It was my first day at my new school — a warm afternoon after the dog days of summer. I was a little nervous meeting so many new people. I was attempting to get adjusted to the place I would call home for the next four years, but luckily all tension disappeared once I was able to join a conversation about a topic I knew extremely well: sports. Sports acted as a gateway for me to connect with new people, sprout interesting conversations, and, most importantly, begin to make friends. Continuing a lot of the conversations from the previous day, much of my freshman retreat revolved around conversations about sports. 

I came home from that retreat with a new group of friends. A group of us gathered at one of my friends’ houses for a fantasy football draft, which we have done all four years of high school. The tradition of meeting at that specific house for both fantasy drafts and watch parties began that night. 

Sports introduced me to a community at Pinewood. Filled with both friends and family, conversations over everything from the National Football League (NFL) to the Premier League have provided me with some of my favorite memories. From friendly banter to legally betting on sports, I have had many shared experiences with so many different friends. Despite never winning, my favorite tradition has to be our yearly March Madnessbracket. If  you want evidence of that, just look at our recent March Madness bracket that consisted of many seniors, juniors, and sophomores (shoutout to junior Cole  Chatterjee for his Connecticut pick). Our friendly banter through group chats and in-person conversations made each March one of the best times of the year. 

Watching the games at lunch with so many people is something I will never forget, and these experiences helped me make friends with students in other grades who I otherwise may have not become close with. 

Sports at Pinewood go further than my time on the tennis teams and soccer team (what an experience that was…. I love you soccer coach Bob Kamangar). It allowed me to meet like-minded people who love cheering on our teams and “respectfully” trash talking opposing players that we hate.    

 I will miss these conversations so much. Although they will continue over text and social media, virtual conversations will never compare to sharing absolutely outrageous football and basketball hot takes on the Cue Quad and Murphy Patio. I will miss the opinions and ideas that had us laughing so hard that we found ourselves hunched over in disbelief. Specifically, some members of the senior class are prone to give the absolute worst NFL Draft opinions. I may be terrible at fantasy football, pick too many upsets in March Madness, or overestimate my teams chances in their respective upcoming seasons, but I will never forget these conversations and moments with my friends and members of the Pinewood community.