Congratulations to the following students who received awards this past Saturday. The athletes received their distinctions in Gym B. Teams were scheduled at a specific time of arrival. The coaches talked about each awardee highlighting the athletes’ effort, dedication, and coachability.

Receiving the Award of Excellence were:

Stephanie Morin, 9th-grade Volleyball

Grace Grabowski, JV Volleyball

Maggie Xu, Volleyball

Sarah Laughlin, Unified basketball

Damian Sperrazza, JV Football

Lucas Maregni, Varsity Football

Skyler Shapiro, JV Boys Track

Daniel Glickman, Varsity Boys Track

Viveca Winston-Khan, Varsity Girls Track

Amanda Hart, JV Girls Track

Sade Arguello, Cheerleading

Avery Golub, Dance

110 % Award

Martha Haywood, Cheer

Luisa Pedreira, Dance

William LaCamera, Football

Jonathan Orelowitz, Indoor Track

Kaitlyn Shaughnessy, Indoor Track

Abebe Ticktin, Unified Basketball

Sabrina Ishanyan, Volleyball

DCL All-stars:

Hannah Balcanoff, Volleyball

Anthony Maregni, Football

Giovanni Rodriguez, Football

Thanks to its car wash fundraiser, the Cheerleading team is $765 closer to making their camp dream possible. They are thankful for the help that the cheer parents offered and to all who stopped by to make the event a success. Keep an eye out for more washes this spring!

COVID-19 Student Testing Required for Student-Athletes 

COVID-10 testing is now mandated for high school extracurricular activities. This is a mandate not only for students participating in athletics but for any students participating in in-person extracurricular activities.

If your student participates in any in-person extracurricular activity, they must be enrolled and participate weekly in our pool testing program. Here are the steps to enroll:

1. Complete the opt-in in Aspen (here’s the link)
2. High school students then create an account at JCM (do it here) for access to a QR code they use to check in their sample. PLEASE WAIT UNTIL MONDAY, APRIL 26 TO CREATE AN ACCOUNT WITH JCM.

We are excited to launch the Spring 2021 Athletic Experience, which includes all of its traditional programs. We are also offering Wrestling and Dance to our Spring schedules of events.

Throughout the year 2020-21, we have closely followed the MA Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) guidelines for athletic events for both our participants and our spectators, to ensure the safest possible conditions for all involved.

We are pleased to put forth the following policies on spectators for our Spring INDOOR and OUTDOOR events:

INDOOR EVENTS: Boys Volleyball, Dance and Wrestling (tentatively). For each HOME participant, two immediate adult family members are permitted to attend an event. Additionally, 2 family members of AWAY participants may attend an event. Attendees have to bring their DCL lanyard in order to enter the games home or away. Contact tracing will remain in effect and family check-in lists will be utilized at the indoor venue.

In addition, we will continue to stream indoor games for the fans to enjoy from home. The links will be posted on our website and on social media on the day of the events.

OUTDOOR EVENTS: (Lacrosse, Track & Field, Baseball, Softball, Tennis, Unified Track) As the recently amended EEA guidelines have stated, home and away spectator allowance at outdoor stadium events are capped at a maximum of 50% seating capacity at the stadium venue, with socially distanced six-foot seating on those bleachers.

At open area venues, such as parks and ball fields, home and away spectators must wear appropriate masks or face coverings at all times and remain socially distanced as much as possible.

The DCL Athletic Directors will continue to monitor information as it is made available from the EEA, DESE, and our local Boards of Health.

Please note that each district in our league has the ability to modify this policy based on its own facility limitations and/or local Board of Health restrictions.

It is our goal to focus on the health and safety of our community while safely permitting the appropriate opportunity to watch high school sports in person.

Our Cheerleading athletes and their coach are hosting a car wash on Monday, May 1 at the main entrance to South. Proceeds from the event will help the team attend cheer camps during the summer. Please swing by with your car and help the team reach its fundraising goal!

The Fall 2 Sports Season Awards day is TODAY! The awards will take place by the team appointment times noted below. Only students receiving awards for each program and their parents will attend the event. The slots are by program and include all levels of the sport.

The event will take place in Gym B.  Please enter by using the outside entrance doors.

Please note, that with Spring teams in session, times were selected to accommodate coaches and athletes participating in both seasons.

Schedule:

10:00 AM- Girls Volleyball 3 levels

10:15 Unified Basketball

10:30 AM Football 2 levels

10:45 AM Girls Track 2 levels

11:00 Boys Track 2 Levels

11:15 Dance

12:30 PM Cheer – presentation will be held after car wash

Congratulations to all our Fall 2 athletes!

Newton South is excited to announce the addition of seven new spring season coaches to its staff. Please welcome:

Ed Neil, Baseball Varsity Assistant

Sarah Morse, Girls Lacrosse Varsity Assistant

Gabriel Cranberry, John Conroy, and Alan Chang, Boys Lacrosse Assistant Coaches

Kristen Hoffman, Girls Track

Joseph Eckstrom, Boys JV Tennis

NPS has made the decision to MANDATE TESTING for all high school extracurricular activities. This is a mandate not only for students participating in athletics but for any students participating in in-person extracurricular activities.

1. It’s a quick process to enroll:

1. Complete the opt-in in Aspen through the PARENT/FAMILY ACCOUNT (here’s the link!). 
2. Students then create an account at JCM (do it here!) enter your NPS email, select “Forgot Password prompt”, follow the email verification process, log in and the QR Code will appear. You can then take a picture of your QR code and you will use that same code every week that you test.
3. For the first time you are going to test, you can either go to the main office to pick up a test kit, or come to the faculty dining room at the times listed further down in the email below.
4. If step b. above is too confusing or you get stuck, as long as your parent/guardian completed step a. above, you can just show up to the South testing center on the designated days (more info below) and a staff member will give you a test kit with instructions and we will also gladly give you your QR code that you will need each week when you come to test (taking a picture of the QR code with your phone is a common strategy that works since most students always have their phone with them).

*Over the next two weeks, due to the special schedules for MCAS, the testing center hours will be slightly different than this past week. Please follow the schedule below beginning on Monday and continuing through May 11th:

Weeks of May 3rd and 10th:

Monday, May 3rd and May 10th:

• The testing center will be open from 12:00 – 1:00 pm in the Faculty Dining Room …located next to the cafeteria in the hallway near the lecture hall—AVAILABLE FOR ALL IN-BUILDING STUDENTS

Tuesday, May 4th and May 11th:

• • The testing center will be open from 12:00 – 1:00 pm in the Faculty Dining Room …located next to the cafeteria in the hallway near the lecture hall—AVAILABLE FOR ALL IN-BUILDING STUDENTS

Tuesday, May 4th and May 11th:

• • The testing center will be open from 3:45 to 4:30 pm in the Faculty Dining Room…located next to the cafeteria in the hallway near the lecture hall–designed for students who are distance learning who are involved in extracurricular activities regularly at South

As a way to incentivize participation in the pool testing program, we have purchased Dunkin’ gift cards that we have then placed into random test kits. When students come to submit a test and pick up another test for the following week, they may be among the lucky winners who pick up a kit that contains a gift card. Another reason to SIGN UP FOR TESTING IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY!

Three Newton South captains attended the MIAA virtual captains workshop this month. Girls Soccer Team Captains Tess Ertel, Isabella Lanzillo and Francesca Toro along with Girls Tennis Captain Jillian Reingold attended the virtual conference. We look forward to seeing our athletes becoming strong leaders on and off the sports fields.

The Fall 2 Sports Season Awards day is TODAY! The awards will take place by the team appointment times noted below. Only students receiving awards for each program and their parents will attend the event. The slots are by program and include all levels of the sport.

The event will take place in Gym B.  Please enter by using the outside entrance doors.

Please note, that with Spring teams in session, times were selected to accommodate coaches and athletes participating in both seasons.

Schedule:

10:00 AM- Girls Volleyball 3 levels

10:15 Unified Basketball

10:30 AM Football 2 levels

10:45 AM Girls Track 2 levels

11:00 Boys Track 2 Levels

11:15 Dance

12:30 PM Cheer – presentation will be held after car wash

Congratulations to all our Fall 2 athletes!