The transition to highschool sports is already hard enough, so just imagine being a freshman on varsity! The pace, strength, IQ, and knowledge of varsity athletes is something most younger players have not seen before, so this adjustment can be challenging for lots of players. But this year, three freshmen came into the spring sports season on a mission! 

Varsity Softball player Joie Cunningham, who has been playing softball for the last seven years, said that the transition wasn’t too hard. “People who are on the team now, I have basically played with every year so it was an easy change.” This year’s team is unlike most, with only two upperclassmen on the team. 

When asked about how she felt supported by the team, Cunningham said, “Everyone on the team is super nice and welcoming. They bring you up when you are down, so it’s a good environment.” With the season well underway, she is excited for upcoming playoffs and has hopes of making it to state! Cunningham also has aspirations of playing softball at the collegiate level. The next freshman is Nor Luloff from the girls ultimate frisbee team. Luloff has been playing since 4th grade, but began playing competitively in 8th grade.

When asked about the jump to varsity sports she said, “[It’s] definitely a different level, it’s more competitive and there’s a lot of people who are really really good —  a lot better than me. Which is different from my middle school experience.” Luloff explained how she has learned so much just in her first season because of the faster pace of the game. 

But she credits her team for much of her growth. “I felt really welcomed when I was given time to catch up, there were definitely things that I didn’t know and I needed to be taught. So I thought it was really nice that somebody would take a second and explain it to me.” 

Luloff has learned a lot this first year, she is already looking forward to future years in the Ultimate program. “ There’s a really big class of freshman girls who have been playing for years… and just having that many people is going to be really fun senior year, just having such a big class.” 

The last freshman is tennis player Emi Skerritt, who has been playing for her whole life, but started competitively five years ago. Skerritt said that the difference for her was their being older and better players but she says she feels less pressure playing HS then club. She has only lost two matches thus far, which is a very impressive start — Skerrit usually competes at #1 singles, which is the spot given to the highest performing player on the team. But still being new to the Garfield tennis program, she said, “Everyone has been really supportive and it’s fun because it’s kind of social when we aren’t competing. It’s just like a cool atmosphere, it’s chill, fun and people are nice.” She feels as if upperclassmen have taken her under their wing,feels very encouraged when they cheer her on, and has connected to her teammates in the program right away. Adding to her singles game talents, Skerritt would like to try playing doubles in the future.