What Defines Rockville Athletics?

Rockville High School prides itself on the many opportunities it gives it’s students to get involved in on and off the field. They offer a wide variety of after school activities and varsity sports.

As the Spring 2017 season comes to a close, I wanted to learn more about what drives the students to play these competitive sports season after season.

The newest edition to the RHS Varsity Sports roster is Girl’s Lacrosse. This years’ captains, Payton Shannon and Sam Peters, sophomores at RHS are both hoping to build this program up in the upcoming years.

“I think we are doing a lot better than last year. Even from the first practice, there were a lot more people who you could tell were trying harder and you could tell that they wanted to be there.” Said Peters.

Payton Shannon also thinks that with a brand new coach, the team will improve drastically. “I think the new coach knows the game very well and is optimistic about our team and the season.” Said Shannon.

Since the beginning of the season, the team has met some struggles, such as various injuries, diminishing the amount of available substitute players for the Varsity starters.

But these struggles did not deter the captains motivation and and confidence in the team. “It motivates me to think about the future and how in a few years we will be doing a lot better and we will be a lot more stable.” Said Peters.

The Boy’s Varsity Lacrosse team also faces the same struggles of being such a small team as well as a young program. “Most of the team is made up of underclassmen.” Said Kevin Skula, a captain of the team.

Even though the team is so young, Skula said that there was no difference between the upperclassman and the underclassman. “We all treat each other the same, if we see a freshman that’s struggling, we all help him.” Said Skula.

“It would be beneficial if we had more players because that would mean more breaks for the starters and they would not get tired out in the middle of the game.” Said Skula “We have lost some games because of stupid simple mistakes or people run out of breath because we don’t have that many [players] compared to the other teams.” He said.

Even though the players may get tired on the field, they still give it their all. “We push every game to work for our wins. We may to have a lot, but we have teamwork and dedication to make up for it.” Skula said.

It is important for the seniors to keep this dedication and to keep the team alive so that the program does not die down. The team is already made up of players from surrounding schools like Stafford, who do not already have their own team.

Dedication and persistence are some of the qualities that Rockville High School Athletics prides itself on.

The girl’s tennis team also struggles with having such a young team, and no seniors to guide them. Captain Janet Martinelli is the most experienced on the team, with ten years of playing under her belt.

“It’s not a normal dynamic.” Martinelli said. “It’s like starting over.”

But the girl’s have come together throughout the season and bonded over their mutual love of tennis. The coach, a retired professional, Carol Hartman, inspires the team to work hard for their wins.

“People look down on Rockville. They think ‘they’re probably not that good at this sport or that sport,’ but with Rockville athletics, we all try hard. We are always working as hard as we can to win.” Said captain of the softball team, Sarah Silver.

RHS is notorious for it’s softball team, who won the state title back in 2012. This year’s senior’s are pushing to bring the title back to Rockville. But with all of the players on the team having graduated, the team had to start fresh with a new group of girls.

“In the beginning of the season, I think that with the group of girls that we had, we hadn’t really played together for a long time. A lot of the people that [the seniors] have played with have all graduated. I think one of the weaknesses that we had as a team is that we didn't have a connection between everybody.” Said Silver.

Since the first practice, Silver knew that the team would perform strong this year, but as the season progressed, they seemed to get a wake-up call.

“In the beginning of the season I thought that things were going to be a breeze because I knew that Rockville is very good at softball. But once we got into the games, we started to realize, ‘hey, maybe we’re not the best out here.’” Silver said. “We started to work harder at practice and before games. We try to pick each other up and push each other to do better.” She said.

And rest assured, the team has bonded throughout the season over their mutual love of softball which made playing together “a breeze”.

Teamwork has continued to grow within the various teams, as well as skill and knowledge about the game.

The girl’s lacrosse team is in it’s second varsity season and according to Shannon, the girls’ knowledge of the game has grown throughout the season. “We know how to play different types of defense and we are getting a lot smarter on offense.” She said.

The team has currently won two varsity games this season, which is a step in the right direction after winning no games in their first season as a varsity team.

Each team is unique in their own way, whether it be in their personalities, their strengths and weaknesses, or their overarching goals for the season.

The boy’s lacrosse team strived to build up their program within the school community to allow more players resting time.

The girl’s lacrosse team was working on building trust within the team, as well as their fan base both at home and away at games. “We play better with fans. It motivates us to perform better on the field.” Said Shannon.

“We want to be able to tell people that we are an actual team and that we actually win.” Peters said.

The boy’s baseball team was aiming to win the 2017 state title. They made it to the second round this year.

The girl’s softball team was working hard to help the underclassman work better together as one, not as individual positions. “the entire field needs to work together and connect with each other.” Silver said.

Some may attribute Rockville High School to being infamous for its arts programs rather than athletics, but athletics are what make up the pride and spirit of the school community.

“You don’t see one sport not sweating after a practice, not all dirty from diving on the ground. Every single sport here just wants to win and love to win and loves the sport that they play. That’s something that I think Rockville High School is about.” Said Silver.

It is puzzling how the hard work of the athletes does not seem to translate on to the field. If each team is running for the balls, and sweating after each and every practice, why is Rockville notorious for losing games?

“Practices and games are a lot different. It takes more than just one practice to fix something that might happen in a game, and it’s kind of like that with life.” Silver said. “Things come and go, and all of a sudden, something will happen in a game that maybe did not happen in practice.” She continued. “You just have to work up to getting better at it.” She said.

And that is what each team does. It is noticeable in their school spirit as they walk through the halls, dressed in wacky outfits so that the rest of the school knows that they have a game.

Their creativity and excitement to be a part of the team is undeniable to the rest of the school.

Martinelli said that she went to a different school before she came to Rockville and she said that the dynamics between the two schools were so different.

“I feel like we are a very accepting, friendly school. Everyone is so close and nice to each other and that's why we have so much school spirit. We’re all just so supportive of each other and we just want the best for each other.” Said Martinelli.

Without school spirit, the athletic programs would be nowhere near what they are now. Most of the programs would most likely have died out and many of the students would not have the kind of opportunities that they have now.

“I love Rockville athletics and I’m proud to be part of that family.” Said Martinelli, and I am positive that the rest of the students and coaches feel the same way.

Photo from the 2017 RHS Yearbook