Coach's Corner

Nipmuc athletics finished a tremendous fall season on the highest of highs. The Girls soccer team finished an unheralded run with a 1-0 win over Medfield to take home the MIAA Division 3 state championship. This marks the school's tenth state title but the first since the move to the new statewide format in 2021. The girls finished with a 21-1-1 record (a 21 game unbeaten streak) and defeated the Division 4 and 5 state champions (Sutton and Douglas) along the way. The girls finished the year as the #9 ranked team in the New England region in the United Soccer Coaches poll.

Three Nipmuc teams captured Central Massachusetts championships (Girls Soccer, Field Hockey, and Fall Cheer) and Girls Soccer and Volleyball both took league titles with undefeated league records.

Nipmuc Senior, Kyah Montano capped a legendary soccer career with, not only, a state championship, but as the all time leading scorer in Nipmuc girls soccer history. Kyah finished a four year career with 111 goals eclipsing the 106 scored by Class of 2005 graduate and Nipmuc Hall of Fame inductee Maria Picard (pictured with Kyah prior to the girls state championship game). Kyah was named All-New England by the United Soccer Coaches Association.

Kyah will continue her soccer career at High Point University next fall.

In November, seven Nipmuc senior student-athletes committed to continue their athletic careers at a four year college. Congratulations and good luck!

Amelia Corbin: Clark University (Lacrosse)

Grace Harrison: Husson University (Lacrosse)

Mia Herron: Fitchburg State University (Soccer)

Keegan Kelley: Fitchburg State University (Softball)

Fallon Lozano: LaSalle University (Lacrosse)

Dylan Magazzu: Rivier University (Lacrosse)

Kyah Montano: High Point University (Soccer)

Congratulations to our Athletes of the Month sponsored by Wiersma Insurance.

October

Lauren Tabakin: a Senior outside hitter for the Girls Volleyball team. Lauren was a DVC all star who led her team to an undefeated league record and league championship.

Jake Ferrandino: Jake was tremendous during the unified basketball season and a stalwart in the middle of the paint. Jake helped our team to an undefeated season.

Wes Ludwigson: a Junior on the Cross Country team, completed a career year as a DVC all star and finished 5th at the DVC championships.

November

Kyah Montano: Kyah (featured above) helped lead the Girls Soccer team to the MIAA Division 3 state championship.

Alex Carvalho: Alex is a junior on the Football team. Alex embodies the mantra of "team first" and continually stepped up on the defensive side of the ball this season.

The Girls Ice Hockey Team (our girls are members of the Hopkinton High School co-op team) will be raising money for cancer awareness at their January 11th game v, Dedham High School. Please come out and support the girls and this worthy cause.

Pre-Performance routines are a great way to prepare for your event. They help improve with planning,

focus, and execution before you step on the field. Creating an effective routine will help you gain

confidence that you have practiced and can visualize what you need to be successful during the game.

Matt Ludensky, our Sports Psychology and Performance Coach from Springfield College will be a monthly contributor to the newsletter. Matt will be providing mental tips and practices to give our student-athletes a leg up on the competition. For this month, he has chosen the importance of pre-performance routines. Click here to read all about it.

One of the things we have noticed during the fall season is an alarming uptick in the consumption of ultra-caffeinated drinks. Products such as Celsius, Monster, Prime, and Bang are drinks that are readily available to our student athletes. In addition to these drinks students are using over the counter pre-workout powder to give them a boost. While these products are legal, they have detrimental effects to an athlete during practices and games. The least of which are cramping and dehydration.

Included below are thoughts and tips from our Athletic Trainer, Lindsay Scuoteguazza.

Did you know that energy drinks and pre-workout are not regulated by the FDA? Because they are considered dietary supplements they do not need to be regulated, meaning you do not know what is actually in them.

Teenagers are only recommended to take no more than 100mg of caffeine per day. But do you know how much caffeine is in what they're drinking?

Coffee 96mg

Redbull 80mg

Celsius 200mg

Bang 300mg

Large Sparked from Dunkin Donuts 192mg

Panera charged lemonade 237mg

Pre-workout can range anywhere from 150mg-300mg.

The half life of caffeine is about 5 hours. Meaning that is how long it takes for half the amount of caffeine you’ve ingested to leave your body. For those student-athletes planning on playing a sport in college, Celsius is on the list of banned substances by the NCAA.

Caffeine can increase anxiety, heart rate and sleep disturbances, while also decreasing blood flow to the brain. Your heart rate is already increasing close to it’s max when you’re playing in a game or working out. It is not necessary to put yourself at risk by increasing it further with supplements.

Please take the time to be aware of what you are putting into your body and the positive and negative effects

Just a reminder to all our fans who will be attending games. All ticket sales will be cashless. You may purchase tickets ahead of time through Go Fan or we will have credit card kiosks available at the entry.

Jeremy Barefoot, a 2012 graduate of Nipmuc Regional, loved sports, especially basketball and football. If he wasn't a member of the team, he supported the team by attending games, cheering, keeping score, announcing, working at sports camps, and much more. His love of sports continued beyond high school and college and beyond as he began his working career in sales. He continued to acquire new skills and try new sports including golf, pickleball, and others. He was well-loved by his colleagues and he consistently demonstrated qualities of sportsmanship that continue to inspire us.

To honor Jeremy’s memory - his family and loved ones have created a scholarship to support the financial needs of those who wish to further his legacy of sportsmanship and positivity.

This scholarship is intended to defray the cost of the specific sports program/camp/club fee, or the cost of additional required equipment for that sport. Awards will be paid directly to the individual or family who requested the funds.

If you are interested in this scholarship you may apply here.

Email: cschmidt@mursd.org
Website: https://www.mursd.org/page/nipmuc-miscoe-athletics
Phone: 508-529-2138
Twitter: @NipmucAD