The crowd roars, the audience claps, and the team jumps as the final score results in a victory. That proud moment as your hard work pays off brings you connected to the sport and closer to your biggest goals. Terra Linda High School has amazing sports teams which have made it far in both MCAL and NCS throughout the years. Featured sports are girls varsity volleyball, girls varsity water polo, girls varsity basketball, track and field, boys JV soccer, boys varsity soccer and girls varsity soccer. These teams attend a daily practice with no exception to weekends, holidays, and school breaks.

Varsity girls volleyball team captain Olivia Quinby ended the season with an honorable mention as the team ranks 5th place in NCS. Quinby enjoys guiding teammates with new strategies and techniques. Whether the sport is tiring and additionally drains athletes, Quinby states “Yes, I think volleyball can be very tiring at times but at the end of the day you signed up for the sport and to be able to attend practices and games.” Winning more games than losing, she continues, “It feels really good when the team wins because you just know that all the practice is paying off and seeing your teammates grow from the beginning of the season to the end is very rewarding.” 

Track and Field team captain Marie Jones ended her 2021 season first in the county for triple jump. As the hard work begins to pay off, she feels The pressure, but it is cool to be able to experience the unexpected. Attending practice and meets 6 days a week may feel like way too much to handle but stated by Marie Jones “Yes we do receive enough break days and rest but there is practice on ski weeks and spring break.”

Varsity soccer team captain Davi Pinheiro helps the team thrive through the 2022 season as they place 2nd in MCALS and 4th in NCS. Having practice on days when there are no games leave the team feeling overworked and overwhelmed, especially those who participate in club soccer. After a winning record, Davi states “It feels great when the hard work pays off and seeing the team’s success.”

Alongside playing JV soccer, Cole Greene got recruited to play varsity as he supports and helps his teammates on their journey through MCALS and NCS. After a winning season has left Cole feeling “Wonderful and amazing seeing the growth and improvement after all the hard work.”

Naomi Kayser, one of the six team captains on the girls varsity basketball team, helped support the team leading them to placing 4th in MCALS. Staying strong through a long season as the overall score is 15-15 and 8-8 in MCALS. This team has finally made it to NCS after about 20 years. A few athletes that received some recognition at the end of the season are Bridget Boyle for most valuable player, Emily Carmona and Naomi Kayser as the most Inspirational players and Yusiry De Leon as she received the coaches award. The last shoutout was to Joelle Jones as she supported and cheered the team on from pre season through the end.      

Team Captain of the Varsity Girls soccer team Chippy Taylor helped the team through this long 2021 Fall season as the team placed 6th in MCALS and made it through the first round of NCS. She expresses that “the season was really fun and our team had many seniors this year so we were really close after playing with each other for so many years and throughout high school.” After achieving so many goals throughout the season she feels that they receive enough break days and they have practice on “3-5 days a week depending on game schedule and we have optional practices over winter breaks and Mondays on three day weekends.”

Senior water polo team player Petra Angstenberger has been competing on the team for 4 years now. As the team has practice 5 times a week, she does not feel like her and the team receive enough break days. The team is very dedicated and attends practice on school breaks, weekends and holidays. Overall she states that her experience on the team was “Great, I had a lot of fun playing and made so many friends.”

Despite having to balance students’ academic and athletic commitments, it seems that Terra Linda’s Student Athletes are able to find great value in their sport and the dedication that comes with the hard work and victory.