Head Coach Paul Tortorella ’80 (Boys Hockey):
There is no season, and there will likely not be enough Senior hockey players to have any kind of planned workout. I [plan to] stay optimistic by continually studying the game and building relationships with all the constituents of the hockey program: applicants, current players, parents, fellow coaches, alumni, junior coaches, and college coaches. The program is actually getting stronger during the pandemic. There are so many parts to the job that it is easy to keep busy. To be a coach is to be an optimist. It’s just more of a two-year season than a one-year season.
Head Coach Terrell Ivory ’00 (Boys Basketball):
I plan on doing some gatherings via Zoom… We normally don’t get to do that, and that was amazing. I think it was good for the kids, and not just for basketball, but for all the kids who were able to play sports and do some physical activity and work with their coaches knowing that the Fall season was canceled. That is an important part of what we do at [Andover], and obviously academics are really, really important, but there is [a] balance where kids are getting exercise and working out and feeling healthy, so it was good to be able to work with the kids. When the Seniors do come back, my hope is that we can do something similar.
Head Coach Keith Robinson ’96 (Nordic Skiing):
If I get the Seniors back, I think that we will hopefully get outside and ski, and in some ways, it will be nice to not worry about competition and just be able to enjoy the sport. Also, without the competition, it makes [the sport] different in terms of the training side of it. We don’t have that structure of working towards a race so we will just have to work on figuring out what makes sense for everybody.
Head Coach David Fox (Boys Swimming & Diving):
All of us returning to the team feel so fortunate to have had the chance to finish the 2020 season. This year, I think it has been clear for a long time that we would not all be on campus practicing together this winter. Because swimming is time-based, we can have virtual competitions. As long as we are able to have students on campus next Winter Term, then we will be able to have a pretty normal competitive season, even if we are still not able to be in the same pool area at the same time as a team from another school.
Head Coach Kassie Archambault ’06 (Wrestling):
We actually made a lot of good progress in November, and we saw a lot of our wrestlers improve their technique in those two weeks. We were forced to be creative, and I think we’ll keep a lot of the drills that we modified this year due to Covid-19 because they do a good job at teaching and practicing skills. While we can’t practice and compete this year, we’re still hoping to gather as a team once a week, share how we are training at home, and analyze footage from last year, which will help both our new wrestlers and our returning wrestlers improve.
Head Coach Jennifer Elliott ’94 (Girls Squash):
Right now, we are just finding ways of connecting. We did a Zoom with [alumni] on Friday, looking to see if folks want to do online workouts together, connect with [Strength and Conditioning Coach Chris] Collins for strength and conditioning, [and] see if we can offer some yoga classes. I was really happy to be able to have time with the players in November at the courts and spend time together and now we are just trying to think about ways to connect remotely. But I am hoping that we will have enough Seniors back that we will be able to play in February with each other at least.
