Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 9/22/2021
HUNTINGTON – Gateway Regional Athletic Director Matthew Bonenfant gave an overview on fall sports to the School Committee on Sept. 8. He said after receiving a lot of late sign-ups, the high school will have a boys junior varsity (JV) soccer team this season, along with boys and girls varsity soccer, and boys and girls cross-country teams.
The boys soccer program ended up with 27 boys in August, which was enough for a JV team, and they were able to find a coach, Bonenfant said.
“If we knew the membership in May, we could have probably filled in a 12-game schedule. We now have six games on the schedule, the first one on Sept. 28,” he said, adding that he would try to schedule eight games for the season.
Bonenfant said it wasn’t that much of a surprise that students waited until the last minute to sign up, but he had tried to get the sign-ups done online in May in order to have the required physicals and paperwork complete, to make sure the students had everything they needed to start on the first day.
Bonenfant, a physical education teacher for grades five to 12, also coaches girls varsity soccer. He said the 16 girls on the soccer team are all very young, with no seniors, and are outsized by most of the teams in the league.
“We’re lucky to have enough girls to have a girls program,” he said.
Winter sports sign-ups have started and run through Oct. 29. Bonenfant said they will try again to have students sign up early online. The link to sign up is available at www.grsd.org under the Athletics tab. All fees have been waived.
“We’re trying to keep up the same process we used this fall. You have to have a physical for seventh grade, and you have to have an active physical on file per [Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association] rules. We’re also hoping to get early sign-ups in case we need to hire a JV coach,” Bonenfant said.
Winter sports being offered at Gateway are wrestling, boys basketball, girls basketball and cheerleading. Junior varsity teams will be based on the number of participants per each individual sport.
Tryouts will begin on Nov. 29, with times and location to be announced. Any questions may be sent to Matthew Bonenfant at athleticdirector@grsd.org.
Bonenfant also announced at the meeting that Gateway has agreed to join Southwick’s hockey cooperative, and the agreement now has to be approved by the Pioneer Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference (PVIAC). If approved, Gateway students will be able to play ice hockey as members of Southwick’s team. Hockey sign-ups must be made through the Southwick Regional School at srs.stgrsd.org.
Bonenfant said the Gateway sports program is almost back to where it was before COVID-19. There are some changes in the scheduling, he said, as Berkshire has joined the PVIAC conference, whereas before they were in their own Berkshire league.
“It’s very good – the Berkshires were down to 10 schools. The Berkshires are gaining more comparable opponents [for Gateway]. We border the Berkshires, and some of those games are closer. It’s a good fit for everybody, a good thing,” Bonenfant said.