By Victoria Mezera 
Apopka High School has a wide variety of sports teams. There’s things such as tennis, bowling, archery, baseball, swimming and water polo, football, basketball, and more. With a school that is very involved in sports, and the school year coming to an end, we decided to ask student athletes all about their seasons this year.
Sophomore Mimi Kidd, who has been on the swim team since freshmen year, said, “I think this past swim season was really great for us in terms of teamwork and friendships. We had a few new freshmen swimmers, and just new swimmers in general and normally it takes a while for freshmen and first timers to match pace and really feel like they’re a part of the team. However, this season they all did an amazing job of just jumping right in and in no time at all it felt like we were really a team. That’s really great for us because it improves our morale, and allows our relay races to run better. It also makes for an enjoyable season and an amazing emotional support system whether we win or lose. We also had a new addition in terms of coaching. Coach Houvouras was a really great coach throughout the entire season. During breaks, he and Coach Russel would often get into small little “debates” because of their clashing world views and would poke fun at each other, which helped lighten the mood of a tough practice. We had amazing swim captains, especially senior Charlie Ahrens, who could be strict at times, but was just so driven and hardworking that it pushed the rest of us to actually get off our butts and work too! For that I’m really thankful because I honestly just think I would’ve just coasted throughout this entire season if he hadn’t given us that tough love. Overall, this season was one of our best in recent years. I cannot remember either team exact scores, but I know we all pulled together. I’m really looking forward to what next season has in store for us!”
Sophomore Lena Firlotte, who is a varsity cheerleader, said “Cheer this year was amazing. This year being my first on varsity was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. The team, the coach, the crowd, everything was great. There is truly nothing better than standing on the sidelines on a Friday night with a roaring crowd behind you and jumping up and down over the first touchdown. I look forward to Friday’s every week. It’s the only thing that gets me through the week. My team this year was incredible. We all really bonded. I’ve made friends through cheer I I know will last. We all laughed and cried together at our last game. Going into a game not knowing if it’s your last is scary, but we stuck together. I really gotta hand it to Coach B this year. This year being her first year as coach was great. Cheer at Apopka is unlike any other. There’s no other place I would rather cheer at.”
Sophomore Lenaia Powell, who plays varsity volleyball, said, “I felt that the season didn’t go quite as successfully as it could have, because while our individual talents were very prominent, we didn’t work together as a team very well. However, I think that because most of the team were seniors and they had been together for a while they meshed well socially –for the most part. I’m a bit concerned about next year since we’ll have so many new people, but I’m optimistic that our coach will beat us into shape.”
Kyle Lee, who plays varsity lacrosse, said “The season went really well for me I think, I played every position at least once, but mostly goalie and defense. Personally, I think I did pretty well at every position, the coach was always telling everyone including myself how great of a goalie I was for just starting. I was definitely pretty physical this year on defense because I had multiple people try to fight me after I knocked them down. I love the sport, and it’s really the only thing I’ve looked forward to doing every day, other sports felt like a chore to me but lacrosse is really fun and kept me in really good shape.”