Written by houseparent, coach and player himself: Mr. Daum.
As the year kicks off (literally), we are excited at the involvement of our boys in a wide range of sports. From soccer and cross country to rugby and rowing, every boy in the house is involved in at least one sport after classes during the week.
Our newly arrived grade 8’s have been instrumental in bolstering the ranks of the rugby, soccer and cross country teams at the Middle School. Alejandro is doing double duty playing both rugby and soccer while Bobby, José and Claude join him on the rugby pitch and Pars, Bora and Ranon play soccer. Joel is also doubling up playing soccer and running cross country with David. Amos has decided to wait until basketball season to join a team and so he is active two nights a week playing with the intramural basketball group.
At the Senior School, four brave grade 9 boys have joined the rugby team without ever having set foot on the rugby field before. Christian, David, Nick and Jacky have already travelled to Vancouver for a game (and victory!) against Mulgrave and all showed themselves to be fierce competitors and excellent sportsmen. Their season will run until mid-November and hopefully we will see them out again in March when the Junior Rugby team starts up. Like Amos, Jack is anxiously awaiting the start of basketball season to join a team and is in the gym most nights playing with the intramural group. Derry is involved with a unique intramural option called Whole Body Fitness that sees him working up a sweat in the fitness center twice a week and getting into top form!
Our grade 10 boys who are excited for the rugby season in the spring are keeping themselves busy this fall in a variety of sports and intramurals. Dimitri is playing on the Junior A soccer team while Hank and Clement smash it up on the badminton court twice a week in intramurals. Hugh is preparing for the upcoming rugby season with extra trainings twice a week and will be moonlighting with the Velox Rugby Club.
Our senior boys, ever keen to get involved in as much as possible, are making quite the impact on the soccer field. No less than 8 boys are members of the Senior Boys B Soccer Team; an energetic, fun-loving and renowned team. David, Sean, Chris, Matthew, John, Jerry, Wilfred and Matt are all proudly wearing the SMUS colours, and in their first game of the year proved instrumental in the team’s success. Matt and David each scored a goal and Jerry was a passing machine setting up his teammates time after time. Sean put his pace to the test on defence and surprised even himself with how quick he was. The other boys were solid going both ways and the amount of cheering from the sideline was testament to the great energy and sense of fun that these boys bring to the game. Not to be outdone by their sheer numbers, William has been selected to play on the Senior A Soccer team and is making the house proud with his silky moves.
We have another three Boltonites representing the house off the field and out on the water with the rowing team. Anderson and Richard are back for a second season of heaving it out while Max returns for a third season as a veteran rower.
The gym is also busy with a couple of the boys preparing for basketball in the second term. Danny has recovered from his knee injury and is ready to take on a leading role in his final year with the Senior Team. He and Alex are both playing with the intramural team while Marco and Brian are playing badminton. Eric and Jee are getting ready for the beach next summer as they hit up the weight room twice a week for a full intramural workout.
Diego is preparing for the spring rugby season by playing rugby with the Castaway Wanderers Rugby Club outside of school and continues to improve every day.
We are all very proud of the time and energy these young man are committing to the pursuit of excellence in their academic and athletic pursuits and wish all the teams the best of success this term. It is so rewarding to watch them troop through the foyer with rosy cheeks and big grins after an afternoon or evening running, jumping, pulling, pushing, kicking, passing and having fun with their Bolton brothers.
Please keep checking back for photos of the various teams in action as the season progresses.