With the end of the school year comes the end of the season for high school sports at David Thompson Secondary School(DTSS). This season has been exceptionally good for many of the teams and athletes competing for DTSS. With a school of400 students and over 300 student athletes, the athletics at DTSS have been very busy with 22 competitive teams.
Sports at the school are separated into three categories — fall sports, winter sports and spring sports. In the fall the schoolhas boys soccer, cross country, bantam, junior and senior boys and girls volleyball. For winter the school offers curling,bantam, junior and senior basketball, and skiing and snowboarding. Spring sports include badminton, golf, track and fieldand girls soccer. This year the senior boys basketball team had a unique makeup of student athletes.
“This year there wasn’t enough to have a senior boys basketball team, in Golden and in Invermere so we just had one teambetween the two schools and this year it was Golden. So we had a couple of our kids go up there, next year they’re likely tocome down here. So it will be mostly our kids with a couple Golden boys.” said DTSS athletic director Becca Wright.
The teams all had a successful year according to Wright with girls soccer finishing second in the Kootenay zone, Thebadminton team also had a successful season with all the styles from individual, partner and co-ed teams. The team had anumber of top three finishes and personal bests by the student athletes. The track and field team was another program withtop three finishers that could qualify for provincials this year. One of the most successful teams this season was boys soccerwho competed at provincials for the first time in two years. At the last provincial championship in 2014 the team placed16th in the province.
“The boys soccer team qualified for provincials and did exceptionally well there this year. They came eighth in the province,which is huge for a small school. That was a big thing for them, to not only dominate Kootenay (region) but to go on and doso well. So they had an awesome, awesome, year” said Wright.
This season the ski and snowboard team had 20 students on the team that Wright said dominated the Kootenay zone andcompeted very well at provincials. The team has a 30-year history for the school and is by far the most successful team withmore East Kootenay and provincial banners than any other DTSS sports teams.
“It’s one of those sports (in which) our small mountain towns can really show their stuff,” said Wright.
Looking forward to next school year and the next season of sports at David Thompson Secondary School students need tobe thinking about the fall sports early in the school year. Students interested in trying out for any of the fall teams need tobe proactive about doing so the first few days of September. Senior and junior teams get started in the first week of schooland bantam teams start up in the second week of school.
“The first week of school kids should start paying attention to our announcements, our television screens and theirclassroom announcements,” said Wright.
The athletics department relies heavily on the support of the community for parent coaches and community volunteers tomake each team successful. Wright is very grateful for the support the community has given the athletic programs at DavidThompson Secondary School. The school is always looking for community coaches to help with the programs especially atthe bantam level. For next season the boys soccer team is also looking for a new head coach to take over the program. Anyinterested members of the public can contact Becca Wright for more information about volunteer and coachingopportunities with the athletic department.