Middle school sports off to strong start

By Matt Metcalf
Posted 10/4/16

Middle school sports in Warwick are only a month old and they're already receiving rave reviews. The Winman and Warwick Vets fall teams have been in action for a few weeks now, and things are being learned as the new process progresses, but the feedback

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Middle school sports off to strong start

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Middle school sports in Warwick are only a month old and they’re already receiving rave reviews.

The Winman and Warwick Vets fall teams have been in action for a few weeks now, and things are being learned as the new process progresses, but the feedback from the parents, kids and administrators has been nothing but positive.

“It’s great, can’t be more pleased,” Warwick Athletic Director Ken Rix said. “We’ve still got some kinks to work out, but we’ve had tremendous support from the parents and the kids are loving it. It’s been a great thing so far.”

The early results have been great, as well, particularly on the soccer field.

Combined, the Winman and Warwick Vets boys’ and girls’ soccer teams have a record of 9-3-2 thus far. No team has been more dominant than the Vets girls’ squad, though. It sits atop the Central-East Division with an unblemished 4-0 record, netting 19 goals while allowing just two.

The Winman girls and Vets boys both haven’t lost a game either, but each has a tie to their record.

As for the cross country teams at both schools, the turnout was so immense that no cuts were made.

“I went to a cross country meet a couple of weeks ago and our coach said there were over 100 people there,” Rix said. “It was just for our schools and the support from the parents was tremendous.”

Rix is hoping that the implementation of middle school sports in Warwick will ultimately result in winning more championships at the high school level down the road.

The philosophy is simple.

If a group starts playing a particular sport together in seventh grade, by the time that same group gets to high school and plays together for another four years, the chemistry and familiarity will only continue to increase.

And the local high school coaches are already taking notice of the middle school teams.

“I think they’re keeping a close eye on it,” Rix said. “I think, because it’s all new, I don’t think the high school guys have had a chance to peak at it. I can’t speak for them because they’re coaching their own teams, but I’m sure they’re keeping a blind eye on it.”

Consistently, we see school systems with quality middle school sports programs competing for championships at the high school level, and the two go hand-in-hand.

Warwick will undoubtedly look to follow the model set by some of those other schools and produce more state championship trophies for Pilgrim and Toll Gate in the future.

“No question,” Rix said when asked if he’s hoping to see better results at the high school level with the new middle school program in place. “Once the high school and middle school coaches get on the same page, I think we’ll definitely see an improvement in athletics.”

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