When you hear the phrase “winter sport” at Ipswich High School, what sport do you think of? Is it the girls or boys basketball teams, the co-op hockey team, or the huge indoor track team. Did you forget that IHS has a Swim and Gymnastic team? The Tiger Transcript decided to highlight these forgotten sports of winter.
The Ipswich High School Swim and Dive Team recently had their senior night on January 31st. Six athletes were celebrated before their dual meet; this included the three team captains: Cate Miller, Corinne Anderson, and Annika Johnson, as well as seniors Joey Powers, Emma Casella, and Nadia Bailen-Boluda. Even with the relatively small numbers on the boys and girls teams, Captain Cate Miller says: “We have won three meets so far and the boys team has been doing much better than the girls team.”
Cate also emphasized the lack of participation and support for the IHS Swim and Dive Team. Their team lacks numbers which can hinder how they will be placed. If another team has more people participating in an event it will give that team a better chance to score higher. “It’s kind of a numbers game because you get points for placing second and third. So if we don’t have enough people in an event we just don’t get points to that event. Usually the bigger teams win over the smaller teams” Cate explained. This is a big disadvantage for the team and they hope to change that by getting more students to try out and join next year to build up their roster.
Furthermore, this issue of participation in swim and diving teams affects not only IHS but most US high schools. As of 2019 the Statista Research Department found the number of participants in U.S. high school swimming and diving. The boys participation amounted to 173,088 people and the girls had a total of 136,638 people. These may seem like high numbers but in comparison to the US high school students participation for boys basketball in 2019 it was 540,769 and the girls was 399,067 people. Additionally, high school gymnastic teams fall in the same category of low participation and support. The Statista Research Department wrote that in 2019 there was a combined total of 20,238 high school girls and boys participating in gymnastics.
The IHS Gymnastics team also known as the Tigerfish have had an undefeated season so far. Ipswich has a co-op team with Gloucester High; however, there is only one athlete from Gloucester this year. The Tigerfish will be having their senior night against Salem High on February 2nd where they will celebrate five athletes which includes Captains Abbie Wallace-Tastad, Maddie Pekrul, and Molly Pennimpede, as well as seniors Bella Gallegos and Sarah Mirabile. The Tigerfish have been having a great season, with many personal accomplishments. Captain Abbie Wallace-Tastad said: “We are working with our small numbers to the best of our abilities, and everyone is having fun.”
This year there are nine gymnasts on the high school team. They had 5 seniors graduate last year, which meant that their team numbers dropped this year. However, Abbie has high hopes for the program; she shares: “For future years, I hope they are able to rebuild the program because it’s such an amazing team. I don’t think many people realize how much fun gymnastics is.”
The Swim and Dive team as well as the Gymnastic team has seen little support by IHS students. Both team captains reflect on the lack of a student section. “I don’t think anyone that’s a student has come to any of our meets this year,” Cate shared. Abbie also added “It’s primarily parents. We don’t really have any teenage spectators or student support unless it’s senior night.” IHS students please find interest in attending and watching our talented winter sports, even the forgotten ones!
