As a result of COVID-19, Hill sports looked a bit different this year. Stands were empty, masks were on, and students received COVID-19 tests each week. It was hard to imagine a positive playing environment with all these restrictions. For three of our biggest winter sports, basketball, wrestling and hockey, these changes seemed difficult. Even with those setbacks, these teams managed to have a productive season. 

Chris Bala ‘97, boys ice hockey coach from Hill, talked about coaching during the pandemic: “I’m very proud of the guys for not complaining and being resilient. It was challenging adapting to the rules, but since they were kind of like the fall everything began to fall into place.”

Many agree that the highest point of the season was competing against other teams. “Having to play the same team back to back was also really odd. That’s something I’ve never done before,” said Noah Macielag ‘23.

Louis Gimbert ‘21 discussed his experiences as a winter varsity athlete during H-Term and how there is a lack of energy at the games: “The rink is normally hyped up at Friday and Saturday night games. It’s weird having only us leave the rink at the end of the game.” 

While H-Term classes and school work were still taking place during the Low Residency Program, Hill made it accessible to do both. “It is great because it’s only in the mornings so we have more time to worry about hockey,” Gimbert said.

Despite not having a typical senior banquet and senior night, Gimbert said, “It’s great that we are able to practice and make most of what we have.” In November, Hill announced that Coach Bala was resigning from his spot as hockey coach. “This is a special year, not just for me as a senior but for the rest of the players since these are our coaches’ last season.”

When it came to games and matches, schedules were not set in stone. “We were unsure what to expect on the weekend, so practice was just practicing for who knows what,” said Luke Wareham ‘22.

A recurring theme that many athletes noted is how undetermined things are. “It’s hard practicing as we don’t really know what we are practicing for. The weekends are very uncertain since we don’t know what is planned and what may be canceled,” said wrestler Samuel Beckett ‘22.

Jared Treat ’24 expressed his thoughts on his H-Term experience as a new varsity player. “I was going into this year with very low expectations for athletics, but having H-term certainly improved the year for all winter varsity athletes. I am very thankful that I was able to play hockey and work every day for hours. I know most schools aren’t able to have this luxury due to COVID-19, but Hill did an excellent job making it happen for us. Even though we only had two games, having a present audience would have been exciting and memorable for my first game and others. I definitely enjoyed my first season of Hill hockey, and I am looking forward to next year. The improvement I saw in myself, and my teammates made this season worth it. Hill’s precautions with COVID-19 surely got on a lot of people’s nerves at times. Still, they handled and are handling the pandemic perfectly for the Hill community,” Treat stated.

Noah Macielag ’23, a returning Hill hockey player, said, “Last year I was JV, so moving up to varsity was fun but a little disappointing because of the pandemic. Game days were different, and, although it was nice, it was sad only having Mrs. and Mr. Lehman in the stands cheering us on. Our season was cut short, but I feel many of us are relieved too; practice every day can really wear you out.”

One good thing that came out of teams boarding on campus was the bonds made. “The best part of all of this is that the boys got to bond in the dorms and found a new love for Formula One,” Macielag said. “We came out of this learning more about each other than we did before,” said Grisham Vazirani ‘21.

Hill girls basketball player Riley Neiswender ‘23 said, “Playing a varsity sport in the midst of a pandemic was definitely hard at times, but the relationships and experiences I got out of it were unbelievable.” 

As Bala said, “Hill has done an excellent job with keeping everyone safe while having fun. As a coach and alumnus I am impressed and proud of our school.” 

On Feb. 13, the wrestling team traveled to Saltsburg, Pa. to verse Kiski School in a match. “Kiski didn’t have too many guys; some people got two matches as others got one,” Grisham said. In a normal season wrestlers have to watch their weight and compete every weekend. “Things weren’t as uptight and everyone could worry about working on their skills. I had low expectations as nothing was guaranteed. We practiced with them and also played small games like dodgeball and spikeball,” Grisham added. 

While wrestling is all physical contact, it was hard to come up with alternatives for the sport. Hunter Sloan ‘23, a new student this year at Hill, said: “Wrestling is very difficult to do during COVID as it’s an all contact sport. I didn’t get to wrestle that much in the summer as my parents were concerned about COVID. My dad’s a doctor, so we were hoping everything would be cleared up by now for the season, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. It’s hard seeing some of the top 20 ranking guys when I used to beat them pre-COVID. If there were any competitions it was in Florida or other states which was hard to travel to while being at Hill. The good thing is we haven’t had any outbreaks on the team or bad injuries, so that’s good. We also have a dual tomorrow at Kiski so I am excited to see how that goes. It’ll be fun to wrestle again!”