As the winter season comes to an end, so do our Lodi winter sports. Both the girls’ and boys’ basketball, wrestling, and hockey teams performed at their best this season and played to their strengths. Sometimes in sports, the score is not the most important thing, but how the team has grown throughout the season. We interviewed some of the players from each sport to hear their thoughts on how the season went.
It is important to remember to have fun during the season, and you never know what might happen in a game. Gavin Sergeant’s oop dunk from half-court was one of Brian Meitzner’s favorite highlights from the season. The boy’s and girls’ basketball teams had many highlights over the season including pulling out many victories. The girl’s basketball team had a crushing victory of 70-21 against Portage, and 71-37 against River Valley as some of their highlights.          When asked what their greatest accomplishment was, Brian, one of the senior captains on the boys’ basketball team, responded by saying, “Sticking with it and pulling out some wins that people didn’t think we could beat like Evansville and Portage.”

At the end of their season both teams had really come a long way from when they first started, “I think that everyone is really learning that it takes a lot more than just a few individuals to be a team and you got to put in a lot of work to actually be successful and I think everyone’s kind of learning a little bit of humility and getting humbled a lot,” says Brian after being asked what he thinks something that has taken away from the season.
In addition to having an amazing sports program at Lodi, we are also lucky for people to be able to participate in co-ed boys’ and girls’ hockey teams. A team needs to set goals for themselves in order to achieve the things they want. We asked Gabe Larson, senior co-captain of the co-ed hockey team if he could describe the team in one word what would it be? He told us, “Productive, start at the bottom with a rough season and have to expect to work for it. As the season went on we got more and more productive.” You have to expect to work towards your goals, and in the end, it is the only way to grow and get better.

Also, no matter what challenges a team may face they have to work together to keep going. “At the end of the day you just go to keep your head up no matter what,” said Gabe in reply to the question of what he has taken away from the hockey season.
The most successful teams don’t just grow as individuals, but build off of each other and grow as a team. The Lodi wrestling team has had a good stride this season winning multiple matches and sending six individuals to state. Zane Licht, a senior captain, says that their greatest accomplishment this season is, “Winning the DeForest tournament, we just won our 30th straight conference title.”

Looking back on past memories of the season is important so that you can reflect. We asked Zane what the best highlight from the season was and he replied by saying, “Nine champs at the conference and just seeing the team grow and hopefully being able to make it to team state.” While being a part of a team there are many different opportunities and challenges, sometimes looking to fellow teammates for advice is the best help someone can get. We asked Zane what something he took away from this season and his response was, “Looking up to other guys and asking for help can help you improve by a lot. Everyone got each other’s backs.”

     In short, the athletics department is full of very dedicated and talented individuals who must come together and grow as a team in order to achieve their goals in the long wrong. The Lodi winter sports season was extremely successful and both our players and teams made huge strides we look forward to seeing them grow even more in the future.