It was an exciting start to the school year as we opened our new Sports Performance Training Center. Our student-athletes really bought in*vto the training programs and it showed in their improvements. We were able to train and perform baseline and progress testing of all of our pre-season and off-season student-athletes. At the same time, we performed in-season training for our fall sports. The in-season training helped our student-athletes stay healthy and maintain their strength.

A special thanks goes out to all our coaches for the support they have given to the strength and conditioning program. The success our student-athletes achieved is due in large part to the support our coaches have provided.

There are three areas of strength that we test. They are the Power Clean, Squat and Bench Press. We collect baseline data to compare to each student-athletes’ progress tests. Over a three month period, our student-athletes collectively improved by adding 1,160 total pounds to their totals. We were able to perform baseline and progress tests on the following sports: B/G Basketball, Tennis, Lacrosse, B/G Soccer, Swimming, Golf and Track & Field. Football and Volleyball were in-season and therefore, were not able to test. We will be testing them in January.

I want to congratulate our Girls Lacrosse team as they had a combined total improvement of 490 pounds in all three lifts! These girls worked very hard to make themselves better and it will pay off for them this spring.

Second, were our Girls Basketball team with a combined improvement of 390 pounds. The girls were extremely dedicated to their training. Our girls remain focused on their training and train two times per week while they are in-season.

A special mention goes out to our girls’ soccer program who had an improved team total of 300 pounds. This total does not include testing of the power clean as we were in the process of teaching the girls’ technique.

Finally, congratulations go out to our Boys Basketball team who had a combined improvement total of 310 pounds. Chandler, AJ, Antonio and Marcelo represented the team in the weight room five days per week. They had more than 70 pounds of improvement per man. This is the highest average per student-athlete of all boys and girls athletic programs.

I am pleased with the attendance in the weight room so far and proud of these accomplishments. However, we have a long way to go and I encourage all our student-athletes to participate and make the commitment to their team and embrace every opportunity to make themselves better. Remember this moment will never pass again.

ATTITUDE | CHARACTER | EFFORT

The boys varsity soccer team and the girls varsity basketball team were recently featured in an article that was published by the high school sports segment of the Houston Chronicle. Both of these teams have had tremendous starts to their seasons and embrace the process it takes to being successful. Please click on the link below to read about the success of these two programs. Make sure to click “Read Full Article” towards the bottom of the page to read the article in its entirety.

http://m.chron.com/neighborhood/memorial/sports/article/Vikings-seek-another-run-to-TAPPS-title-6683282.php#photo-9079218

On December 2st-5th, The Village School took 99 middle school students to participate in The Games at Windermere Prep in Orlando, Florida. From the opening day, this year’s group was determined to compete hard and have fun while doing it. As a result, The Village School had one of its best performances in years, finishing fourth place overall. The Vikings also displayed great sportsmanship throughout the event, which was noticed by all of the teams. Village took home the Sportsmanship Award for modeling excellence in gamesmanship throughout the course of the week as recognized by our competitors. Job well done!

Here are some of the notable performances from our individual athletes and teams:
Individual Medals:

Gold: Mac B- Boys 50m breast stroke; boys 50m fly; boys 50m back; boys 100m free; boys 100IM
Olivia G- Girls 50m free; girls 50m fly; girls 50m free
Andrew D- Archery

Silver: Zoe G- Girls 1600m run
Mac B- Boys 50m free
Alvaro P- Boys tennis singles

Bronze: Kamsi E- Boys long jump
Alex C- Boys 50m fly

Team Medals:

Gold: Silver Division Girls Volleyball
Silver: Gold Division Girls Basketball

This was the largest group The Village School has taken to compete in the history of The Games. We are already looking forward to growing next year and improving on a great performance. The Games always promises to be a fantastic event where kids can compete against other schools from around the world, meet new friends, and establish life-long relationships, with a little DISNEY mixed in too!!!

The girls basketball program is hosting the first Teacher Appreciation Night tomorrow, December 8th, starting at 5:30pm in the Moore Gym. This event will showcase our girls Varsity basketball team who will compete against The British School. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00pm. In an effort to show our appreciation to all of our fine educators, this event will provide catering from George’s Pastaria, and professional massages from Massage Heights. There will be a signup sheet in the Moore Gym in order to reserve your time to receive your massage, so come early! Doors open at 5:30pm.

For more information, see the attached flyer.

The Boy’s Varsity Basketball team is off to a great start. The boys are 8-0 and are receiving some recognition for their play. Led by the Big 3 (Draylyn D, Chandler G, Antonio M), the boys have played their way into the state rankings. The Boys are currently ranked #18 overall (Public and Private) and #1 in TAPPS 4A division by Max Preps. TABC has the boys ranked #8 in Large Private Schools. Coach Harvey and the players accept the rankings, but know they have a lot more work to do. They are prepared to head to San Antonio this weekend and compete in a tournament with some highly ranked competition.