After 34 years of working at Andover High School, David Fazio, physical education teacher, is retiring in June.
COURTESY PHOTO David Fazio at the Massachusetts Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester.
Fazio, affectionately known by his students as Coach Faz, started working at AHS as a basketball coach. He has been teaching physical education for 28 years and coaching golf for 10 years. Prior to coming to Andover, Fazio worked at Dracut, Methuen, Stoneham, West Newbury, and Lexington.
Although he is retiring from teaching, Fazio emphasizes that he will continue coaching at AHS. “I’m up in the air about whether I’ll be coaching golf still,” he stated, “but I’m a hundred percent sure that I’ll be coaching basketball as long as [AHS] will have it.”
Fazio’s favorite memory of working at AHS is interacting with his students. “The kids have been amazing,” he said. “I’ve built so many relationships as a teacher, golf coach, and basketball coach. The most important thing in any school is the students.”
Many of Fazio’s students commented on his affable personality and enthusiasm for teaching.
“Coach Faz was outgoing and funny, and he always found a way to have everyone participate,” said Vivian Tang, senior. “I liked how he was constantly encouraging us to do our best. His eagerness to start every day with a positive attitude is what made his classes memorable.”
Senior Madeline Shin agreed. “His humor and liveliness motivated us to work harder, focus better and get our groove going in class,” she stated. “He was always someone you could rely on for advice or to brighten up bad days.”
On November 13, Fazio was inducted into the Massachusetts Basketball Coaches Association (MBCA) Hall of Fame at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester.
He had been admitted to other halls of fame in the past, stated Fazio, but MBCA’s was the most prestigious.
“I had 55 of my former players all show up,” he said. “My first captain from 34 years ago was at the event. He’s 51 years old now.”
Fazio’s message to his students is to have a positive attitude. “Believe in yourself,” he said. “Be a Tigger, not an Eeyore.”
Andover High School’s (AHS) Super Smash Bros team, part of the AHS esports team, is currently ranked in Massachusetts’ top ten, and they are climbing their way up the Middlesex County Championships. While they continue to compete against other teams in the playoffs, being the strongest isn’t their only goal.
Although proud of his players’ successes, AHS esports coach Eliud Felix isn’t only focused on winning. He hopes to promote a competitive environment for kids to have fun, meet friends, and do what they love. He emphasized the positive effects and opportunities esports provide for players everywhere and addressed the negative impact of stigma around esports.
“It’s another way to encourage teamwork by using games, and it’s the same philosophy using strategy and using life lessons, winning and losing,” Felix stated, highlighting that Esports is just like any other sport.”
STAFF PHOTO / Ethan Zabar Members of the AHS esports team play Super Smash Bros, Jump Force, and League of Legends on a recent Monday night practice.
“Instead of being in their houses by themselves, they come here and interact with other players with the same interest and build relationships,” explained Felix. Driven by this belief, he hopes to recruit more players and gain exposure for the team. In the future, the teams look forward to establishing a Twitch account, a video live streaming service that focuses on game live streaming which offers competition broadcasts, creative content, and real-life streams. They hope to get more games available as well as appeal to a wider variety of people. They’ve already made many announcements on the school’s loudspeaker to let people know that they are open to all and would be happy to accept any new players.
However, they also aren’t lacking players. In total, the teams boast 25 competitors for Super Smash Bros, League of Legends, NBA 2K23, and Rocket League. Esports itself is a no-cut fall sport, and they compete every week in the library.
Besides simply being a place to game, the sport provides an atmosphere to grow and learn for everyone. “Some of the kids I’ve had over the years were not very sociable [at first], and now they’re very talkative,” shared Felix.
Sharing Felix’s sentiment, freshman Shihwa Lee said “esports is great, like it’s a fun environment. There’s plenty of people playing all the time so you can really just come over a common subject.”
“What I do applaud this group [for] is that they are very accepting of everyone and that’s pretty cool,“ complimented Felix. On a similar note, he explained that his job is to help the players “talk with their peers and… get their point of views across.” Although some are a bit quiet, he said that “they’re not different from everyone else.” They all hold the hunger and drive to win. On Discord, their coach shared his amazement at the strategies discussed and effort put into winning the game. Putting in hard work and time, the teams set out to win.
“This school does a lot of good things and this is one of them,” said Felix. He expressed his gratitude for the opportunity that the school offers his players and the new location the sport has recently moved to. Moreover, he’s grateful for the high-tech machines and several TVs that the school provides.
Overall, the nature of competition through esports teaches its players life lessons. Learning how to take defeat is a skill Felix wished to teach his players. “There are teams that beat the crap out of you but you just gotta learn how to take it,” concluded Felix. “Just get up when you fall down.”
Andover High School has begun to sell football game tickets online in addition to in person this past year to prepare families for tournament games.
After years of only selling tickets at the door, the football team is providing the option of purchasing tickets online ahead of time. According to Wayne Puglisi, the new athletic director at AHS, this is because the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, or the MIAA, has mandated that all ticket sales be online for the tournament games. They wanted to prepare families for purchasing tournament game tickets. For games in which the ticket sales are dictated by the MIAA, the pricing may increase slightly.
When asked about how the new system was for the school, Puglisi said, “I would say that it’s equitable, and it’s easy to process, and we just get a check from the company that manages the online ticket sales for us.” There is much less difficulty involved in managing the sales when it comes to online tickets, as the school does not need to do much.
The system is undoubtedly more efficient. Getting people into the games is much faster than before. People used to have to spend time buying the ticket up front with cash. Now, all you have to do in order to get in is hold up your phone with a pre-purchased one. No longer having to manage the envelopes of money sped up the process greatly.
Kerry Cashman, the assistant athletic director, said that if we were still only using the cash-only system at the game against Central Catholic High School, “We would not have been able to get everyone in until probably at least the start of the second quarter.” It’s difficult to say if there was a change in ticket sales, as support for the football team varies from year to year.
Junior Noah Summers remarked on the new system. He said, “I like it, it’s more convenient.” He continued on to say that he enjoys the speed that comes with the online tickets. He’s able to get into games noticeably quicker.
While locker room thefts have declined, concerning issues still remain.
“Thefts have been an ongoing issue over the years, some more than others,” explained John Norton, an Andover High School Assistant Principal. Vending machine thefts have also been an issue earlier this school year in addition to the locker room thefts.
The most common places thefts occur are usually the locker room and cafeteria. Meredith Emery, a physical education teacher, describes the locker room as “an ideal place for things to happen that shouldn’t be happening.”
Procedures have been implemented, purposefully targeting hotspots for thefts. Now, a P.E. teacher must stay behind to make sure the door is shut and to thoroughly inspect the room in order to make sure that anything left behind either goes to their office or the main office. This system of prevention was implemented right after a consequential ski team theft.
This winter, the locker room theft crisis had struck the girls ski team. Typically on race days, racers leave backpacks and other unnecessary equipment in the team room so they don’t need to carry them around for the rest of the outing. During this three to four-hour period, the room was left unlocked, leaving it open to unwanted guests. “At least eight or nine pairs of AirPods were stolen, up to 300 dollars of cash, a few gift cards, and a wallet,” recalled Katie Machold, captain of the girls ski team. “It was a disaster.”
Most teammates were able to retrieve their stolen belongings after investigations were conducted. Still, this situation continues to serve as a warning to others.
Similarly, Emery and Assistant Athletic Director Kerry Cashman had one day found a total of seventeen backpacks left on the floor of the locker room instead of locked up in lockers. This recklessness is proven only to result in stolen items, and the Physical Education staff highly recommends against it.
There are many theories as to why these thefts have been inconsistent over the year. Emery claimed that the cause may be the “pressure of gift-giving”. This is supported by the fact that this rise mainly occurs around the holidays, such as Thanksgiving or winter break. She speculated that students may feel the need to give gifts to others around this time. In contrast, Norton contemplates that it may be due to the adjustment from hybrid schooling to the normalcy of fully in-person school. Now, more than ever, students may be prone to forgetting to protect their property and are overlooking the possibility of an occurrence.
Regardless of these possible causes, one answer stays constant: students MUST protect their belongings in order to battle this issue. Norton recommends that students bring their belongings with them on mask breaks and refrain from bringing large amounts of cash to school and flaunting their belongings. It is clear that prevention is the best way to fend off the possibility of theft.
When asked for some final advice, Norton furthers his point: “Protect your items: you’ve worked hard for those things, guard them with your life,” he said with a laugh.
The newest addition to Andover High School’s athletics, the girls golf team, led by Morgan Nusky and David Fazio, has inspired more female students to take on golf in the spring season.
Fazio, also known as Coach Faz, was brought the idea of creating the team by his physical education student, Morgan Nusky. Fazio, with ten years of golf coaching experience from the Boys Golf Team, said he simply exclaimed, “Let’s do it!”.
Even though Nusky has only been playing golf for two years, she is extremely excited to be leading the season. Her leadership in the team mainly came from her “role in bringing the team together and organizing this season,” she said.
Both Nusky and Fazio brought their idea to AHS’s Athletic Director, Bill Martin, to get the project rolling. Martin had seen on multiple occasions female athletes trying out for the boys golf team. “It was to a point where we are looking to see if there’s an opportunity to have a standalone girls team,” Martin explained.
This idea has been brewing in the minds of the AHS athletics administration for a few years, but for the 2022 spring season, Martin, Fazio, and Nusky decided to give it a run. “Right now, it is set up like a club, just an opportunity to see what the interest level is, and I believe Coach Fazio has had a great turn out,” Martin said.
Both Fazio and Nusky are excited to see what the future holds for this team. So far, the team holds 19 athletes that practice at the Garrison Golf Center in Haverhill once a week. “This first season my main goal was to just have a bunch of girls be able to get together and have a fun time outside practicing and making great friendships while learning golf,” Nusky said.
COURTESY PHOTO / David Fazio AHS’ Girls Golf Team gathers for a team photo with Head Coach David Fazio (right) and health teacher Holly Breen (left)
Unlike other sports at AHS, you do not need to be experienced at golf to join. Nusky said she found it “so amazing to see so many girls that play all different sports and have all different skill levels come together to learn something new together and help each other learn.” This season, Fazio and Nusky are working to encompass everyone who has interest in learning golf. However, next year, all athletes trying out in the fall will need skill in order to make it onto the team.
Right now within the state, the number of girls golf teams are starting to grow. But, it’s still small compared to the number of schools who have male golf teams. AHS hopes to start a wave of interest that will ideally spread to schools throughout Massachusetts. “Maybe [Andover] can be the first of many to get going on this,” Fazio said.
It is to be determined whether competitive matches will be held for this season. However, efforts are being made to get the girls team from Austin Prep to join AHS’s in a few matches.
As both the school year and season come to an end, Fazio ultimately wants “to get everyone excited about golf, build the game, build the brand, and build a community.”
Andover High School students participating in the Warrior Way program visited Andover’s elementary schools on Friday, April 15.
According to physical education teacher Brittany McNally, who advises the Warrior Way program along with Assistant Athletic Director Kerry Cashman, Warrior Way is a student leadership, community service, and mentoring program designed to promote positive values in Andover Public Schools. Founded in 2009 by AHS physical education teacher Carol Martini, it aims to foster leadership among AHS students while encouraging students of all grades to demonstrate the ideals of the program.
COURTESY PHOTO / Brittany McNally Warrior Way participants teaching a lesson to South Elementary School students
Every year, Warrior Way participants visit the elementary school that they went to. If there are too many students at one school, the upperclassmen will be prioritized and the underclassmen will be assigned to a different school. If students did not attend elementary school at a public school in Andover, they will be assigned to a school that needs more students.
During the April 15 visits, Warrior Way members performed a variety of activities with the elementary students and accompanied them during their classes, lunch, and recess. “We showed [the students] a video filled with clips from different clubs, sports, and activities at the high school,” stated Emma Reilly, a junior and Warrior Way participant.
The elementary students were also given lessons which varied based on their grade. Each grade level focused on a specific theme — “Friendship and Caring” for kindergarten, “Enthusiasm and Effort” for first grade, “Teamwork” for second grade, “Cooperation” for third grade, “Sportsmanship” for fourth grade, and “Character” for fifth grade. Fifth grade students also completed a self-assessment reviewing the positive character traits they’ve learned throughout their years of being a part of the Warrior Way program.
“For fifth grade specifically, [students] played a directions game to illustrate the importance of listening to others and cooperating with peers,” said Reilly.
“The third graders that I was with [gave] us examples of respecting/cooperating with others,” stated Nasha Palsetia, junior. The students later drew their examples out on a piece of paper.
McNally and Cashman worked with elementary school administrators and student leaders to organize the visits. “We communicate with the elementary school administrators to schedule the visit and get lists of how many classrooms, students, etc. there are at each school,” explained McNally. “Our leadership team prepares a folder for each individual elementary classroom. The folders contain all materials necessary for the grade-level lessons that will be taught during the visit.”
COURTESY PHOTO / Brittany McNally Warrior Way participants performing activities with South Elementary School students
“As a Warrior Way chairman, we organized the whole event and selected all of the participants,” said senior Charles Higgins. Students are selected based on a variety of factors, including attendance, character, leadership, and extracurricular activities.
This year’s visits were the first in-person visits since before the COVID-19 pandemic. “Our last in-person visit was in 2019,” stated McNally. Virtual Warrior Way programs were created in 2020 and 2021.
When asked what their favorite aspects of the visits were, Warrior Way participants gave a variety of responses. “One of my favorite parts of the visit was recess,” said Palsetia. “Many of the students wanted their leaders to play several activities with them, and my class’s favorite was duck duck goose. The game had become so popular that third graders from other classes joined in!”
Reilly’s favorite part of the visit was giving back to the community. “I went to South Elementary myself, so being able to go back to the place that fostered my love for learning and the town of Andover was really special,” she said. “All the elementary school teachers told us over and over again that Warrior Way was the students’ favorite day of the year, and being part of that was amazing.”
It has been recently announced that Wayne Puglisi, a longtime physical education teacher at Andover High, will become the new Athletic Director for Andover Public Schools beginning next school year.
Our current Athletic Director, Bill Martin, will long be remembered for his dedication and hard work he has put in during the past five years at AHS, specifically helping keep the athletic department alive and successful as the school faced restrictions during COVID. Martin’s organization and strong encouragement for all teams, whether it be Varsity, JV, or Freshman, girls or boys, has been clear throughout his time at AHS. Martin, alongside Assistant Athletic Director Kerry Cashman, would show up to watch and support as many of our Andover teams as possible, which always made athletes feel driven and appreciated for their hard work.
While this role has big shoes to fill, Puglisi has a great amount of experience to help him get off on the right foot. He has been working as a physical education teacher for the past 24 years at AHS, and has also been a long time coach in not only Andover, but also in Londonderry, N.H., and Winchester, and currently at Timberland Regional High School.
As a physical education teacher, Puglisi, also known by students as Pug, is known for his overall kindness and caring personality During the remote learning period at the beginning of COVID, Puglisi would check up on all of his classes, constantly keeping up with the well-being of each student. Puglisi is also known as being a motivating teacher, pushing students to step outside of their comfort zones to try something new.
The role of Athletic Director is not an easy task to take on, yet Puglisi has consistently embodied important traits that are key to success in the role. Taking on the role of AD includes coordinating all games, teams, coaches, and players, along with enforcing rules and regulations regarding athletic standards and expectations. The AD is also the main contact for any parent, coach, or athlete in a state of conflict, therefore having a strong quantity of patience, empathy, and discipline is important. Puglisi exemplifies these traits, especially including demonstrating outstanding leadership and earning the respect of his athletes, students, and colleagues alike.
Puglisi is extremely involved in our local community, including being the current coordinator of Town Pride Lacrosse League, being the boys lacrosse coach’s representative for the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA), and serving on the board for the Italian National lacrosse program. From 2009 to 2011, Puglisi was the president of the Eastern Mass Lacrosse Coaches Association.
While Puglisi will be missed as a valued physical education teacher, our community is excited to welcome him into his new role and see what the future holds for him.
As the warm weather and spring showers begin, many of us venture out to watch Andover High School’s spring sports teams compete. Tryouts began during the last week of March, and teams have been finalized for the spring season. Baseball, eSports, lacrosse, softball, tennis, track and field, unified track, boys volleyball, and ultimate frisbee are the spring sports offered by AHS. All spring varsity coaches were reached out to by ANDOVERVIEW, and previews below are a result of these responses.
Girls Lacrosse:
“Andover has a history of being among the leaders in the Merrimack Valley Conference,” said coach Ally Stager, a graduate of UNH Lacrosse. “My goal, as well as the team’s goal, will be to get back to the top of our conference.”
“One challenge we will face this year is getting used to a full normal season because a lot of girls have only experienced it through COVID,” stated captain Lily Farham, who has been playing lacrosse since the second grade.
The lifting of COVID regulations this year brings new excitement to the team. “We can move to more of the activities we used to do,” said Stager, “as well as the original style of play for girls’ high school lacrosse.”
Coming back to a regular season, the team has many short and long term goals that they’ve already set. Captain Tess Gobiel, a lacrosse athlete since the first grade, said, “My goals for this season are to speed up the competitiveness, and really make the other teams adjust to us. This season has a lot of talent on the field and just all-around athletes who are ready to compete.”
However, winning games and making progress are not the only goals for this team. Big priorities are creating bonds with each other and building a tight community.
“The best part of the sport is the competitiveness and drive that every girl has,” said captain Liv Beucler. “My favorite part about the team is our relationships on and off the field. We’re always there for each other. We all fit so well together and we know where each other are on the field.”
COURTESY PHOTO / Lily Farnham AHS Girls Lacrosse comes together at the end of pre-season practice on Tuesday, March 15, 2022.
Boys Tennis:
The boys tennis team has held high achievements in the past, such as league champions and semi-finalists of the North Sectionals.
With the capability of being a team and individual sport, tennis has a base that is different from many other sports. “Our goals are to come together as a team supporting each individual’s improvement and to be as competitive as we can as a team,” said Mike Wartman, who has been an AHS tennis coach for 30 years.
While AHS tennis faces numerous challenges such as the weather and lack of indoor facilities, the team consistently comes together and pushes through to reach their goals. “The tennis players have been outstanding, strong committed students, unselfish community members, [and] dedicated athletes who have fun while working hard to achieve individual and team goals,” stated Wartman.
The best part of the season is “watching the players come together as a team, caring for as well as supporting each other, [and] growing as tennis players and people,” said Wartman.
Boys Volleyball:
With the goal of winning the MVC Title, the boys volleyball team is hungry to get back onto the court. With coach EJ Perry, who won six straight NHIAA state titles from 2004-2009, and captains Owen Chanthaboun and Alex McNally, the team is in the hands of exceptional leaders.
“We are going to need some development in terms of positions and individual skills. We also need some chemistry and become a real team,” said Chanthaboun, referring to the many new players this team has.
“We have a lot of returners too and the team has been working hard in the offseason,” said Perry. “We look forward to bettering our record and making a run in the state tournament.”
However, the biggest challenge to this goal is the team’s long-term enemy: Lexington. “We are going to play them twice this season and they are definitely a difficult opponent,” explained McNally. “It is also a difficult feat to become a concrete and unified group.”
As the team begins practice, Perry believes that “volleyball is the most athletic sport out there, and is combined with great intellect. The players that excel are self-motivated and play very cerebral.”
Boys Lacrosse:
With a fairly new coach this season, the boys lacrosse team is ready to get back onto the field. Coach Bryan Brazill has been playing the sport since he was nine years old and began coaching lacrosse in 2005, the year after he graduated college. He began coaching AHS lacrosse in 2020.
“The biggest challenge going from college to high school coaching is you forget how difficult the sport is at a younger age group and how the skill set required to be successful is tough to master,” stated Brazill. “But they are working really hard at it too, so I think they’ll get there in a hurry.”
Captain Charlie Higgens echoed this feeling and is sure of their chance to make a run at the state championship. “We have a great coaching staff that makes the team a great environment to play and learn with all my teammates,” said Higgens.
While the team hopes to make it to the championship, there is also an emphasis on the love of the sport. “I think what’s more important than anything is that we get some fun back into it, because we kind of lost that last year”, said Brazill. “My biggest goal is to make sure that these guys have a blast, and I think that will translate into wins.”
As excited as the players are to begin games, they are more excited for fostering bonds among their teammates. “Having everyone hold each other accountable is very big for us,” said Higgens. Captain Kiernan Florio echoed this. “The best part of lacrosse for me is the relationships that come out of it,” he said. “My teammates are some of my closest friends. There is nothing better than the pasta dinners and bus rides home after big wins.”
Boys and Girls Ultimate Frisbee:
Ultimate frisbee is a sport like no other in terms of strong community and sportsmanship. “This is not just a characteristic of Andover Ultimate but ultimate teams throughout the Merrimack valley,” said girls captain Caroline Pritchard. “After games, the teams would gather and chat or sing parodies to each other for a bit.”
While it is not offered as a sport at the high school but through Andover Youth Services, there is a big sense of community within these players. “Our sport has such a strong community of devoted and kind players,” said Pritchard.
The 2021 season of ultimate was canceled due to COVID. “One of the biggest challenges currently facing the team is the lack of players,” explained boys captain Lucas Iannicelli. “COVID season was rough because we missed the recruitment of a whole grade, the junior grade.”
In addition, many people do not know that ultimate frisbee is a sport. “Before starting, I had no idea frisbee could be a sport and more than just tossing a disc on the beach, but I really came to love it,” recalled Pritchard.
Ultimate is more grounded on having fun than anything else. Iannicheli echoed this passion: “I am most excited about getting back on the field with some friends in the warm weather and playing some ultimate. It doesn’t get much better than that.”
Girls Tennis:
“For me, the best part of the tennis team is getting to play alongside my amazing teammates,” said captain Jennie Wang. “Although there’s an element of individuality in tennis, especially in singles, you definitely never feel alone when your teammates are cheering you on.”
Tennis is special in the way it can be changed to how one wants it. “The best part of the sport is the rush of adrenaline and the choice to play team, doubles, or by yourself, in singles,” said captain Carol Yu.
However, no matter how one chooses to play, all the captains agree that this tennis team has a special bond with each other. Through the good and the bad, the team continues to support each other to grow as players.
“My goals are to help the team not only be hard-working and prepared as we go into the season, but also to build sportsmanship and a sense of community among both our previous and new players,” said Wang.
Even with team support, a big part of tennis is fighting the mental blocks that occur. However, the team is confident in their skills. “We are a strong team that can push through challenges and we will get as far as possible in states,” said Yu.
Additionally, “the biggest challenge with tennis is that it is highly sensitive to weather,” said captain Eva McKone. This means that players must perfect their sport and be perfect reading the weather. If it is windy, the ball can go the other way and if it is sunny, it is hard to see how far away the ball is. “For this reason, it is critical for players to be adaptable and find ways to use the elements to their advantage,” said McKone.
With the season in full swing, the girls are excited to get back onto the court. “It’s a great feeling to know that no matter how your day has gone so far, you’ll always be able to go to tennis practice afterwards and work on your game with your friends,” said Wang.
COURTESY PHOTO / Carol Yu AHS Girls Tennis finishes pre-season practice on Sunday, March 6, 2022, with a team selfie.
The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many extracurricular activities throughout the year. However, due to the surge in cases after winter break, several extracurriculars have had to take extra precautions.
Since many families and friends gathered over winter break, COVID-19 cases spiked again, almost twice as many as the surge last winter. This is most likely due to the highly contagious Omicron variant. The rise in cases combined with the prior accommodations made for the pandemic forced many extracurriculars to do more to keep students safe.
The Athletic Director of the Andover Public Schools district, Bill Martin, spoke on the impact that the surge in cases had on the district’s sports teams and their fans. “We have had most of our teams affected by the number of athletes and coaches that have been out due to COVID,” he said. To ensure that their teams wouldn’t have to miss any competitions, a few games were postponed.
Additionally, the number of fans allowed at games has decreased. However, Martin said that he was hoping that by the end of the winter season, there will be fewer COVID cases and that the regular amount of fans will be able to return to the games.
In some instances, extracurricular activities have had to withdraw from their programs. For example, the AHS Model United Nations club is no longer attending this year’s Harvard Model United Nations (HMUN) conference. The conference was set to take place in person near the end of January, so the school’s delegates withdrew. Out of the thirty to fifty students at AHS that attend the HMUN meetings, fifteen delegates would have gone to the conference. Other delegates would have been coming from all around the world. Michael McCarthy, the teacher advisor for the program at AHS, said that he was worried about the possible spread of COVID there. “I had a lot of concerns about the delegates’ safety, so we withdrew our participation,” he said. “I was concerned that students would contract [COVID] and would be absent from school and would miss out… it’s a very large organization, and so with some kids out, they would miss out on a fun extracurricular opportunity.”
COURTESY PHOTO / Andover Robotics What a normal in-person robotics meet in the AHS cafeteria looks like
The school’s robotics teams have also had to accommodate for the pandemic. Round one of the robotics tournament was going to be held in the AHS cafeteria in January, but because of the surge in cases, it was postponed. The competition in Canton was also postponed. “We’ll have ‘Practice Judging Days’ instead, which would be done remotely,” said Canyu Li, a freshman on team Thunder. Minda Reidy, the teacher advisor for the robotics program, said that was done “as a general cautionary.” She also noted that the schools of some other teams in the state were not allowed to travel, so several teams would have missed the meet. “We also put into consideration that we were asking a lot of people to be in tighter [quarters] than we should really with a big Omicron concern,” she added. Thankfully, though, the teams will still be able to take part in their Practice Judging Days and were able to host the tournament round in February.
In addition, the AHS math team was also impacted by the pandemic. While the school’s team was able to attend the meet that took place after winter break, some other teams were not able to. Dorothy Power, the teacher advisor for the team, was glad that the team could still make it to the competitions. “We were really fortunate that Mr. Darlington helped us find a way to travel beginning in January, and that all of our mathletes were healthy and could attend,” she said. These teachers and students are hoping that the pandemic will come to an end and their activities will be able to return to normal. “I’m hoping that this is the beginning of the end and that we can eventually—and probably soon—say goodbye to COVID in some way,” said McCarthy.
“There is something special about wrestlers and wrestling teams,” said Andover High School’s head varsity wrestling coach, Michael Bolduc.
The AHS wrestling team has flourished over the past years and is hoping to win the state championship this year. Coach Bolduc has been at AHS for seven years and has coached over 26 years at the high school level.
“Andover’s success over the last two to three years is because of our staff,” said Bolduc.“ Ken Najem has been by my side since day one; Chuck Tedeschi joined us last year and made an immediate positive impact. My three coaches have a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience in wrestling. More importantly, all outstanding role models.”
In addition to the strong experience from coaches, the 2021-2022 season is led by captains Johnathan Davila and Yasser Maita.
“Captains and upperclassmen control the tempo of practice, not the coaches. They build the winning culture in our mat room,” acknowledged Bolduc.
COURTESY PHOTO / Michael Bolduc 2021-2022 winter season roster of AHS Varsity Wrestling team
While the team hopes for many successes this year, it has been a difficult road to get here. Last season, they competed with a reduced schedule, a smaller roster, and limited attendance due to COVID. This season, however, the team is able to compete closer to a full roster of athletes again.
“Currently, we are anticipating a full schedule. The number of athletes has significantly increased, and there will be fewer restrictions on parents and friends that want to watch our matches,” said Bolduc.
Getting as close to a normal season as possible means the team is setting up short-term and long-term goals.
“We are still assessing our strengths and weaknesses. With that being said, some team goals never change. Team goals this season include commitment, hard work, and comradery,” said Bolduc. With the pandemic, there were limited social events, and student-athletes came in with a large gap in wrestling experience. However, this team does “not focus on the wins and losses; we focus on the growth of the team as the season progresses,” said Bolduc.
The most special part of this sport is that while it is an individual sport, the team’s successes only occur due to the sharing of the wrestling philosophy. “We have common goals and those goals are achieved because we get there together,” ended Bolduc.
