” Flumbaum said.

Coming from middle school, freshmen at WJ can have an exhausting time trying to balance school with extracurricular activities such as sports, while still managing to have fun representing WJ in whatever sport they choose.