Evolution of New Roads Sports
Has New Roads evolved into more than just an “artsy” school?
New Roads has entered a new era of sports. They have added a new flag football team, but there’s a bigger question to uncover: what does this new evolution in New Roads sports mean for the future of New Roads going forward?
New Roads has always been an environment where creativity shines. These days, extracurriculars don’t only take place in the Moss Theater, school culture can also be found on the field.
To comprehend the direction New Roads sports is headed, it helps to look at where it began. For Jahsyra Hamilton, a New Roads alumni who graduated in 2022, athletics looked a lot different during her time at the school; she had played tennis continuously from 7th grade into her senior year. She also picked up soccer and beach volleyball her senior year to continue to stay active.
“I picked it up just to have just another activity, another way to exercise senior year since I had stopped doing my main club sport,” says Hamilton.
Reflecting on her time at New Roads, she recalls how the school didn’t receive the same attention for sports as it did for the performing arts program.
“To be honest, it was kind of a running joke that, like, we are in art school. Like we just kind of didn’t excel at sports…we just didn’t put as much energy into that as we did in our performing arts and it was very clear,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton remembers when that attitude began to shift in the community. One of the most memorable moments came during her senior year, when the girls soccer team made it to CIF playoffs in 2022 for the first time ever.
“Probably when the girls soccer team went to playoffs, my senior year in 2022. We just took the team to the playoffs, and it felt like New Roads was putting energy into sports then.”
Hamilton sees the growth of New Roads sports and how it’s now more than just an artistic school.
“I think New Roads is doing better and being intentional with sports and the athletic department and putting more energy into that cause if we can excel in one area, we can excel in all.”
Now in today’s era, New Roads current Girls Soccer Captain, Josefina Capdepont ‘27 has seen great progress in her team even after a majority of the team has graduated before she became captain in her junior year.
“I think it’s so cool how we’re getting better every single year,” says Capdepont, a current senior. She has been the Girls Soccer co-captain since her junior year.
Still, there’s progress to be made. “I just wish New Roads would talk more about the sports, the events coming up, you know, because I feel like there’s not much hype around that. You don’t know there’s a game until the game day,” Cadepont said.
She also noted, “I honestly think girls soccer does get highlighted. Like Spirit Day, everyone pulls up, you know? I wish it was like people would just come to more of our home games because obviously some faculty and staff come, not students. Playing for a crowd gives you energy.”
Richard Jenkins, the head of the New Roads Athletic department since 2023, was able to provide a timeline of the entire sports program at New Roads by contacting David Bryan, who was the very first head of school at New Roads from 1995-2013.
“We have had an athletic program since 1995. Absolutely… year ONE. Middle School basketball team the very first year 1995-96. Then soccer the same year. Yes, we were terrible but had enormous spirit!” said Bryan.
“I'm very pleased with the trajectory of the growth of the program over the last few years. A key contributor to that growth is being connected with the student athletes.” Jenkins said.
Jenkins understands how important it is to see what sports students are interested in and integrate those sports onto campus.
“So, this year and last year, we did Beach Boys volleyball as a club. I'm hoping that the CIF will pick that up as an official sport, since they haven't known the girls in.”
Jenkins has high hopes of incorporating Beach volleyball as a sport along with Girls volleyball since a lot of people have now shown an interest into the sport.
“There's always room for improvement. You know what I mean? I'm always thinking of ways to better inform parents, our teachers and staff, about who's on the team so they can come out and support,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins is a strong believer that if the teachers are aware of who’s on sports teams, then they will go out and support a game or two. In addition, it creates student-teacher connections inside the classroom.
“When we won CIF for boys' tennis, it showed us that even though we're a small school and we don't have a thousand students running around our campus, we do have the capacity of being champions and winning at a high level,” Jenkins said.
“In my first school I worked at Mirrored New Roads in a lot of ways. So that's what made me attractive and drew me to New Roads.”
While Jenkins' previous school might’ve been extremely athletically driven, he believes that experiencing a program at school where we're still trying to develop and expand our sports program gives much more nuance to look at it from all lenses.
“I'm just thankful to every student who's taking part in athletics. Each of their contributions help expand our profile here in new roads.” Jenkins said.
It’s important to understand how a flag football team came to be. It initially started as a flag football program in middle school, and New Roads previously offered it as an upper school program 10 years ago. However, it didn’t stick due to a lack of participation.
This year, however, and interest in the sport led Tia Berumen, the Chair for the upper school Friends of Athletics, to recruit David Holbert as a coach. The flag football team currently has won two out of their 6 games resulting in 4 losses.
“The program could be doing better. With this being the first season, a lot of kids either didn't know about the team or they were out for summer break,” Jenkins stated.
One week prior to their first game, they only had a team of around eight players. That's not much time, especially when the majority of the team had never played before.
Jenkins still has hope for the flag football program, as he stated: “I believe the flag football program is moving in the right direction. We've had a lot of obstacles like a small roster and having to learn how to play on the fly, and through it all, the team has been very resilient and still has a chance at making the playoffs.”
Even though New Roads sports can be sort of an afterthought, it’s something that is beginning to change.
The New Roads sports team has tremendously evolved over the years. The school has even been able to host our own home games twice, a big milestone. The support of our community has increased popularity for games, however, it is worth stating that the New Roads community should continue to give more support to the community.
The future of New Roads sports looks bright, and the community is looking forward to an exciting year of sports on campus.
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