Sophomore Charlotte Gross and the Sources of Strength volunteers line up to welcome everyone coming to the walk. “I’m glad the second annual suicide prevention walk brought double the people from last year,” said Gross. The volunteers blow bubbles to brighten the mood. “I think we definitely help spread positive vibes,” added Gross.

Freshman Dillon Meadows walks down to the track right after everyone was called down. “I walked around the track for an hour and a half,” said Meadows. Most students would walk and talk to their friends while watching any games on the turf.

After a few minutes of waiting, students finally start to pile in. The Sources of Strengths club blows bubbles and welcomes everyone in. “I walked with my friends and we got food. It was fun and I’m glad they did it for a good cause,” said eighth grader Cora Siebert.

Senior Marcus Dickerson plays football with a bunch of football players.“All I did was play football and nothing too exciting happened,” said Dickerson. Many people played football and there was even multiple games being played on the turf.

Students could walk all the way around the track or can sit in the bleachers. “The suicide prevention walk was very enjoyable; I got to hang out with my friends and it was a great way to support a good cause,” said sophomore Mackenzie Thompson.

Junior Jose Gonzalez-Woodson meets some of his friends, from football, at the walk. “I kinda just walked around and help out with photos. I also got to see a lot of people,” said Gonzalez-Woodson. He continued to walk with the Sources of Strength volunteers and the others helping.

Sophomore Kyra “Ash” Pennington paints their face with a friend. They laugh while getting their photo taken. “I supported the walk by going out there and letting my friends paint all over me,” said Pennington. After painting on each other, everyone was released for dismissal.

Juniors Anna Amato and Alex Fuller tagging plastic bags before food packaging. The tag went on a tiny box on the back of the package. “This step was pretty simple, the tag didn’t have to be exact as long as it was the right place,” said Fuller.

Eighth grader Sanai Berry and her friend measuring rice and grains in a cup. Once measuring is completed it is added to a funnel that drops the food in the tagged bags. “Our station was pretty simple, it kept us on our toes though,” said Berry.

Carolynne Hagan puts teaspoons of rice into the bags to fully fill them. Once the bags have been fully filled she places them into containers to pass onto the next station. “Putting extra rice on the top helps with moisture and fills the bag, placing the bags into the containers makes it easier for the third station to get them sealed,” said Hagan.

Junior Sean Orth placing the packed bags on a three by six square board. The board allows students to double stack leaving them with 36 packs of food. “Packing the bags was more interesting than I expected, I was in a competition with Daniel (Buglia) and Brian (Bauer) on who could finish first,” said Orth.

Juniors Brian Bauer and Daniel Buglia teaming up to tape the final packages. Buglia holds the top together while Bauer seals all sides. “The job gets done the fastest and safest with two people, it may be a simple job just sealing but we didn’t want the box to bust open with all the packaging inside,” said Bauer.

Preparing themselves for a big game against Albemarle, the varsity boys soccer team sits together in head coach Jason Davis’s classroom as they plan and get excited for the game. “Soccer is a very physically demanding game, but there is also a huge mental component. As a coaching staff, we believe that working together while making our game plan and analyzing past games are the most important parts to being a well-oiled team,” said Davis.

Getting warmed up in sports is always important so team members can avoid cramps and unwanted injuries. It doubles as a team-building exercise getting together in duos and groups to get each other ready for the game. “Warming up before big games is especially important because it sets our minds straight and helps to lessen the possibilities of getting hurt,” said team captain and senior Noah Jones.

There’s nothing better than lining up with your team to show support for your country, and recognizing starters of the game. This is big amongst American sports country-wide showcasing the best players. “Lining up before a game is important because it recognizes our players for their strengths and our patriotism as a team,” said sophomore Cayden Lucas.

Halftime huddles are crucial in games whether the team is winning or losing. It’s important to try and keep the team’s spirits up and egos level in different games. “The huddles during halftime are really important. We get to talk about things we can do better for the next half and it helps to hype everyone up and get their energy back to finish off the game.” said junior Kameren Green.

Gameplay is probably the most important part of nearly all sports. Our team is pushing their limits to try and beat the other team to win over ball so they can get it onto their side, “I love getting to play with and go against people I’ve been playing with my whole childhood, It really feels like they are my family, and a little competition never hurt,” said sophomore Cassidy Relyea.

The girls lacrosse team meets after school before home game days. On April 26, the team sits outside with catered Jersey Mike’s supplied by a player’s parent. “Team dinners bring a sense of community to the team as we all eat the same food and share the same table. It’s valuable time filled with laughter and talking together,” said sophomore Savannah Peterson.

Varsity players make ‘good luck’ cards for their coaches’ students while the JV team prepares for their game. Coach Hannah Ledford plans to give them to her students right before their reading and math SOL’s. “Being able to make cards with my teammates for younger students was really fun. It was something that I was glad to do to give them a little bit of enjoyment before stressful tests,” senior Serenity Opie said.

After the varsity team watches their JV team play for the first half, varsity goes to their usual practice field to start warm ups. Passing lines and stretches are the first ways the Lady Flucos warm up. “Warming up before our home games really calms me down. It helps bring my jitters out practicing with my friends and letting all the bad vibes leave my body,” said junior Marley Rochester.

In the middle of the game, varsity players can hear all the fans who came to watch each player play. When on the field attitudes are kept positive and energy remains high. “Communication and positive mindsets are always key when playing in games, especially when we play against teams we have an even chance with winning or losing against,” said senior Morgan Drumheller.

After home games, the team has to make sure to clean up Fluvanna’s turf. Cleaning up the field includes finding all the lost balls, picking up trash, and putting the goals back off of the field. “While cleaning up our field after games, I’m able to reminisce and laugh with my teammates about the scenarios that went on during the game,” said sophomore Riley Bishop.

Part of the boys practice always starts with a run, stretching, and then eventually go into passing with each other to warm up for the rest of the practice day. “Passing is the most important aspect of the game so during the beginning of practice our whole team can make the basics muscle memory,” says senior defender Cam Fisher.

Lacrosse girls midfielders take part in something called a draw to start the beginning of the game, because of this the girls implement a drill called “wraps” to help with growing wrist strength and catching the ball high in the air. “the drills we do especially wraps will help me with my wrist strength so when I take the draw in a game I can be first to make contact,” said sophomore Lila Kate Robinson.

The boys team practices their plays and their defensive skills with different drills. A 7v7 drill is implemented to help defense and offense work on game time play and aggressiveness. Sophomore defender Henry Jeffries says “At practice I get the chance to practice new checks [a way to get the ball from ones stick] and different ways to approach, and being physical with my offense better prepares them for physical teams.”

Boys lacrosse is typically a very aggressive and very contact sport, as while playing offense defense has the full ability to physically hit you with one’s stick. Because of this offense needs to be prepared for every possible situation so the boys team tends to practice in full game mode quite a lot. As senior offender Conner Jeffries says “it’s super intense especially when going against a guy with a six foot metal stick. The field vision becomes lower when really going against aggressive defenders.”

Whether playing midfield, attack, or defense it’s important for the girls lacrosse team to have equal wrist strength throughout all positions. The girls team has everyone no matter what position practice catching and throwing the ball to catch with only one hand. Taylor Webber, a senior on the girls lacrosse team, states, “Wrist strength is a vital component in lacrosse because all of your power comes from your wrists and arms, all players must be able to effectively throw and catch for a successful game and that steams from strength in those areas.”