Anna Malkin takes over as head coach of the Newtown High School boys’ tennis team and will lead a squad that brings plenty of enthusiasm to the court.

On the top of the list of goals for Coach Maureen Maher, along with qualifying for the South-West Conference tournament, is for her Newtown High School girls’ tennis team to be recognized for its efforts off the court itself.

A somewhat inordinate number of graduates — nine to be exact, a lot of whom started or played regularly — gives the Nighthawks a new look this spring. But expectations certainly haven’t changed.

Newtown High School’s softball team leaned heavily on its pitching a year ago. With Sara Kennedy now throwing strikes at Villanova, the Nighthawks may look more to the offense to carry them this spring.

It was another fun-filled season on the courts for Newtown’s Unified Sports basketball team, which practiced and played in games throughout the winter months. The campaign featured home games, including an afternoon of excitement on the hardwood as Newtown hosted a tournament at NYA Sports & Fitness, and some road contests from December through March.

Game action unfolding on the court is the focus of attention, but there are many details being worked out behind the sideline — in addition to the coaching that takes place — that go into making sure everything goes smoothly at basketball games. A big component of any game at pretty much any level, from youth on up to the professionals, is the scorer’s table.

The Newtown Youth Wrestling Association (NYWA) had quite a showing at the Youth New England Tournament, in Salem, N.H., March 9-10. Newtown had several place winners, including a pair of champions, and the program was honored for its efforts.

Throughout the winter, girls and boys competed on the youth basketball hardwood in Newtown Recreation and travel league play. Behind all of the smiles that came with baskets scored and friendships made was a lot of devotion to make this learning, fun-filled, and competitive atmosphere for rising athletes possible.

Nick Jacobs, Matt Jacobs, Andrew Jacobs, and Kyle Fralley are all students at Newtown High School with a passion for ski racing for Stratton Winter Sports (SWSC) club in Stratton, Vt., on weekends. However, what they wanted to do was race for a team at the high school level.

Newtown came in second at the ShopRite Nutmeg Games 6th Annual High School Football Weight Lifting Competition, at New Britain High on March 8. There were 26 teams in the event. Southington was first with 13,130 total pounds of weight lifted. Newtown lifted 12,695. Shelton placed third with 12,625.