While the official beginning of winter (Dec. 21) is yet to arrive, the winter sports season was kicked off nationally on Oct. 29. There are currently five sports at the school set to run from November and into January. The new season consists of three separate sports and five different teams: girls and boys basketball, girls and boys soccer, and co-ed wrestling.

For most teams this year, however, the season did not begin on a high note. With wildfires like Butte County’s Camp Fire rampaging throughout California, most of the teams, especially ones like soccer that practice outdoors, were forced to cancel practices and tryouts in conjunction with the North Coast Section air quality index. Senior captain of the girls soccer team Mia Santander shared about what affects the smoke had on the start of the season.

“There was smoke so tryouts had to be shortened. Some girls didn’t go because their parents [were] worried about it. Our team camp, where we get most of our training in before our first game, had to be shortened. Also, we had to be in the gym for some of the days, which is still good training, but [is] not the same as being on a field. So that set us back — we didn’t get as much training in,” said Santander.

Despite the rough beginning, the winter season brings some positive changes for the future. The school’s athletic director, Rick O’Brien, explains how the setbacks have minimally affected the long-term schedule and also introduces a new opportunity for the girls and boys soccer teams.

“The smoke days didn’t change anything. Obviously, there were teams, especially our soccer team [that] practice outside, so all of those practices were canceled. Indoor—they don’t have an air quality index. However, on the side of caution, we actually made some decisions to cancel practices on the bad days, just for the safety of our athletes. But other than that, schedule-wise, nothing has changed,” said O’Brien. “Both girls and boys now have a state championship. So that’s a big change for soccer. And that’s ultimately why our soccer moved to winter. The whole state now plays winter soccer, except for the Northern schools.”    

Santander explains the motivation that the introduction of a state championship has brought to the team.

“Before, there weren’t enough teams [and] we were kind of limited to how far we could go, but now most people are in winter so we can play. We always had the goal to get to playoffs but now it’s even more important to us because we know we could go further and work harder for that,” said Santander.