With the winter season starting up, so is the kick-off for winter season sports of boys and girls swimming, basketball, and wrestling.

Students that have been nominated for team captain, such as senior Jordan McGee, are excited. “I feel really confident with this season starting up… even with a new coach, I think we will be successful,” said McGee, who recently was selected for team captain of the girls varsity swim team this year.

Feeling confidence in your sport is the most important thing to have, especially if you want to succeed in what you do. “To get the teams confidence level up, I need to set a good example for new teammates. Talking to them to encourage them to succeed helps a lot… makes the bond between us strong.”

With the girls swim team confidant in going into this year, the boys are just as pumped. “I really feel good about this year, I think good things will happen this year… the group we have this year is really good,” said senior Sean Kalizack, captain of the boys varsity swim team.

Even with harsh weather affecting the practices of most of the teams, learning to cope with it is the most important tactic to have. “With the loss of practices due to harsh weather, practices have been much harder,” said Kalizack. “But that didn’t affect us much… just taught us to have a stronger mind set of what we wanted.”

However, not only swimming requires a strong mindset. Wrestling requires more than most other sports, due to trying to fit into certain weight classes. With this year coming up, weight classes from the Susky wrestling team have been cut due to not enough boys trying out and making it. This in return just makes the sport all that much harder.

“I think even though we don’t have as many boys this year than prior years, we will still have a successful year,” said coach Joe Dominick. “We have to have an even stronger mindset this year because of the loss of weight classes… our boys are tough though, they can handle it.”

With the varsity girls’ basketball team moving up a division, the upcoming year looks promising to them. “I’m really excited to start this year, I feel really confident about the group of players we have this year,” said senior Jenette Wilson, captain of the varsity girls basketball team. “Overall this year, working harder and pressing harder are our main goals, and I think we’ll have that accomplished in no time.”

With the girls’ season of basketball starting up, the boys are anxious to start too. “This year I feel we have more talent in our group of kids, and I feel really confident with that,” said senior Tyler Brooks, captain of the boys’ varsity basketball team. “I think this year will definitely be our year.”

The kick-off for the winter sport season has officially started. Come support the teams!