This week marked the transition from winter to spring sports.  Track and tennis practice are in full swing, with matches and meets beginning in March.  We celebrate the winter sports season for our basketball and bowling athletes next Tuesday night (please email Tony Butler if you have not RSVPed yet).  We did honor the basketball teams in Morning Meeting this week - girls on Tuesday and boys on Wednesday.  I said then, and firmly believe, that the basketball season is the toughest for student-athletes.  It lasts for four months, stretches over two major school breaks (during which the players continue to practice), and involves a significant amount of travel throughout the state.  The girls' season was not easy, and yet they hung in there, notched a solid win, played a number of other close games, and ultimately came together as a team and got better as individual players.  I think that counts as a success!  As for the boys, I said that there are three things for everyone to know about them as a team:  one, they ended with 14 victories, shattering the previous school record of nine; two, they finished with a .500 record, which is the first time that's happened in school history; and three, beyond these fabulous on-the-court accomplishments, the way I saw them treat one another and some Middle School players who joined them for a week late in the season to help round out a JV team was testament to who they are as people, not just players.  Our players were universally kind and supportive, not words often ascribed to teenage boy behavior, but exactly what we know at St. Francis they are capable of.  I could not be more proud of them for all their achievements this season.  

Next week, along with the Winter Sports Banquet, we're back in action with community service on Thursday afternoon and it's "tech week" for our upcoming Showcase of Plays (student-written and student-directed), which will be performed March 7th and 8th.  Hope to see you there!