Maroon & Gold~Athletics Highlights of the 2019~2020 Seasons

athletics NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR 2019–2020 SEASONS! BC HIGH

Ozzy Trapilo ’20 was one of only nineteen players named to the Massachusetts High School Football Coaches Association All-State Team. Congrats Ozzy!

Former Football and Baseball Captain Tom Conley ’08 has been named Assistant Athletic Director. Conley has spent the past seven years in the collegiate ranks, coaching Baseball at Bryant, Trinity College, Harvard, and Rutgers. During that time, Tom was also the head coach of the Pittsfield Suns in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League. Welcome back Tom!

The BC High Athletics program has been ranked nationally (#8), in Niche’s “Top 25 High Schools in America for Athletes”. This ranking is a reflection of our coaching staff and student-athletes, who exhibit hard work, teamwork, respect, and humility on a daily basis for the Eagles.

Coach Ryan Dacey has been named Boston Globe Ski Coach of the Year for the 2019-2020 winter season after leading the team to second 7

The #2 seed Varsity Hockey Team lost an OT thriller to St. John’s Prep, 3-2, ending their Super 8 run. The Eagles had a great season including defeating Central Catholic 4–1 to win the Pete Frates Holiday Tournament.

place in States, their best finish in school history. Congratulations to Coach Dacey and the entire BC High Ski Team!

Donald Ryan ’20 has set the BC High wrestling record for most wins. Going 4-0 to take the gold medal at the Whitman Hanson meet, he is now at 131 total wins while wearing the maroon and gold. He went on to place fourth at the D1 State Tournament. Congrats Donald! Varsity Lacrosse Coach Marcus Craigwell was recently featured in the Boston Globe in a piece on the opportunity to address racism through athletics. Our studentathletes bond with their fellow Eagles and coaches, developing a deep appreciation for the lived experience of others through vulnerability, teamwork, and a willingness to learn.

The #3 seed Varsity Basketball Team's exciting playoff run came to an end against Brockton, 70-60. Previously, the Catholic Conference Champion Eagles had rallied after a first half deficit to best Catholic Memorial 55-50 in front of a soldout McNeice Pavilion. 7

Congratulations to the Class of 2020 student-athletes who will be continuing their athletic careers at college!

bound college

BASEBALL:

Aidan Carey • Bowdoin Michael Dragon • Merrimack Luke Linnehan • Bates Pat Roche • Boston College Justin Wells • Tufts

FOOTBALL:

Joey Brink • Bowdoin Tim Ladka • Bowdoin Ozzy Trapilo • Boston College

GOLF:

Jack O'Donnell • Michigan

LACROSSE:

Aidan Carroll • Georgetown Michael Curran • Connecticut College Liam McCarthy • St. Anselm's Aidan Sullivan • Salisbury Zach Swanson • RPI

ROWING:

Baringer Lovaas • George Washington Grigsby Lovaas • George Washington

SOCCER:

Cooper Robards • Hobart

Q A &

DR. STEVE DURANT ’71

Addresses the End of Spring Season

When Governor Baker announced that school campuses would remain closed for the year, the slim chance of a shortened spring sport season was over. As student-athletes across the state tried to process this loss, we at BC High had a phenomenal resource: Massachusetts General Hospital Psychologist Dr. Steve Durant ’71. A former football player at BC High, Dr. Durant stayed active by playing Rugby for the Wolfhounds well into his sixties.

Q: Working with athletes from the professional, collegiate, and high school levels – Has anything in your 40+ years of experience helped you prepare for something as extreme as this, seasons getting cancelled at all levels?

A: “Well, professionally, I’ve had a lot of experience with people who have gone through their own trauma and – I had my own little experience with fear and serious injury, so that does give me some foundation for trying to navigate these rough waters. Also, here in Boston, we had the experience of the lockdown during the Marathon Bombing and nationally with the post 9/11 response. But due to the global nature of this pandemic and its economic fallout, there perhaps is even more anxiety and fear. We recover from anxiety and fear as we can re-establish some sense of relative safety and predictability. We get the best advice from our professionals like Dr. Fauci and we take reasonable steps for protecting ourselves and each other. We then do our best to accept the situation and come up with the next best thing we can do. We recognize we are not alone and take steps to stay in contact. We recognize we can manage our fear, sadness and anger and we find those moves that we can make that help us adjust and stay connected.”

Q: How difficult is it for a BC High student-athlete to hear that the spring season is over, and yet with the quarantine still in effect, process the finality of the season without the company of their teammates, classmates, and coaches?

A: “It is very painful, to state the obvious. And it does no good in my opinion to skirt that issue or plaster a happy face emoji on it. Parents naturally do not like to see their kids suffer so they may try and coax teens out of their bad feelings. I am more of the opinion that we should be aware of those feelings without immediately jumping to judge or eliminate them. We move to accept them as a natural human response to a bad situation. We are aware of what we are going through emotionally. We move to accept it and we commit to the next best thing to do. In terms of advice, I would go back to the #1 Rule of Emotional Health – do not suffer alone. Stay connected to your Go-To people and your Go-To behaviors. For student-athletes, if you want to avoid your parents hovering over you and incessantly asking how you’re doing, then demonstrate your ability to check in with them on your own. Your parents are often your best Go-To's, but coaches, captains, teachers, best friends, girlfriends, uncles, aunts, grandparents, all can play that role. They should be trustworthy, able to hold a confidence and be supportive with good advice. Go-To behaviors – with injured elite athletes, we often encourage using healing time to build mental toughness and a more resilient game. Twenty minutes a day of gratitude-based prayer or meditation actually increases the functioning of your cortex. So, this meditation can build your ‘mastery’ brain that allows you to perform in adversity. “Head Space” or the “Calm” app are excellent ways to build this ability. Also, we encourage the use of imagery with sport specific cues to keep the athlete’s’ brain immersed in his sport, even if they are unable to practice in real time. Watching highlights for thirty second clips, then pausing the video and closing your eyes to replay what you have just seen yourself do, as if it were really happening, is a good example of the use of sport specific imagery. Besides prayer and meditation – exercise – even if it’s at home and not ideal like being at the gym. Helping Others. Music. Art. Nature. Fishing. Woodworking, etc. are examples of Go-To behaviors. Cultivate those healthy things you can do. Now is a good time to pick one new thing, you’ve never had the chance to do, but wished to do. For example, I know NHL players who used extended injurytime to improve their cooking skills or improve their French. I’ve used this time to learn some very simple tai-chi exercises online.”

Q: You are an alumnus of the school, your two sons (Brian ’01 and Michael ’10) are graduates of the school, and you have a clear understanding and respect for the school’s mission. What positives can our seniors, and not just the athletes, but the entire senior class, take away from what has happened to their senior year?

A: “What is the ultimate goal of sports at a Jesuit high school? I would submit that one answer is sports are vehicles for building character and life-long friendships. Athletics are another way to build Men for Others. We cannot always choose our teachable moments nor the adversity that arises in our lives. All we can do is make the most of the time we are given. The loss of sport, although incredibly painful, I think most of all for a high school senior athlete, need not result in the loss of that opportunity to build character and crucial friendships. In the shared trial of this pandemic adversity there is the great opportunity to make that extra effort to live by your code and fight to stay connected, not just for the present but for the years to come. Once a teammate, always a teammate. Playing at BC High gave me an overwhelming appreciation for the camaraderie, affection and connectedness of friends and teammates. I so cherished that connectedness from that sense of team at BC High, that I sought to continually replicate it after high school, with over 42 years of rugby, often with or against other BC High friends, or alumni, including my sons and sons of friends. I would say I learned this continually over the years, but the foundation was built by Coaches Cotter, Casey, Molloy, and Ananis. And I’ll end by saying I am most grateful for all that I received at BC High. My hope is that despite the losses you've experienced, you too will stay connected over the years and you will be strengthened by your own good character and that sense of deep connectedness.”

KANSAS STATE BASEBALL HEAD COACH PETE HUGHES ’86

Shares Season Shut Down Experience

Q: Your season was under way this spring until the spread of COVID-19 shut down all NCAA spring sports. Did you have time to meet with your team, and what did you tell your players once you received the news?

A: “I received word of the NCAA’s decision during our practice on March 12. At the time there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding the decision to cancel the National Championships. Would we be able to continue the season at some point? Would the season be bumped to the fall? Can we continue to practice as a team? After our practice I broke the news to our team. I told them that we were about to enter a world of unknowns. And the only way to prepare themselves for this is to put themselves in positive place mentally. Control only what they can control and think the best. I gave them weekend off and told them to spend the time together as teammates.”

Q: Tell us about the impact on the seniors, especially where most of them will not be playing organized baseball again. How did you help them cope through this news?

A: “Originally, we thought that our seniors’ careers were over. I told them that their careers were not defined by their “senior year.” Their legacy had already been defined by the commitment and the lifetime preparation that they represented. They had already won and will always be winners in life because of these acquired traits they found through our sport. We are all extremely grateful that the NCAA has since granted them an extra year of eligibility.”

Q: Do you think with all sports, professional through youth, coming to a halt, student-athletes across the country are realizing the importance of their education?

A: “I think this a harsh way to remind us all that at some point in every athlete’s life there is going to be “the end”. Our athletic skillset does not last forever. Our educational skillset does. It’s one’s own choice on how proficient we become in this skillset. This will determine who we are and how we are going to do in our real life. It is times like this when sports are taken away from us that we realize it is not about the games won, the goals or points scored, or how fast we ran a race.”

Q: How has this impacted your life with your family?

A: “My wife and I have 5 children and in recent years we are very seldom all together. With that being said, the greatest impact of all us being under the same roof again can be seen in the spike of our weekly grocery expenditures and the lack of parking spots in our driveway! Seriously, there are very few upsides involving a pandemic situation. However, we as a family are always grateful for our health and when we can all be together. There is nothing better than family in good times and in bad.”

Q: As an alumnus of the school, and member of the BC High Athletic Hall of Fame for 2 sports (Baseball and Football), what characteristics did you learn from BC High that have remained with you during your storied coaching career?

A: “Being a student-athlete at BC High had the most influence in building my foundation for my personal and professional life. Your foundation defines who you are, which is all we have during hard times. BC High taught me to have a tremendous sense of pride in my preparation. You had to be diligent and thorough in your preparation academically. You had to be relentless, consistent, and disciplined in your preparation athletically. If you were not any of these things and were sloppy in your preparation you got exposed in both arenas. Same is true with my professional life. BC High is not a “fake it till you make it” institution – academically or athletically. There are no shortcuts on 150 Morrissey Boulevard.”

Q: How have you liked virtual learning on Zoom?

A: “Virtual learning has obviously been a big change, however, it has been great in the current situation with the absence of school. It simulates as much as possible a classroom while being in the comfort of home.”

LACROSSE CAPTAIN ZACH SWANSON ’20

A: “Almost every day we shoot texts back and forth to see how everyone is doing. A few players who I am very close with talk about the delayed season or certain lacrosse videos we like, or something not lacrosse related. It is difficult to keep morale up for anyone during these difficult times, however, we have found everyone is still really dialed in on their own.”

Q: With all the facilities closed, and students confined to stay at home, is there any way for an athlete to somehow prepare for the season?

A: “Find your wall. It’s a cheesy phrase I used to think when my middle school coaches would just say, ‘find your wall to go play wall ball on’. During this time, I look back at that line and find it more fitting than ever. Fortunately, I have a net and a bounce back in my yard, but I have really expanded where to play catch: Off of my uneven chimney, the side of my shed, the inside wall of my garage with a tennis ball. I have even tried to do it off of a tree, but I do not recommend it. Everyone is in the same boat as each other, but if one is motivated enough, they can make do with what they have in their yard. Then there is always running. Just run. Sprints, miles, whatever it may be.”

Q: Reflect on what is has been like to live at home in this ‘new world’. What have you learned about yourself?

A: “Life is just like sports, you are going to have to deal with adversity and find your way around it. Making the adjustments to my lifestyle, homework plan, or training routine is making adjustments at halftime during a close game. It is going to be difficult, however, it can be done with a commitment to the task. I have learned a lot about myself being trapped in my house. I have learned more about my personality and what I have to do in the future to succeed. That is in any aspect of life whether it is lacrosse, academically, or socially.”

Q: This is certainly a year the school, and more importantly the Class of 2020, will never forget. What do you tell your classmates?

A: “I think my classmates and I all have a similar mindset in this situation. It is unfortunate, we will miss our last semester of high school to a pandemic. That being said, I think everyone has time to reflect on what BC High has meant to them for the last 4 or 6 years. Whether it is friendships developed, useful lessons you learned, an impact a teacher had on you, or the memories that you made. Everyone will realize how beneficial BC High was for them. I speak for myself and some of my teammates, this time apart from each other has brought

us closer as we continue our lives into college and beyond.”