Roxbury High School (RHS) has multiple sports, but two sports have always taken over the fame and crowds no matter when in RHS history. Both basketball and football are always talked about. While baseball, volleyball, lacrosse, softball, and soccer aren’t as underrated as others, basketball and football are the most popular in the school. 

Swim

One of the first and most underrated sports in our high school is swimming. People think swimming is so easy just because they can swim, but they don’t understand how difficult swimming can be. Water is much denser than air, so there is much more resistance preventing swimmers from being able to move through it as quickly and freely. 

Swimming is also one of the most dangerous sports. The amount of injuries one can get from swimming is absurd. Unlike most sports, there is no “offseason” for swimmers. The only break that any of the athletes get is approximately two weeks at the end of the summer. In the end, swimming is one of the most difficult sports compared to other land sports. An anonymous source from a swimmer at RHS stated that he thinks swimming is underrated and has always been this way in history. 

Swimming consists of the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. Each individual competes individually, with the exception of relays. But in the end, the meet is scored as a team. There are about 11 events in a meet, and swimmers compete in distance from approximately 50 to 500 yards depending on the stroke. There are 46 swimmers on the RHS swim team.

There is a lot of competition and endurance to compete. History teacher and Swim coach, Mr. Gervasio states, “Unfortunately, swimming is commonly overlooked as a valuable sports program mainly because we must travel off-campus for all practices and meets. Due to this, the commitment, hard work, and successes of our Roxbury swimmers go unseen by many and underappreciated by most.” All the swimmers at RHS can all agree that swimming is one of the most difficult sports to play. 

Mr. Gervasio states accurately by saying, “Once spectators and fans are allowed to return to our swim meets, we would love to see the passionate Roxbury Gaels fanbase in the stands at CCM cheering us on and learning about our sport!” So come cheer the Gaels on when spectators are back!

Tennis

Another difficult and underrated sport is tennis. Maybe when you play it in the gym or for fun it seems easy, but there is a lot of running and effort that takes place to play this sport. It takes a great deal of training and hard work to be the best, just ask Serena Williams. She didn’t get to where she is today by just playing tennis as a hobby. She took the time to work for what she achieved. Knowing that you could be the next Serena Williams might change the way you look at tennis, while also the use of Safety Surfacing, is great for this sport and others. If you’re looking for tennis court painting, this could be the best option to achieve optimal results. For more information about padel tennis courts, you can click here.

For non-tennis players, it’s hard to comprehend what it actually takes to be a tennis player. While anyone can just pick up a tennis racket and ball, it isn’t as simple as it seems. It isn’t even technique that makes the sport so difficult, it’s the mentality. Anyone can become fit to play a match or two but it’s that match that can end up haunting you for years.  

Tennis can be so tiring and the worst thing is you can’t quit. Once they’re in the match, they have to play. The game of tennis requires every attribute an athlete can desire. A skilled tennis player needs power, endurance, agility, speed, and mental strength. You need to be tough, confident, focused, and most importantly, relaxed. 

Mr. Flynn, who teaches English, Creative Writing, and Screenwriting, is also the tennis coach.  He states, “You are correct that our sport is not as well known as some of the others. One of the main reasons is that we practice and play at CCM because there are no courts at the high school.” So go look at the tennis schedule on roxbury.org and check them out at CCM!

Golf

No one really knows there is a golf team in the high school, which is surprising because they are a good team and group of people. Golf matches are usually against 1, 2, or 3 other teams. They’re called a tri-match or quad depending on the number of teams involved. Usually, Roxbury only takes about 6 golfers to a match and after completing 9 holes at a golf course they take the top 4 scores from each team, add them, and the team with the least amount of points determines the winner for the match. 

Golf isn’t like mini-golf at all. People think, “oh it’s just a bigger game”. But it actually isn’t even close. Golf is a very competitive sport.  In terms of exercise, studies have shown that people who golf regularly, live longer lives than people who refrain from physical activity. Standard golf and miniature golf are both great games. 

Whether you like golf or not, these young RHS golfers should get more attention. Golf isn’t an easy sport; it requires strength, flexibility, and the mentality to have confidence. Having this in the back of your mind now can change the way you think of golf. So go tell your friends and those that think golf is easy, and inform them what is needed to play the sport. Not only is it a hard sport to play but it is also one of the most expensive sports in the entire world. 

Most people most likely have no idea what Roxbury golfers do at practices. Usually, training includes working on kills that are required in golf. These skills include putting, chipping, and the full swing. You can find the golf team at their home course at Black Oak CC in Long Valley. Make sure to come and cheer on RHS golf in their next match!

Hockey

The Stanley Cup playoffs magnify some of the greatest things about hockey in general. While many sports fans and commentators just recognize the hockey postseason, no one really appreciates the glory of it. While people talk about LeBron James and Aaron Judge’s next homerun, few bask in the delight of hockey. 

Hockey doesn’t get enough attention at all. Hockey is such a difficult sport and requires balance, skill, and most importantly a high pain tolerance. About 12,000 hockey players get hurt yearly. 50.9% of ice hockey athletes end up missing at least one game because of an injury. The crazy thing is over 85 players died from playing ice hockey. So the people who think Hockey is easy or gets way too much attention are wrong. They don’t get enough attention with or without it being a dangerous sport. 

Hockey season is usually overshadowed by football playoffs and the SuperBowl, the brackets for the NCAA basketball teams, and the beginning of rivals for baseball season soon coming. Hockey players have the exquisite strength and speed of baseball, basketball, and football players, but the thing that makes it even more impressive is how it all happens on ice on a half-inch metal blade. If you’ve ever gone ice skating, you would feel the struggle. 

One constant thing you see at hockey games is the fights. There is a lot of roughhousing in other sports but more so in hockey. It’s such a fast-paced sport that players will get feisty on the ice when they don’t agree on a call or have a rivalry with other teams. It’s usually an all-out brawl and will always add some spice to the game. From an anonymous student in RHS, hockey isn’t underrated in the school, but a different viewer, Katie Caron, another student at the high school disagrees and thinks hockey is underrated and doesn’t get enough attention. She says, “It’s my favorite sport. I love it more than anything and I wish it got more attention!”

Roxbury High School has many talented athletes who train hard to be the best they can be.  They put in a lot of time and effort.  We should support all RHS athletes, no matter what type of sport they play.  Be sure to view all the schedules on roxbury.org and see what our RHS teams have to offer.  Who knows, you may want to join one of the teams!