Spring sports, golf, soccer, baseball, tennis, lacrosse, and track, dive head first into the new year with conditioning, tryouts, and general preparations for their new seasons.

NC’s golf team plans to schedule more matches to increase their workload, which will help them become more familiar to the game setting and improve their strategies and tactics. With all of the practices and extra games, their overall abilities should increase, giving them a shot at regionals.

The boys varsity soccer team worked hard in their offseason, conditioning and building a stronger bond with one another.

“Preseason conditioning is not so much about the work as it is about getting the boys back together and building on the previous year’s comradery,” Varsity soccer Coach Glenn Pannell said.

After selecting the roster on January 23, NC’s soccer team hopes to surprise people this year with hard work, perseverance, and determination. They started out strong with their win against the reigning 4A state champions South East Whitfield County High School 4-1 on Thursday, February 1 at the opposing team’s stadium in their preseason scrimmage.

“We plan to be one of the best [teams] this year and turn some heads doing it,” Coach Pannell said.

The baseball team also shows high hopes for this upcoming season, starting with skill specific conditioning, thinning down mistakes, and increasing their motivation to the sport. Coach Tom Callahan expects great things to come for his team, and hopes to carry the team to regionals.

The tennis team held preconditioning once a week, starting in September, with a focus on running and agility training. They worked on building stamina, endurance, and quickness on the court.

“It [conditioning] benefits all of us because it’s team bonding, you get to know everybody ahead of time, it’s not like they show up to practice and that’s the first time you meet the kid, it’s like, ‘I’ve worked with you since September, I know what you are capable of, I know that you are driven.’ You become a team before the team is created,” Varsity boys tennis Coach Nishmin Porbandarwala said.

The tennis team feels prepared for the season, and express their excitement for what this new season will bring.

“It is going to be a meaningful season, I think we are going to make a lot of good memories. I hope that we can get a few wins in the process, but for the most part I am excited to just play the game,” junior Harrison Haley said.

The lacrosse team held off on conditioning this year, but will work harder to shape up in beginning of the season. Coach John Almy hopes for another successful season and plans to spend time on stick skills, fast breaks, offense, defense, and different plays, to make sure they can make it to playoffs again this year. The team needs to win a couple of key games to make it to the playoffs, but Coach Almy has incredible confidence in his team this year.

“Hopefully we’ll make playoffs again, we’ve got a couple key games we gotta focus on, get the wins in those games and we’ll be in the playoffs for the second time. Playoffs is always a goal,” Varsity boys lacrosse Coach John Almy said.

Conditioning appeared incredibly important for all track athletes, beginning in late November, three days a week. It improved the athletes’ stamina and puts the track team, as a whole, at an advantage because it builds their dedication to the sport and improves their strength. During this year’s season, athletes will continue to work hard and show perseverance through the shin splints and tight muscles that one may encounter.

Overall, NC plans to dominate in sports this spring, with the tennis and soccer teams already starting their seasons off with multiple wins.