By The Chariot Staff
As the school year comes to a close, many senior athletes are ready to say goodbye to their respective sports. While some are continuing to play competitively in college, the majority are choosing to end their competitive athletic careers with high school sports.
Seniors expressed their feelings about their athletic careers at New Hyde Park coming to an end.
“I had a lot of fun playing soccer for NHP throughout the years, even though I wasn’t that good,” Joseph Hoffer said. “I learned a lot of valuable lessons from my coaches and teammates that helped me improve, and I made so many good memories along the way. I will definitely miss playing competitively and the thrill of working hard as a team and winning but not so much the stress and pressure of playing well.”
“Playing a sport at NHP has taught me so many skills such as patience, compassion and the importance of teamwork,” Kushpreet Ahuja said.
“I had a lot of fun cheering throughout high school, and I will definitely miss it. I will miss the feeling of hitting a new stunt for the first time the most. I’m also going to miss cheering at all of the games and being with my friends on the team,” Arianna Bianculli said.
“One of the best life skills I picked up from riflery was discipline. Discipline and multitasking between it and the other responsibilities I had going on in my life at the time. I know I’m gonna need both of those to make it through college,” Andrew Canese said. “It’s bittersweet. I’m happy with how I ended things off this season, with how much I’ve improved over the years, but the team’s like a second family to me, and I’m going to miss all of them dearly. All the bus rides to and from matches were some of the best team-building moments of any season. We’d listen to music, get hyped for the match and on the rides home we’d do the same and celebrate our victories.”
While most will not be competitively continuing their respective sports in college, many will continue their passions by joining a club sport or by practicing the sport on their own or with friends. Others will remain active by joining a gym.
“Beyond just doing competitive track, an easy way that I kind of intertwine track into my everyday life is by just simply running everyday because when you don't run one day, you kind of lose your momentum and you become slower,” Brenda Bolouvi said. “For some reason, track meets did give me a lot of anxiety so it’s freeing to be able to run on my own and with my friends without the pressure of the competition. I don’t feel like I'll miss anything from competitive track when I do club track because I like a more laid back environment.”
“My passion for my sport never died after my final senior season, and I desire to continue playing club soccer in college,” Andrew Jung said.
“I’m not planning on swimming competitively, but if the University of Buffalo has a club team I will probably swim on it. I will try and remain active by mostly focusing more on the gym rather than strictly swimming,” Aman Sinha said.
“To be honest, volleyball was always like a second sport to me so not being able to play competitively in college wasn’t such a big deal to me. However, I will still miss the memories from the teams and seasons I made. Playing other sports with friends and even working out is how I will remain active at college,” Jonathan Kim said.
Source from Jonathan Kim
Setter Jonathan Kim (number eight) joins his team in listening to the referee. The boys varsity volleyball team waits on the sidelines for their match to begin.
“After high school, I just plan on playing soccer with friends and continuing to run to stay active, maybe play games just for fun in college but nothing too competitive,” Hoffer said.
“Although I won’t be running track competitively, I will definitely try to go for runs whenever I can. I will definitely miss running with my teammates as it made me faster as a runner and stronger as a person. I will miss having a certain goal that I am working to attain, but I look forward to running for fun. I love my team at NHP and the motivating people that it is made up of. I look forward to coming back next year and cheering them on,” Ahuja said.
For many senior athletes, moving forward into a life where competitively playing a sport is no longer a commitment will be a bittersweet adjustment. However, most are excited to start a new chapter of their lives while remembering all the lessons they have learned from being an athlete at New Hyde Park Memorial.