DHHS SPOTLIGHT

Druid Hills Winter Sports

Grace Salazar

December 5th, 2018

Emma Mitchell, a freshman, swims for our Varsity girls’ swim team. Some things she likes about swimming include the relief from stress it gives her, and because it’s a, “really nice sport” and she looks forward to it. She prefers swimming over other sports because there’s less stress on your joints, little to no injuries, and you work all your muscles. She’s been swimming since fourth grade. She has been apart of teams such as Medlock Pool (during summer), Emory (year round), and Clairmont Cudas.

Swimming is special to her because she’s been doing it for a long time, and because she’s good at it. She’s currently playing her first season for a school team. She says meets are very organized, and that she and her team like to arrive thirty minutes in advance. She loves to cheer on fellow teammates and to have them cheer her on. She first got involved when she was looking for a sport to do over summer and joined the Medlock pool team. She plans on swimming through senior year, then continuing it as a hobby, or professionally if possible. Mitchell says that she’d, “absolutely love to do it as a job.”

Ted Shepherd, a junior, swims for our Varsity boys’ swim team. What he likes about Varsity swim is the good exercise he gets from it, and how fun it is to be apart of the team. He plays other sports for Druid Hills, such as cross country and tennis. Although he plays for many, he likes swimming the most because he’s in water, so he can stay refreshed and not get too hot. Ted’s been swimming for a long time, since he was just four years old. His first team was with Dynamo Swim Club, which he joined when he was five. After that, from ages nine to eleven, he was with Swim Atlanta. At age 12 he joined the Emory kids swim team, then took a break during middle school. His first school swim team was with Druid Hills, which he joined in ninth grade and has continued every year since. In total, he’s been swimming with teams for twelve years.

What makes swimming so special to him is the fact that he’s been doing it for so long, and because he likes being in the water. He says meets are lots of fun because he’s with his friends the whole time, the meets are competitive, and because you aren’t swimming the whole time. His goals for his swimming career are to win races and hopefully continue into college. He wouldn’t consider swimming as his profession, but he does want to keep it as a hobby and get better over time. One of his idols in the sport is Michael Phelps.

Sydney Taylor, a senior playing for the girls’ Varsity basketball team, likes many things about the sport. She loves how fun it is, and how close she’s gotten with her teammates. She’s been playing since she was seven years old, the same age when she joined her church league. When she was 10, she joined the Toby Grant Recreational team. She continued playing for them and then played for Druid Hills Middle School during her eighth-grade year. She played on and off for AAU teams.

Taylor’s played for the high school all four years, playing for Junior Varsity in ninth, tenth, and some of eleventh grade. In the middle of her eleventh-grade season, she switched to Varsity and has continued playing for Varsity into her senior year. She says that during games there are lots of tension between teams and crowds and lots of energy, but that after a while you relax and play the game. She first got involved when her mom and church recommended she play, and after realizing how much she liked it, she continued playing. She plans to play basketball for college and other teams if possible but would like to only play as a hobby after high school. She would love the play for a profession, but she hasn’t planned for it and won’t push for it, saying “if it happens, it happens.”

Her goal for the team is to make it to state this year, and for herself to become a better defensive player. Her idol is Alex Bentley from Atlanta Dream.

Ty Wills, a junior, plays for the boys’ Varsity basketball team. He likes playing because it’s fun, and because he believes you do more in basketball than any other sport. He loves being apart of a team, but also being able to show his personal skills on the court. He prefers basketball over other sports because it’s, “fast-paced, not boring, and very exciting”. He played for the in eighth grade, at The Museum School. Prior to joining the school’s team, he played recreationally at the YMCA since he was seven years old.

Basketball is special to him because he loves his teammates and how fast paced it is, and that it never gets boring. His first year playing for Druid Hills High School was freshman year, when he joined the ninth grade team. His sophomore year was spent with Junior Varsity, and now Varsity in junior. He says games are fun, and he enjoys the pressure of competing against others while people are watching. He got involved because he always wanted to get into it, saying he enjoyed watching people play during games he’d been to and seen on TV.

He wants to continue as far as he can go, and to definitely finish high school playing it. He wants to try joining his college team, hoping to get a scholarship for his skills. His goals are to get to a professional level, like his idol Russell Westbrook of Oklahoma City Thunder.

Ansley Glass, a freshman playing for the girls’ junior varsity team, loves basketball. She loves when hard work pays off, one example being, “when you’re able to make a move to the basket and get an ‘and one’ (when you get a layup with contact and it still gets in).” She said she also likes it because it’s one of the easiest sports to get into. She’s been playing for school teams for two years, starting in seventh grade with Druid Hills Middle School. She began playing the game in fourth grade for her church, because of her dad. It’s special to her because her dad, who’s also her influencer, played it.

She said games are stressful and intense before you get into them, but that it gets out of your head once you start playing. She said she’s definitely going to play and finish through high school, and maybe college if she gets into their team. She wouldn’t continue as a profession, but would love to continue to play as a hobby. Her idol is her out of school personal trainer, “TJ”.

Harry Gewirtz, a freshman with the boys’ Junior Varsity team, likes basketball. He thinks it’s very fun, exciting, a good experience, and he loves interacting with his teammates and meeting new people. He likes that it’s a very fast paced, action packed sport. He began playing for fun in first grade when he was seven years old, and joined his first team Haygood Hoops in second grade. For third grade he joined Glenn basketball, and continues to play for them to this day. He played for Druid Hills Middle School for seventh and eighth grade, and continued his career when he joined the high school’s team. Basketball is special to him because he feels “really good when all the hard work pays off.” He said games are very intense, fun, and are packed with good energy.

He first got involved when he started watching it on TV, and decided he wanted to play as well. He plans on continuing through high school and college if given the opportunity. He would like to continue as a profession if he can, and he said hopefully he’ll get a scholarship offer to play in college. His idol is Malik Benlevi with GA State.

Cole Deschenes-Worboy, a freshman, plays for our ninth grade team. He likes playing because it’s super fun, he loves playing with his teammates, working out, and he has a great head coach (Coach Reggie). He also likes the fact that it’s a team game, but that it also depends on personal performance. He’s been playing since he was six years old, but his first time playing with a team was with Haygood Hoops starting second grade. He joined Glenn basketball in third grade, and continues to play for it now. He played for Druid Hills Middle School for seventh and eighth grade, and continued into high school. It’s special to him because he loves the satisfaction of making a score. Games for him are intense and suspenseful but still fun, and he says his teammates are like family and that it’s a great experience.

He first got involved in second grade when all his friends joined the Haygood Hoops team, and he wanted to play with them. He realized he liked the sport, and has continued to play ever since. He plans on continuing until he has to stop, whether that be from not making any more teams or from old age, or injury. He’s going to finish playing for high school, and hopefully get onto his college’s basketball team. He wants to play in the NBA, but doesn’t plan on continuing professionally unless the opportunity is offered to him. His idol is Ethan Happ, a player for the University of Wisconsin.