As most of the Tabor Academy student body packs up and heads home for Winter Break on Friday afternoon, many Seawolves will be staying behind to compete in holiday tournaments at home and around New England.
Over the winter break, Tabor will host several tournaments in the Fish Center for Health and Athletics. The first tournament is the Seacoast Classic Basketball Tournament, where the Tabor Boys’ Varsity Basketball team will compete against rival schools in the “Class A” division. Between Friday, December 16 and Saturday, December 17, Tabor will face three different opponents on their home court: Hotchkiss School and Avon Old Farms on Friday, and Belmont Hill School on Saturday.
Tabor will also host the annual “Battle on the Bay” wrestling tournament in the Field House on December 17. This event typically draws over 20 schools and well over 200 wrestlers in one day.
For many of the varsity teams, the tournaments require traveling across New England to compete. On December 29 and 30, the Boys’ Varsity Basketball team will compete in yet another tournament, this time in the Belmont Hill – Roxbury Latin Holiday Basketball Tournament being held at Belmont Hill School in Belmont, MA. Tabor will face off against Roxbury Latin on Thursday and face Rivers School on the following day.
The Girls’ Varsity Basketball team will be competing in the Nickerson Basketball Tournament at Noble & Greenough School in Dedham. Tabor will begin on Friday with a contest against Thayer Academy. Depending on the results of that matchup, the girls will continue through the tournament bracket until potentially ending up in the Championship Game on Saturday.
Both varsity hockey teams also have challenging tournaments during the next few days. The Boys’ Varsity Hockey team is competing at Avon Old Farms in Avon, CT on Thursday, facing off against Berkshire School in their first matchup. The following morning, Tabor will face off against St. Paul’s School, the school that Tabor is replacing in the Independent School League. Later that evening, Tabor will face off against the home team of Avon, looking to advance to Saturday’s semi-final and Championship matchups.
The Girls’ Varsity Hockey team traveled to The Taft School in Watertown, CT for the 34th annual Patsy K. Odden Invitational Hockey Tournament, where they will find challenging competition against Kent School and Choate Rosemary Hall on Thursday and against Lawrenceville Academy on Friday. Just like the boys, the girls will be looking to advance to championship play on Friday afternoon.
Several top members of the Varsity Squash team will be traveling to Yale University this weekend to compete in the U.S. Junior Open. The Tabor squash players will face tough opposition from athletes coming from across the globe, giving them the chance to see where they stand on a bigger scale.
Towards the end of Winter Break, Tabor’s varsity hockey team will arrive back at Tabor early to compete in the annual Joshua H. Weeks New Year’s Invitational. This competition sets Tabor against five other league rivals, with Tabor facing off in two games on January 2 before potentially advancing on to the semi-final and championship games on January 3. Tabor won the tournament earlier this year to Milton Academy, the team that edged them out slightly in 2015.
Additionally, the Tabor campus will be host to several community tournaments and contests for a variety of sports throughout the next several weeks. Tabor’s athletic complex is a popular venue for big tournaments that draw club teams from across the East Coast and even Canada. Even when school is not in session, athletics do not cease around Tabor Academy.
By Jack Gordon