Making The Transition

What is it like to be an athlete at the Academy?

It doesn’t just end at Middle Division sports, it goes on, from learning the sport to playing like a pro on the Upper Division sports teams. Here’s what it’s like… 

Three people, from three different grades, each person with their own opinion on how difficult the transition to Upper Division sports was. Anisa Nanavati is in 8th grade on the Varsity Middle Division Girls Basketball team. She loves being on the Middle Division team because she is able to teach the younger players everything that she knows. Going into Upper Division she is nervous, but also excited to learn from older players. The Upper Division players are not intimidating to her, most of them are her friends.

Then there’s Zainab Nawaz, a 9th grader on the Upper Division Girls Basketball team.

“The toughest part of the transition was having a different coach, but making friends was easy because I knew most of them already”.Zainab stated.

She got to know them in a different way because she had not talked to most of them in years. The transition was not difficult, transitioning to Upper Division itself was more difficult.

 

Going For The Shot.

 

Lexi Kilfoyl, an Academy star softball player, decided to take a chance with basketball this year. In answer to which teammates were more accepting, she claimed, “I think softball because I have been playing on the high school team since 7th grade and I think my teammates look up to me because I have experience.” In basketball, she thinks the Middle Division players are intimidated by her because of her height. However, once they get to know her they see that she is fun and caring. She contrasts basketball from softball in that she has to make decisions quickly while running in basketball and softball you can take your time to make decisions.

These three young athletes compared what they thought about transitioning. Anisa is not afraid to transition and she is ready, Zainab thought the transition was easy because she made friends quickly, and Lexi thought that switching sports was easy because her teammates were excepting and excited to have her on the team. 

If you would like to read about the Middle Division on High school teams, click here.

Are you an athlete who made the jump from Middle to Upper Division sports? Have you ever given a new sport a try? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!