The success of the Four Rivers Charter School girls ultimate team has been noticed around the country.
The Otters are the defending state champions and followed it up by losing just one game this spring. Their play on the field earned them an invite to the 2022 High School Nationals, and they traveled to Richmond, Va. on Thursday before games get underway on Friday.
For first year coach Peter Johnson, who had been coaching the Four Rivers boys JV squad the last three years, a trip to Nationals wasn’t expected but is a pleasant surprise.
“Nationals wasn’t really an idea,” Johnson said during a practice earlier this week in Greenfield. “This team did win states last year so I knew it was a really good team. We had a lot of returners. They invite the best teams they think will be strong and because we won states, they knew we’d be strong and we got the invitation and accepted it.
“As we’ve progressed through the season, we’ve been thinking more about it,” he continued. “They’re getting excited about it and I’m excited about it. It’s going to be an amazing opportunity for us to make this trip. We have a lot of seniors so it’ll be their last thing of the year.”
The Otters enter this weekend’s tournament with plenty of confidence. It all started in their first game of the year with a win over a rival, and from there, confidence has grown with each contest they’ve competed in.
“This season has been incredible,” Four Rivers captain Eve Macek said. “As a team, we’ve grown so much. Our first game was against Amherst and that’s been a rival of ours in the past. We won that game so that was a good start to the season. It pushed us and gave us some confidence. Throughout the year we kept winning, our only loss was to NMH on a windy day and we played badly. We beat them the next week. It’s been smooth sailing since then.”
This is the fourth year Ultiworld and Competitive Ultimate Training is holding Nationals, though just the first time in two years as the tournament was put on pause because of COVID-19.
Four Rivers is one of 15 teams heading to Richmond, with Lexington High School the only other squad from the Bay State in the field.
With teams coming from as far as Washington and Oregon, the Otters are eager to test themselves against the country’s best.
“It’s hard to tell how good your team is where there aren’t a lot of teams in New England,” senior Afri Flynn said. “The most exciting thing is getting to play teams from all over who we didn’t play this season. We’ve watched some of the top teams in the nation but it’s hard to gauge where we are or if we’ll be able to compete with them. Getting to experience that in person is really exciting. Hopefully it goes well.”
The hard part of playing teams from around the country is indeed the unknown. Lexington is the lone team in the tournament that Four Rivers played this year, with the Otters coming away with an 11-1 victory.
Four Rivers players said they aren’t trying to put pressure on themselves, instead hoping to enjoy their final tournament together as a team this season.
“I have no expectations,” Macek said. “I’m just excited to be going there and excited to get to travel. It’d be awesome if we can win a couple games. I don’t know what the competition looks like. It’s exciting but nerve-racking not knowing the skill level of the competition. I watched a game last night of a team from Washington and they l0oked good. Just the fact we’ll go to play the best teams in the country is exciting.”
With the team chemistry the Otters have developed throughout the year, the squad is prepared to challenge itself like never before.
“I saw a lot of potential at the beginning of the year but a lot of work that needed to be done,” Macek said. “We’ve worked really hard to come together as a team. We have chemistry on the field which is so much fun. It’s nice to watch on the sideline. It’s nice to have a team where I’m confident with everyone’s throwing and catching skills. It’s important to have consistency on the team and we have that.”
It’s been almost two weeks since the state tournament, an event the Otters dominated en route to an undefeated championship title. That should give Four Rivers plenty of time to prepare for this weekend’s event.
Johnson hasn’t added too much extra to their plate, feeling his team is in a good place entering Friday’s opening day of competition.
“We’re not learning too much more,” Johnson said. “We’re trying to stay fresh and watch some of the game film of the teams we’ll be playing. We have no idea how we compare nationally. We know we’re a really good team but maybe they’re way better than us or way worse than us. The team is in a great place. We’re not going into this expecting to win it. We’re going to have a fun time and we’ll find out in the first couple games where we compare and go from there.”
With ultimate being a staple at Four Rivers, it’s thrilling for the players to be the first team in school history to get the invite to Nationals. The hope is that the invites continue in the future.
“It’s always been a big thing at this school,” Flynn said. “[Coaches] Terry and Dov Plotkin have put a lot of energy and effort into it. It’s part of the school culture. It’s no bigger this year than previous years. We have a lot of new players who didn’t play during COVID which made it really fun. Our team adjusts and adapts well. Hopefully we step up our energy, step up our game. Whatever the outcome is, I’ll be happy to be there.”