During the fall season, the students of Eleanor Roosevelt love to scream and spectate in the crowd as they cheer on friends. As the ERHS fall sports season progresses, it’s been a rollercoaster for the athletes. From the process of tryouts and practice to showing up and putting forth on the field in football, soccer, and golf, ERHS makes it a priority to always put the best student-athletes forward.

So far this fall, the sports teams at ERHS are in a  hardline position. There’s been wins and losses. Even so, with time left before playoffs, the teams are hopeful for success to ensure they make it to the end. Everyone experiences loss, and Assistant JV Football Coach Mr. Gunnar Tilly emphasizes that “throughout the season many things can happen. If we lose, we never relax.  We go in, watch film, capitalize on what we did wrong, and we fix it.”

Still, being a student comes before being an athlete so maintaining a balance is important. ERHS safety and wide receiver Raquane Matthews says “we have a lot to work on, but it starts off the field.” He was direct that football is his main focus and what he loves the most, starting his playing career at the age of four. Playing catch with his father and brother became a habit and began to bring him joy. Now being a senior has taught him that he has a lot of responsibility for his team. He strives to become a ¨better leader and show [his teammates] varsity skill.” With this being his third year on varsity, Raquane reflects on the program and how the play style and coaching is. He says “you will find success and it starts with listening to the coaching staff.” Although they have not had the start they wanted, he is optimistic for his team and exclaims ¨everyone must do their job¨ to get ¨locked in.¨ Something must be working, however, as the Raiders have won their past three games. 

The football team credits their success to teammates on and off the field. Jaila Crews emphasizes how she enjoyed being the manager for the 2022 State Champion basketball team. And when asked to be the football manager there was no hesitation. She explained she grew up around football and watched with her dad. “There are many advantages to being manager,” Jaila explains. She truly enjoys being the “additional motivation” for the team. 

This season, the ERHS girls’ varsity soccer team is off to a good start as they have a winning record through their first couple of games. While the team has had some great wins, they have also suffered some bad losses, but they have found ways to turn things around and bounce back the next game. The team has not had back to back losses so far this season. Starting goalie Mia Hamilton states,” I think the team needs to improve our communication, and overall intensity on the field.” She connects their losses to these reasons as when they have been defeated, as the team was quiet and seemed to lose interest when going down late in the game. And while the communication may be lacking, she also believes that they make up for it with skill on the field. “I think the team this year has a lot of potential and will perform really well.” She believes that this years is very talented, and claimed that “the goal is always to make it to state championships,” showing that she has high hopes for the end half of the season. She went on to state that “We want to focus on finishing the regular season strong,” meaning that while playoffs is a thought, finishing the season strong is where their heads seem to be at.  The team has their priorities set, and with time left in the season they hope to fix their little issues to make a deep playoff run. 

Although some sports have had their ups and downs, there is still a fair share of athletes that feel as though their season is reflecting on the work they put in. The Raider Review sat down with Micheal Bielec, a ERHS golf player, to discuss what he has in plan for the season and what he will do to achieve his ultimate goal of progressing to states. Bielec shows us a side of fall sports that he has expressed “doesn’t get the recognition it deserves.” Many people do not recognize the work that gets put in is just as much as any sport and people should acknowledge that. Micheal is a Sophomore at ERHS and started playing golf as a way to pass time during quarantine. He grew a love for it and has played for Roosevelt ever since. He hopes to make it to states as he did last year. So come out to some matches, and congratulate a fellow golf player as they conquer their season.