Girls Basketball
Briana Webb (12) and Shakila Zuberi (12)
What have you learned from previous team captains that you want to bring to the team?
“That it’s important to trust your team and build them up with strength,” Webb said.
“I wanna learn communication and work ethic. I think that all the captains I’ve had in the past really knew how to work hard and inspired me,” Zuberi said.
What are you most excited about for this season?
“Senior night and making the playoffs,” Webb said.
“I’m really excited to win as a team, even though we’re young. I think that we have a lot of talent,” Zuberi said.
What is an aspect of your sport that you enjoy but that people might not know about?
“I love playing defense,”Webb said.
“I think it’s the bonding that we do off the court. It’s something about team chemistry and being able to have fun outside of something we all love to do and bring that love onto the court as well,” Zuberi said.
What are your hopes for the team this year and after?
“I hope that we build a strong community and make it far,” Webb said.
“I hope that we remain a program that just has such high expectations and can win while having fun,” Zuberi said.
Boys Basketball
Emmet Asulin (12), PJ Brian (11), Dillon Casey (11), Ravi Silverberg (12)
What have you learned from previous team captains that you want to bring to the team?
“The captains last year held everyone accountable and kept the energy high all season. I’m going to do the same this year,” Asulin said.
“Last year’s captain, his name is Brit [Burden], he definitely brought a more disciplined mindset to the whole team. He was always locked in, and he would make sure everyone else locked in. So I want to make sure that I bring that kind of attitude to this year’s team,” Casey said.
“I want to hold my teammates accountable. Last year, the team captains really held up to a high standard,” Silverberg said.
What are you most excited about for this season?
“I’m most excited for league this season because I think we have a good shot at taking out the rest of the teams in WACC,” Asulin said.
“I’m definitely most excited about just competitive games overall, just being able to go out there, compete with other players and just work my hardest,” Casey said.
“I’m excited to win in the playoffs because I haven’t done that yet and I want to bring the NCS title or startle title home,” Silverberg said.
What is an aspect of your sport that you enjoy but that people might not know about?
“Team bonding is my favorite thing about the sport,” Asulin said.
“I think one aspect of my sport is that you get to play both offensive and defensive end. Some sports, it’s not the case, but you can just outwork your opponent on both ends. And I think that’s a cool part about basketball and how everyone plays both sides of the ball,” Casey said.
“The early hours, the grind, putting in extra hours of work. People may not think that it’s fun, but the process is fun for me,” Silverberg said.
What are your hopes for the team this year and after?
“I kind of just want everyone to not only succeed, but improve in their own game. And again, it’s just high school basketball. So really, I think through basketball, you can learn a lot about yourself, and you can learn a lot about just simple life values,” Casey said.
“I hope we can have a solid season. I want to win at least 20 games and hang the banner,” Silverberg said.
Girls Soccer
Darcy McKee (11), and Louisa Symkowick (12)
What have you learned from previous team captains that you want to bring to the team?
“The captains last year were super welcoming, like saying ‘hi’ in the elevator, that kinda thing. I want to embody that. I want to reach out to the freshmen, make sure they aren’t too stressed, and I want them to feel welcome and a part of the team,” McKee said.
“Organizing everything and keeping the energy and the environment competitive, yet a nurturing place where people wanted to have fun competition,” Symkowick said.
What are you most excited about for this season?
“We have a lot of new players so I’m excited to meet them all and build our own team culture,” McKee said.
“I’m most excited for our team getting to play, we’re already starting to mesh amazingly well – we’ve only had one game, which is insane. I’m also super excited to see how far we get because I think our team is really strong this year,” Symkowick said.
What is an aspect of your sport that you enjoy but that people might not know about?
“I very much enjoy the team aspect, working together for the full 90 minutes and traditions off the field,” McKee said.
“I think one thing people underestimate about soccer is the comradery aspect of the team. We aren’t just a team that plays soccer four or five days a week – we hang out all the time. It’s amazing for the underclassmen to be able to mix with the upperclassmen, having a person you’re always looking out for. On our team it’s not toxic, we all want everyone to do well, to support the people we all are. The team itself is really awesome,” Symkowick said.
What are your hopes for the team this year and after?
“For the team to learn who to work with each other. It’s always a challenge with our playing styles but once it all clicks, that’s the best part of high school soccer,” McKee said.
“I hope we can keep up our fun traditions we do and our team bonding events. Focusing on this year, I think keeping that intensity, we call it fun intensity, fun competition and keeping that through the program because I think that’s the most important part of high school soccer,” Symkowick said.
Boys Soccer
Gianluca Bini (12), Harper Mand (12), and Jacques Saldanha
What have you learned from previous team captains that you want to bring to the team?
“I think seriousness is a really big one, especially because we’re in high school and you’re with your high school friends when you play soccer, a lot of seriousness needs to be brought to the team. Seriousness and dedication and a lot of motivation are probably the main points I’m trying to hit as a captain along with Jacques and Harper,” Bini said.
“To be a leader during the game and on the field as well,” Mand said.
“A lot about Piedmont soccer is about team spirit, we’ve won a lot of games not necessarily on quality but fight and overall commitment to the game. I’ve learned from previous captains that you just really have to bring it, in terms of team spirit, make sure people are playing for each other, especially on defense, and move for each other off the ball. It’s all about commitment really, not really about skill,” Saldanha said.
What are you most excited about for this season?
“Because it’s my last season, I’m most excited to win games and have fun, enjoy it while I can. And work with a team that though we haven’t had a lot of time together yet, we’ll see some success in later games,” Bini said.
“Winning NCS,” Mand said.
“I’m excited to play some good opponents, to play at home, and just the overall team culture and having a really good time with the team this year,” Saldanha said.
What is an aspect of your sport that you enjoy but that people might not know about?
“For me, the thing I love about the sport is watchings something unfold that you or your team has been working on for a really long time. So that could be building out the back, sometimes in games when you see them string passes together, is the most satisfying thing for me and it makes me really happy when I see the team do that,”Bini said.
“Captains practices at Witter on the weekends,” Mand said.
“Just how bonded the team is, every year the team gets really close, honestly practice is just a really good time. I think that overall, out of any sport, soccer has easily the best practices – there’s no downtime so you’re just always playing and always having fun. The older I’ve gotten, coming up through the Piedmont High track, just because it’s just more fun, not to say to be too relaxed, but apply yourself, be serious, have fun, and honestly the rest will put itself together,” Saldanha said.
What are your hopes for the team this year and after?
“I have a lot of hope for this season. I think we can make it far, I think we have a good chance at league, if we can get an NCS run, we’ll see how far we’ll go. Next year I think we have a lot of potential moving through the ranks of Varsity and JV, so for the next few years, we’ll be a competitive team,” Bini said.
“I hope that we get to the NCS finals for the next few years with having Ben Russell as a coach,” Mand said.
“We’re looking to place really well in league this year; we’ve come off three straight years of very very good performances, we won NCS my freshman and sophomore year, had a bit of an early exit last year, but had a very good league performance, beating berkeley. I’m looking forward to results like that, hopefully an upset against O’Dowd this year. There’s a lot of really solid teams in the area, but hopefully third in the league is possible this year, maybe crack the top two if we really put something together, but honestly we’re off to a bit of a weak start so the NCS seeding is gonna be a little bit tough this year,” Saldanha said.
