Athletics
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BARK! The Winter Sports Report

BARK — a new Upper School club for sports podcasting enthusiasts — has released a second round of conversations with school athletes and coaches, this time focused on winter sports –“one of the most electric seasons at St. Albans,” according to reporter Spencer Hall ’22, in his interview with Head Basketball Coach OJ Johnson ’97. 
 
You can find all the podcasts on the athletics page, under Bark Podcasts. (Click on the small arrow at right to toggle through the recordings.) 
 
Said BARK advisor Keith Mills: “BARK has various goals: to give all students a platform to learn more about each sport each season, to allow participants to hone their speaking and interviewing skills, and for team captains to represent their teams’ efforts and achievements in a new way. As a veteran teacher and life-long sports fan (and sometime STA public address announcer), BARK also enables me, I hope, to help STA athletics further our school’s mission.”
 
BASKETBALLBasketball-2022
 
“One of the things I am trying to preach to our guys is to enjoy and cherish each and every day,” Coach Johnson notes in his interview. “I think last year really showed our guys how quickly things can be taken away from them.” Johnson is also busy teaching fundamentals, demonstrating how to stay healthy, and instilling the life skills of punctuality and good communication on and off the court. He’s looking forward to the BEEF Club returning to the stands. “They bring a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm,” says Johnson. “The entire club can be a big factor for us having a successful, winning team. Our guys get really amped up to play.”
 

The hockey captains describe building chemistry with younger students, Coach Finer’s first season leading the program, the disappointment that the promising Class of 2021 players didn’t have a senior season, preparations for college hockey, and their hopes for the rest of the season: “Bring the rowdy! Let’s beat Landon. Let’s beat Prep. Let’s win the IAC.” 
 
AQUATICS
Aquatics-2022
The discussion among aquatics captains ranged from the value of being a multisport athlete, Coach Rich Bettencourt’s “deliberate, purposeful, well-thought-out” practices, and the likeliness of success this year—and in coming years, with some strong younger students making their way through the aquatics program.
 

The wrestling captains—all juniors—discuss stepping into leadership roles, working on the basics, learning from their coaches, scoring wrestling matches, and the importance each individual plays on a relatively small team.

 
 
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Located in Washington D.C.,  St. Albans School is a private, all boys day and boarding school. For more than a century, St. Albans has offered a distinctive educational experience for young men in grades 4 through 12. While our students reach exceptional academic goals and exhibit first-rate athletic and artistic achievements, as an Episcopal school we place equal emphasis upon moral and spiritual education.