Hawks Battle More Than Just Opponents … Mother Nature Puts Up A Fight

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s sports teams have had an unexpected opponent to try to overcome this winter: Mother Nature.

The snowfalls that blanketed Newtown throughout January and early February left the basketball, hockey, wrestling, track, and swimming teams with postponed games and competitions, and resulted in canceled practices. The athletes have had blocks of days without any games or practices, and then found themselves playing games as many as three school days in succession (with weekends in between). As a result, the athletes have had a tough time keeping sharp and staying in rhythm.

Newtown lost eight school days to snow during the past several weeks. What’s more, makeup games have resulted in some teams playing more games than having practices some weeks. Rescheduling events at the high school is challenging enough, but the hockey team has to deal with schedules of numerous other schools and levels of teams and skating activities. The result was a full two-week layoff between games, from January 15 to 29, for the NHS skaters.

“It’s definitely throwing a kink into our routine,” hockey coach Paul Esposito said. What’s more, the hockey team had a scheduled February 4 game against EO Smith-Tolland-Windham, up at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, postponed because the rink temporarily closed due to the risks of playing under a roof supporting too much heavy snow and ice.

The girls’ and boys’ basketball teams, which typically play games on Tuesdays and Fridays, ended up with three weeks in which they had back-to-back Monday-Tuesday game schedules, and the girls and boys played a doubleheader at home on February 7.

“It has been very difficult to not be able to practice,” said Jeremy O’Connell, the school’s girls’ coach, whose team found a way to win seven games in a row heading into a February 11 scheduled game with Oxford. “Fortunately, the girls have been so mentally tough that they have been able to weather the storms of games night in and night out. Keeping focus after big wins is a challenge, but the girls have been up to the task at hand and are striving to achieve ultimate goals. It has truly been a team effort.”

“I’ve never seen this in my 15 years at Newtown High School,” said John Quinn, coach of the boys’ basketball team, adding that the weather has made for athletic- and academic-related challenges for all of the student-athletes in the area. “Where it really hurts is, obviously, game preparation and getting the kids to stay focused. We’re fortunate — we’ve got a focused group of kids — but when they’re out of their regiment, out of their routine, it’s really hard.” And attendance at games has been down because game times have changed, Quinn added.

Matt Datin, a senior captain on the basketball team, says the lack of practice time has resulted in some lower-scoring performances because shots that typically would go in aren’t falling. Add to the weather-related hurdles the fact that the boys’ squad recently went through perhaps the toughest part of its schedule and it made things doubly challenging.

The swimmers and divers have had limited practice time, and that has resulted in slower times and lower scores than the competitors otherwise might have had at recent meets.

“We’re really out of shape right now,” NHS swimmer Abben Hung said at a practice on February 3. “You have to be constantly training. If you stop for two days it completely ruins your training.”

“We’ve probably missed at least eight practices, which is huge,” wrestling coach Alan Potter said. “You’ve got to practice, you’ve got to drill, you’ve got to work hard every day — so it’s been tough.”

Members of the indoor track teams have not exactly had much running room on the roads to keep their legs moving on their own time. And while some teams may catch a break with the weather and get back into a routine before the start of the postseason, the track participants did not have that opportunity. They competed in the South-West Conference championships February 6 (a rare Sunday high school meet because of anticipated snow and ice the day before).

“Our performances [at the championships] were excellent considering how this winter has gone and with the number of cancellations we have had. I am very proud of this team and the level of commitment they have shown,” track coach Doug Russell said.

The good news for the Nighthawks — and athletes from the region for that matter — is that there do not seem to be any more storms brewing in the coming week. Let the games resume.