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Girls Basketball
Staff member:Maddie Vaughn
Girls basketball is a very exciting time for both the parents and the athletes! 8th-grade girls start October 27th, and this season looks promising! The girls first face off is against the Sturgis Scoopers at Sturgis Middle School. I’m expecting it to be a very close game.The coaches for the 8th grade girls will be John Barnes ( who has a daughter on the team) and Tito Handboy who also has a daughter on the team. This season is going to be a good one for our girls! With John and Tito as the coaches every game is going to be a close one! Another close game this season will be against Lead deadwood on November 9th.
Tito Handboy commented, “I’m very excited to be coaching this group of girls this season. I've watched this team grow from little 5th graders into the great ball players they all are.”
Our now 8th grade girls have been playing together since 5th grade, they have amazing chemistry and work very well together. This year is going to be a great year for our 8th grade girls, as well as 7th grade girls. Another perk for the 8th grade girls is they have 3 tournaments (last year they had only 1). But if you are interested in 8th grade basketball give it a try! Who knows? You could be amazing and even make the high school C-team!
Staff member: Summer Handboy
Girls basketball is in full swing! The girls had a great first practice. Their first practice was October 19th. Head coach is Mr. Aaron Kowalski and assistant coach is Mr. Marlon Kingi. The 7th grade girls practice in the mornings at the middle school from 6:00 to 7:30 am. The first game is November 3rd, at Douglas, against the Sturgis Scoopers.
Here are a few words from head coach, Aaron Kowalski, about what he expects from the girls this season. “I expect these girls to work hard, have a good attitude, be coachable, and be able to be held accountable.”
Some more upcoming games are an A/B home game against Custer on November 5th, an A away game against Lead-Deadwood, an A/B away game against Southwest, and an A Home game against STM. This group of 7th graders is doing great at trying to improve their skills and sportsmanship. These girls have great passion on the court and are always ready to put up a good fight. I’ve seen first hand what these girls can do because Maddie Vaughn and I helped coach some practices and a game. I expect these ladies (and any new girls) to have a great season. We hope to have a safe and fun rest of the season. GO PATRIOTS.
Student Council
Staff Member: Baylee Marnolejo
Student Council is one of the clubs you can join at Douglas Middle School. When you participate in student council you have the opportunity to help with things around school, such as providing coffee and snack carts for the teachers and staff. You get to help decide spirit week days and you help with concessions at games and dances. Student Council is a lot more than just dances and concessions though, you also have to do things for the school that sometimes people don’t see. Student council is a lot more than proving your worth to the school, but rather doing what's good and helping people when they need it. That's what the student council does, they help where it's needed and try their best.
A lot of the things we do in student council wouldn't be possible without our teacher Mrs. Kennedy. She plans and organizes all the things we do in the student council and she even does all that on top of teaching 3 other subjects. She helps direct theater after school, even though she does those she still tries her best to make sure the student council has fun.
The Student Council meets once a month for meetings and they talk about the recent and upcoming events happening at DMS and what they can do to help. Sometimes they have last minute meetings, but those only happen if the event is important enough or is an urgent enough thing. If you're wanting to sign up for any DMS activity, I would highly recommend the student council. It teaches you a lot more than just helping out where it's needed and it teaches you responsibility, discipline, kindness, and how to work with others.
Football Recap
Staff Member: Daniel Duran
As the end of our Douglas Middle school Football season slowly creeps into its last few weeks, the student body is finally able to see the aftermath of this incredible season that was presented this school year. The middle school team had a total of seven games this season most likely more if im miscounting or skipping some entirely. But even still, every match our eighth grade team played they played as hard and as physical as they could muster up at the current moment and they never put their heads down. They continued playing with their spirits as high as any clouds could reach at its highest.
During an Interview with one of our great eighth grade players he said, “I believe we did play a lot better this year, while being compared to our other years at the very least.” I personally chose this statement because it shows how the entire team sees themselves and how they truly believe they tied and played their very best.
During this season of football the team never did get any technical wins under their belts this year, but they did win as a team strengthening their bond after every game and making them play just an extra bit better every game. While never taking home a victory they scored many touchdowns, either through run plays or passes, showing this team was never just left in dust they were always creeping up on them in yards or in points.
Overall our eighth grade teams played their best games, no matter the circumstances at hand and continued playing no matter what happened during the match, showing they have the potential to be the very best.
Wrestling
Staff Members: Alex Anderson and Finnley Osborn
In previous wrestling seasons, we have had both success and failure, but last season was a particularly successful one. Several 8th graders made it to high school wrestling, and even some 7th graders moved up. Those wrestlers included Declan Vernon, Finnley Osborne, Conner Gray, Alex Anderson, Blaine Anderson, Noah Juelfs, Zion Wielander, Cameron Shade, Abel Hansen, and Grayson Daugherty.
We also had several Black Hills Conference winners, including Felicity Ziemer, Anthony Marte, Trevor Brown, Abel Hansen, Kyson Jones, Luis Swanagon, Eli McWha, Declan Vernon, Alex Anderson, and Trevor Richters. The team also had three middle school state placers: Abel Hansen and Zion Wielander both placed eighth, while Grayson Daugherty earned third place. With so many wrestlers having success, it was an exciting season for the team.
This season could be even better because wrestling has gained more traction throughout the school district. We have more experienced wrestlers than before, which should make practices more competitive and help everyone improve. At the high school level, we lost several good wrestlers to graduation, but that also creates more opportunities for middle school wrestlers to move up. Getting pulled up to the high school team gives younger wrestlers a chance to practice with older and more experienced athletes. Speaking from experience, practicing with high school wrestlers can help younger wrestlers improve their skills, confidence, toughness, and overall grit.
“This year's middle school wrestling team brings back a lot of wrestlers that have experience at both MS and HS level. We expect them to have great leadership and compete at a high level.” This is a quote from Mr. Dougherty. (The high school head wrestling coach) This shows that even the coaches think we have a more experienced team.
We expect to have a pretty strong season with a bunch of new wrestlers. Currently, wrestling is the fastest-growing sport in the world right now. We encourage everyone to start wrestling. It is a tough sport and very fun. Wrestling helps you get into good shape and helps with all other aspects of sports, with wrestling, you need to have a strong mental resilience, athleticism, and overall strength which wrestling will help you improve all of these aspects. “In addition to preparing kids for future opportunities in life, wrestling also teaches valuable physical discipline. Wrestlers learn from challenging one-on-one struggles against an opponent and also develop an awareness of diet and nutrition through the process of making weight. While not all wrestlers and coaches approach weight loss in healthy ways, when done correctly, this can teach a physical life skill that many young athletes may never learn. Wrestling training develops skills that can translate to other sports outside of wrestling. Former wrestlers are regularly seen making big impacts on NFL football fields and in other athletic arenas.” This paragraph is from the article waconiawrestling.com by Ivan McClay.
Overall, the team has a lot to look forward to this season. With returning wrestlers, new athletes, experienced leaders, and more opportunities to compete at the high school level, this could be one of the team's strongest seasons yet. If you want to wrestle but have some questions, come talk to a wrestler or Mr. Dougherty, which is located in room 401.
Theatre
Staff Member: Alayna Combs
Many, maybe all, enjoy good entertainment. Even you! So I have got something big to share. School plays! Specifically “Legally Blonde Jr.” the school's most recent-to-come production! The auditions finished on October 14 and many of the sixty participants are hoping for their desired role! Sadly, there can only be forty casted actors, so everyone tried there best to do well. Even if an actor does not get a role, they can always try for the spring play.
“I was a bit scared but everyone did really good,” says one of many auditioners. Though, this play would never exist if the producers and tech crew didn’t work hard! This play is a tech crew heavy set meaning they’re going to be busy! A big thanks to Mrs. Scott and Mrs. Kennedy, the producers, to put together the great performance we wish to come! If you are an actor in this play- a friendly reminder; Do not be afraid of the stage, many are encouraging and helpful! (Even if you're the antagonist).
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