By: Chris Adkins and Joseph DeFreitas, Staff Writers
On November 17, Foran’s fall sports athletes, faculty, and staff participated in a charity volleyball tournament. The tournament is called “Play for a Paws.”
Volleyball head coach and fundraiser chair Mrs. Jessica Hoffer comments, “The charity that we have selected for this year is the CT Humane Society, which is the oldest and most comprehensive animal welfare organization in the state of Connecticut.”
The volleyball team and student council hosted the event, and the participating six teams were composed of student athletes from cheer, boys cross country, girls cross country with the swim team, girls soccer, boys soccer, as well as a staff team.
In the first round of the tournament, the staff team came out on top over the cheer team with a dominant 40-20 win. In the second game of the first round, the boys cross country team swiftly defeated the girls cross country/swim team with a 33-21 victory behind coach Jimmy Cobain. In the third and final game of the round, boys soccer took down girls soccer in a 43-19 one sided performance with coach Jack Cushman’s gameplan, getting them a bye into the final.
In the semifinal round, junior James Galaburri’s 4 straight aces brought the boys Cross Country team level with the staff team at 15-15 as the two teams were locked in a thriller. Despite Galaburri’s late game antics, the staff team edged out the victory 25-22, propelling them into the final.
Galaburri’s biggest takeaway from the loss was the lack of communication amongst the team.
“If you don’t communicate, then everyone's going to be confused, and pressure will start building up. There were some times where we didn’t communicate that well, and the ball either hit out or landed on the floor,” Galaburri states.
Moving into the championship game, boys soccer was set to play the staff team. Boys soccer opened up hot, but the staff wasn’t far behind, with both teams trading points throughout the first period of the game. As time went on, boys soccer was able to open up a sizable lead and ultimately pull out the victory 25-18.
“We were really confident and we communicated very well,” Cushman reflects. “We came out with a game plan, we wanted to bump, set, and spike it, and we did just that.”
Play for a Paws not only supported the CT Humane Society, but was also one of the biggest sporting events this fall. The event brought out both students and staff, both cheering for their peers, as well as for the animals CT Humane Society is striving to help.
“I think the charity volleyball game was a great event. I never knew what the CT Humane society was before the game, but the event helped spread awareness on it while also giving us a fun night,” senior Kevin Chen comments.
If you are interested in donating to the CT Humane society, you can do so here at https://cthumane.org/?form=chswebsite. Even a small donation can go a long way.
