Jack Reagan

Athletes and their families crowd into the cafeteria for the annual Sports Banquet.

As the track and tennis seasons end and students bid farewell to Dreyfoos sports for the rest of the school year,
all teams were honored with a sports banquet.

Parents, athletes and coaches made an appearance in the cafeteria last Monday night at the athletics banquet, which was a banquet run by the athletics department in order to thank the players and coaches who represented Dreyfoos with their athletic ability. The night started with athletic director and math teacher Christopher Burns making an opening statement, which gave a background about the sports banquet and why it is important to the school.

“[The sports banquet] is important for the athletes to be recognized for all they do in sports,” Burns said. “We recognize them for their academic accomplishments and their artistic accomplishments, so it’s only fair that we recognize them for their athletic accomplishments.”

After food was served, coaches were asked to come up to the front of the cafeteria and talk about their experience with their respective teams during the past season. Girls soccer coach and science dean Stephen Anand reminisced about his experience with sports when he was a high school, and how the connectivity and relationship between players at Dreyfoos is stronger than it was for him and how the players treat each other like family.

“The biggest reason [for having the sports banquet] is to get all of the athletes to see each other so that all of the different sports can come together at one time,” Mr. Anand said. “They can see who plays what, we can honor some of the four year athletes, we can give out some of the awards and we can announce some of the records that were broken.”

Each athlete received an award: a certificate honoring their season and hard work, a varsity letter for first time players, a gold chevron for returning players and a special award for seniors. Athletes who had been on the team all four years that they had been at Dreyfoos were also given plaques with their name and sport engraved on it in honor of their dedication and hard work.

“I really liked how they honored the seniors this year,” theatre senior John Hench said. “The sports banquet is important because it showcases all of the athletes, all of the time they have spent outside of school playing for their school and it’s a good way to acknowledge all of their achievements.”