Oaks Plus offers our students a variety of extracurricular activities such as before and after care, clubs, and sports. Sports, in particular, provide students with a different atmosphere to learn and grow where they face new and different challenges. Offering a total of seven competitive sports throughout the school year, our Fall season is the largest with Cross Country (boys and girls), co-ed soccer, and girls volleyball.
The Oaks is one of 13 schools in the Indianapolis Independent School League (IISL), in which our Junior Varsity and Varsity Teams play. In addition to these teams, we follow a ‘no-cut’ philosophy that allows for every student that registers for a sport to be placed on a team in an in-house league. Tryouts are held at the beginning of the season so that coaches can assess the skills and abilities of players and assign them to an appropriately challenging team.
While our Cross Country teams are our smallest group of athletes in the fall, the two dozen boys and girls who competed this season were dedicated runners and champions of their peers. During the season, coaches challenged runners to push beyond their limits in the sport while also emphasizing the importance of individual diligence in tracking their own progress from practices to competitive performances throughout the season.
After months of practicing pacing, improving their endurance, and learning the ins and outs of a meet and the various routes, our runners were able to compete in the IISL Championship meet with over 150 other students! A unique sport, cross country is scored by individual finish placement, which is then factored into a team’s overall placement. The top 5 runners for each school determine the school’s placement for boys and girls teams separately. This year, both of our boys and girls teams came in an overall 5th place among a speedy group of students.
Our soccer teams returned this season as the reigning IISL conference champions for 7th and 8th grade (Varsity) and runners-up for the 5th and 6th grade (Junior Varsity) groups, ready to build on their success and have another impressive season. Part of these conference teams’ success is based in our strong in-house program, managed as part of the Tab Rec youth league with 3 Oaks Academy specific teams, allowing over 80 students to play on one of five teams this year.
The In-House soccer lineup included 3 teams: Oaks Green, Oaks Black, and Oaks White that were never at a loss for competition. With only 2 other teams in the Tab Rec league, Oaks teams often faced off against each other in friendly but fierce competition. With the #1, #2 and #4 seeds in the league’s tournament, the championship game unsurprisingly came to another Oaks v. Oaks matchup. After the underdog #4 Oaks Black defeated #1 Oaks Green, they played against #2 Oaks White in the championship game. Unfortunately, the “Cinderella Story” didn’t last, with Oaks White winning the top spot and bringing home the trophy and team bragging rights.
Meanwhile, the JV and Varsity teams recorded an almost undefeated regular season each, earning the #1 seed in both conference levels for championship play. After losing to Park Tudor in the regular season, the JV team faced them again in the semi-final round of the IISL tournament, but were unable to earn redemption and advance to the championship game. Our Varsity team also faced Park Tudor in the final round of their tournament run, where they were able to come out on top and secured back-to-back championship titles.
Surpassing the soccer program in number of total teams this year, the volleyball program consisted of 4 In-House teams along with our 2 conference teams. However, with only 50 players, every team was small – allowing for close knit relationships to be formed and lots of playing time for each player on In-House and Conference teams alike.
Friday nights at JTV Hill were packed with students and parents every week as the In-House teams were cheered on in their intramural league. Every game was Oaks v. Oaks, which meant that the competition between teams and coaches was only heightened throughout the season. In their In-House tournament, the championship came down to #1 seeded Team Prible against #2 Team Fillmore, with Team Prible holding onto their first place placement and winning the championship game to earn team bragging rights.
Bringing our 5th grade students back into competitive sports for the first time in 3 years, our JV and Varsity teams faced a steep learning curve with many new players participating in the sport for the first time ever. Our JV team, comprised of girls who had never played on an Oaks’ team before, experienced a difficult season where they ultimately seeded 12th in the IISL tournament and fell to the #5 team in the first round. Our Varsity team fared slightly better with more players from last returning to compete, earning the #7 seed in the tournament and advancing through the first round of play. Unfortunately, they also faced fierce competition against the #2 team to end their tournament run and season.
Change is always challenging, especially when it may effect your children. Please share any questions or comments you have using the form below, or by emailing me directly at ahart@theoaksacademy.org.
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