Mia Shields

From wrestling mats to soccer fields and basketball courts, winter sports’ seasons are at peak excitement as we quickly approach December. With the soccer and basketball teams continuing their seasons, and the varsity wrestling team’s first matches just around the corner, not even a week off of school could dull excitement for Miami Palmetto Senior High’s December sports. 

Coming off her fourth game in one week, senior and Varsity Girls’ Soccer captain Catherine Green feels optimistic about the team’s season so far, despite losing multiple strong senior players last year. Her main focus is making sure the team can grow and improve together as they progress through the season.

“The season’s been going pretty well. We started with a kind of newer team this year — we lost a lot of seniors last year and then a lot of girls got injured,” Green said. “So it’s been all about building chemistry and building team dynamic and making sure we all play well together.”

As for the rest of the season, Green plans to continue the team’s strong offensive performance and focus on helping their defense improve.

“We’ve been focusing a lot more on our attacking aspects now, in the sense that we have more confidence than we did last year in scoring and shooting,” Green said. “I want to focus on our defense: I think it needs to be built stronger.”

With a team so full of talent, it is beyond difficult to spotlight players. However, according to Green, certain standout players are especially worth keeping an eye on.

“I think some of the standout players this year are definitely [freshman] Raya Kempler, [freshman] Bria Sharpe, [freshman] Daovy Acevedo, [junior transfer] Cooper Ricklick — she’s been doing great. Those are some of our newer players that have been coming into the team now — freshmen, and then transfers — that have been a real, huge impact on our team,” Green said.

Along with the soccer season, MPSH’s basketball season is well underway for both the boys’ and girls’ teams. Coming off their home opener on Nov. 30 with a 2:2 season record so far, Boys’ Basketball Head Coach Alex Ordoqui feels hopeful about the upcoming season despite theyounger-than-average team.

“[The season’s] been going good so far. We have a very young team. We only have one senior [Joshua Lipson] and unfortunately, he got hurt in the first preseason game three minutes in so he hasn’t played yet. We’re hoping to get him back really soon,” Ordoqui said. “So the rotation has been mostly a couple of juniors with freshmen and sophomores. It’s a young team that’s learning and growing day by day, but we think our best basketball is ahead of us.” 

With a team on the younger side, Ordoqui has had to make changes to some of the training methods he used last year. However, MPSH basketball’s style of fast and action-packed gameplay has stayed a staple of the team.

“With a younger team, [I’ve] just [been] breaking down things more simply and building stuff from the bottom all the way up,” Ordoqui said. “But realistically, stylistically, we’re very similar [to last year]. We play very fast. We shoot a lot of threes. That kind of hasn’t changed.”

Although the team is young, it is far from untalented. When asked about standout players students should keep an eye on, the proud coach had more than a few names in mind.

“[Junior] Santiago Henriquez. Starting point guard, very good shooter. Very good ball handler, plays the game with a lot of passion, has been our leading scorer so far this year, averaging around 24-25 [points] a game right now. And he’s someone that just spends all day in the gym. His work ethic is through the roof. [Senior] Joshua Lipson. I mentioned, he’s been banged up, obviously, we’re hoping to get him back really soon,” Ordoqui said. “Devin McIntyre, sophomore guard. Very talented. He’s getting better day by day. [Sophomore] Jonathan Weir is one of our starters as well. You’re not going to find too many kids that play harder than him. And offensively, he’s getting better every single day.”

In addition to the upperclassmen and sophomore stars, three freshmen have been huge assets to the varsity team: Marcos Alberich, Samfree Sarante and Sebastian Madera.

“I’ve been coaching for 10 years. I’ve never had a freshman on Varsity. We have three freshmen on varsity this year, and all three of them already made a start this year. Marcos Alberich, very talented shooter. Samfree Sarante is another very talented shooter. Very good overall player, and they’re both freshmen so obviously [they’re] getting a lot of Varsity experience and we expect a lot of big things from them. And then the other freshman is Sebastian Madera, who’s six foot five, and his game is growing day by day,” Ordoqui said.

Above all the wins and titles the players are aiming for, Ordoqui is focused on one thing: improvement. With this type of team, he believes the most important thing is simply keeping up the effort to grow in skill throughout the season. With an emphasis on training, Ordoqui has a positive outlook on future games.

“I’m very optimistic. I think with our youth we’re not going to do anything but improve. I think our work ethic and kind of the culture of our program right now is getting to where we want it to be,” Ordoqui said. “And I just think we’ll continue to improve every day. I think we’ll be a much better team in February than we are now at the beginning of December.”

As for the Varsity Wrestling team, they have finally reached their first match on Dec. 1 after a month of hard work in preparation for the season. According to sophomore and Varsity Wrestler Drake Bonney, the training was especially rigorous this year. 

“[Coach] is a lot more focused on wrestling hard all practice instead of breaks. There’s more emphasis on strength training and conditioning [than last year],” Bonney said.

With a main goal of winning a state title at the end of the year, Bonney is excited to have the opportunity to wrestle with his teammates and become the best athlete he can be. With this motivation and, like many others on his team, he feels more than ready for his first match. 

“I’m confident. I know I have a bunch of tough wrestlers tomorrow [Dec. 1], but it’s not really affecting me in any way,” Bonney said.

According to Bonney, there are two main ways to support MPSH’s wrestling program: donations and attendance at their matches.

“We have a Snap! Raise account where you can donate. And you can go to the matches, usually on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Most of the time our away meets are on Saturdays,” Bonney said.

Green and Ordoqui also urge students to show up and watch their games, especially the home ones. Another way to support MPSH’s teams is to follow their official Instagram pages: 

Boys Soccer: @miamipalmettosoccer

Girls Soccer: @mpshgirlssoccer

Boys Basketball: @palmettobasketball

Girls Basketball: @mpshgbasketball

Wrestling: @palmettopantherwrestling