Fresh to Varsity

Freshmen athletes discuss their experience playing at the varsity level.

It takes dedication and hard work for athletes to make it to varsity their junior or senior year but some freshmen athletes already showed their coaches that they have those skills.

 

“Consistency and hard work are crucial. If a freshman works hard and shows they have what it takes to compete, they can make the varsity team,”said Oxnard High School cross country coach Carissa Acre.

 

A challenge that varsity athletes face is  having more pressure on them to do their best on a varsity level with upperclassmen.

 

OHS freshman Naia Quilantang who is on the varsity girls’ volleyball team said, “A lot of the time it’s pretty nerve-wracking because there’s a lot of pressure on your back and you don’t want to mess up.”

 

Another challenge is when sporting event ends late and freshman athletes, that yet have not learned how to manage their time wisely, still have to do their homework afterwards. OHS freshmen Iskra Volic is currently on the varsity tennis team and said she deals with this problem. Volic said “It is very hard, last week we had a game and I didn’t get home till 8:00 p.m. I’m in all honors and one AP class and I have a lot of homework.”

 

Even with the struggles that come with the sport, some athletes, such as OHS freshman Natalie Mumrey would not trade cross country for another sport. Mumrey said, “It’s so fun.”, everyone is so nice and I feel so accomplished after I run and the girls around me push me to do my best.”

 

Overall, the goal of some teams is just to try their best and improve the most they can before the season ends. Coach Arce said “My number one goal for the team is for everyone to try their hardest and to not give up when they feel tired. Also to improve from the beginning of the season to the end. Making it to CIF is also a tangible goal for us.”