According to boys’ swimming senior captain Adam Recknagel, any high schooler can join the swim team and will be placed in either exhibition, junior varsity or varsity events, depending on their speed.

“There’s no tryouts, (so new swimmers) don’t have to worry about that, anybody can join,” Recknagel said. “There’s (junior varsity) and varsity (and) exhibition, so you don’t have to be the best at (swimming to be on the team).”

Boys’ swimming head coach Amanda Forsberg said any swimmer can expect to improve throughout the season.

“(Swimming is) all against the clock, so if you start out at a certain time, you’re going to see yourself grow,” Forsberg said. “It doesn’t matter if you start out as the slowest person on the team or the fastest person on the team, there’s always room for improvement and always room for growth.”

In preparation for the girls’ basketball season, senior captain Grace Wolgemuth said “fall ball” acts as an optional short mock season before the winter season, which begins early Oct.

“‘Fall ball’ is (where) we have two practices a week and then we have tournaments during the weekend that we sign up for, so we have coaches who aren’t a part of our high school season,” Wolgemuth said. “(Coaches outside Park) coach us (for fall ball) and it’s kind of a way to get back into basketball without having contact with our actual coaches.”

Girls’ basketball head coach Arsenio Richardson said girls’ basketball anticipates having three teams this season.

“In year’s past we have had a B squad, like a sophomore team, but we haven’t had the numbers the last couple years to have a sophomore team,” Richardson said. “If we had a bunch of kids in ninth grade or tenth grade that made us want to get another team, we definitely would have another team.”

According to Richardson, the tryout process includes identifying specific basketball skills as well as athletes’ endurance and conditioning abilities.

“(The teams) definitely have some requirements as far as your skill level, the basics – can you dribble, can you make layups,” Richardson said. “In the try out process, there’s a huge conditioning piece where (the coaches) want to know who’s going to be able to run, but for the most part, we want to keep as many teams as many girls as possible, we don’t want to be getting rid of girls.”

In contrast to indoor swimming and girls’ basketball, junior nordic captain Cyrus Abrahamson said getting to be outside remains one of his favorite parts about nordic.

“(Nordic is) really fun and (it’s) just kind of peaceful just being out there,” Abraham said. “(People interested in joining nordic) can come to the information meeting at the beginning of the year.”

Abrahamson said those joining nordic for the first time can take advantage of the junior varsity (JV) team if needed, and can also use equipment provided by the school.

“There’s a JV team and anyone makes that so it’s really casual if you want it to be,” Abraham said. “It’s really fun and you can just try it out for a year. You don’t have to buy any equipment, the school provides it.”

According to boys’ basketball head coach David Breitenbucher, anyone at the high school can tryout for boys’ basketball and an informational meeting will take place early Nov.

“(For) anybody who’s interested (in boys’ basketball) at the high school, we’ll have a pre-season basketball meeting, and we kind of just lay out what the season looks like and then we kind of just go from there,” Breitenbucher said.

According to Breitenbucher, boys’ basketball anticipates having a 9A, 9B, sophomore, JV and varsity team. He said while some cuts need to be made, these various teams allow for more available spots this year than in years past.

“There’s other programs that just don’t have that many (teams), so we’re pretty fortunate that we are able to keep quite a large number of players,” Breitenbucher said.

Breitenbucher said he takes into account players’ attitudes and character when letting people on the team.

“It’s so simple, but I just want good guys on the team and in the program,” Breitenbucher said. “If you’re doing the right thing in school and you’re pushing yourself in the classroom and you’re a respectful young man, those are the kids we really want in our program.”

For more information on how to join a winter sport, visit gopark.org.