Lacrosse

Malvern Varsity Lacrosse, under Head Coach John McEvoy, is ready and eager to be back on the field this year, with high expectations for another great season under strong senior leadership. “I think the senior class is big, it was deep in really every sport, class size, you name it,” said Coach McEvoy. “There was a lot of anticipation for this class in so many ways and here we are and this has been a really non traditional senior year, so I’m excited for the season after all the things that we’ve lost this year.” McEvoy noted that the offseason preparation looked a little different, but that he is confident that his returning players will be strong leaders. “It’s hard to be cohesive or start building towards this year the uncertainty of what this year would look like, so I’m a little concerned about the prep work that went into things,” McEvoy stated. “However, now we get to return a lot of guys. A couple years ago when we last played for real, this senior class were sophomores, a lot of those guys were playing and we were young in those days.” McEvoy feels their team is ready to have another successful season this year. “This group really plays hard, they have fun competing, and I think that’s what’s even more exciting than the talent they have. They play hard, and all those variables, that usually equates to a really good year,” said McEvoy. “The key for us is, can we play like a team, not a collection of individuals. We should have a good year, the expectations are high, we have all the pieces that would be here. We just have to make it happen.”

Baseball

Malvern Varsity Baseball, under Head Coach Fred Hilliard, has been focusing on getting players ready for a packed season. “Right now it’s just a race against the clock to try to work these guys as hard as we can and, you know, put a lot on them quickly. They have to be prepared for that,” said Hilliard. As a highly talented team, Hilliard noted that playing time can be determined through work done at practice. “The guys have to realize that every day they’re competing against each other first and foremost because each day of practice, it’s a war right now to the guys that are out there on game day,” Hilliard stated. After only being able to play two scrimmages last year, the team is grateful to be able to practice and compete again after adapting their offseason plans. “We appreciate every minute we’re out in the field right now because we missed out on so much. I think it allowed us to have a lot more time to have zooms and communicate with our guys since we couldn’t be together,” said Hilliard. “Throughout the wintertime, we were getting together on the computer and installing things and talking about our systems and our and our processes to get our guys prepared for the season.”

Rowing

After lots of offseason training this winter, the spring rowing team is eager to get back in the water. “The offseason was definitely different than most years, there was a lot of training at home or as a team but with masks on,” said Matt Davis ‘21. “We’re excited to have races again because last year we lost our whole racing season.” Davis also noted that the team was poised for a great season last year, and the expectations are the same for this year. “Last year we expected to do well and bring home national championships,” Davis stated. “I’m hoping we can do that this year as well.” The team will start racing after spring break, and continue late into the spring. “We have races every Sunday during the season,” said Davis. “As we get further into the season the races become more and more prestigious and we’re all really excited.”

Tennis

Malvern Tennis has gotten many first-time players this season, and Team Captain Alex Vu says training them will be a great experience. “We have a lot of new players on the team, so it’ll be a fun opportunity to help develop them because most of them have never played before.” said Vu. “Then for the people coming back they have to just get back to work.” While the team has to follow all COVID protocols, Vu noted that masking has been fairly easy. “Since you’re not really playing with too many people on the court at the same time, you have your doubles and singles, doubles and singles players will be wearing masks,” Vu stated. The team is glad to have a full season and hoping to be very successful. “Our goal every year is to win as many games as possible,” said Vu. “Since we didn’t have a season last year, we are eager to get back in action and develop the players who didn’t have a chance to play last year.”

Rugby

Malvern Rugby has begun preparing for it’s spring season. Recently named Head Coach John McCurdy is excited for the upcoming rugby season, and expects it to look similar to years past. “We’re going to look pretty similar,” said McCurdy. “We began pretty much around our normal time and will end about the same.” Like most sports, rugby is beginning with scrimmages leading up to their season opener. “We have scrimmages each weekend leading up to spring break,” McCurdy stated. “Then we start having real games the weekend after Easter.” McCurdy noted that the team has done a great job of adapting to the new protocols put in place for practices and games. “We’re always working on sticking to the COVID guidelines and policies,” said McCurdy. “Practices still look mostly normal, with a few changes plus masks and trying to distance when possible.” 

Track and Field

After having a full season this winter, the spring track and field team is eager to start competing in meets. “Going into the spring season the team gets bigger because the spring track team is quite larger than the winter track team,” said Throwing Coach Erik Miller. “I’m just focused on training and practice, we’re outside practicing at least Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and some Wednesdays.” The season should look mostly the same as it has in the past according to Miller. “We’re still training like we’re going to have a regular-season regular meets and as far as I can tell. I got a lot of young guys, so I’m looking forward to next year’s season already,” he said. Miller noted that in a year full of changes, they are happy to be able to have sports, even if it looks a little different this year. “We’ll be grateful that we get something. I think we’ve all learned this year that you take what you can get and don’t get upset,” Miller stated. “Going outside makes things better, cases are dropping and a vaccine helps a lot. So hopefully by May, we’ll get some real meets going on.”

Sailing

Malvern’s sailing team is getting ready to start their spring season this April, expecting to continue their history of accomplished seasons. “We’ve been a varsity sport at Malvern for a little over seven years,” said Head Coach Dan Cullen. “During that time, we have won the championship five times. So we sort of have a long track record of success.” Sailing competes during both the fall and the spring, and is hoping for a close to normal spring season after having a shortened fall season. “In the fall we didn’t have a real season we just, you know, we had sort of a hybrid or modified season where Malvern sailors would be assigned to a boat and they would really just compete for themselves,” said Cullen. “We had about four to five weeks where we went down and raced on Sundays but it was not our normal season. Last year, we didn’t have a spring season at all, but it looks like this spring is going to be relatively normal, at least that’s the plan right now.” Coach Cullen also stated that he would love to continue to grow the team and add new sailors. “We’re always looking for Malvern students that want to come out and try something new. We will teach you everything that you need to know you don’t have to have any prior experience,” said Cullen. “We compete in our races on Sundays. So, other than a couple practices during the week, it doesn’t require a humongous amount of time. We would love to continue to see more and more students come down, check us out on Sundays, we’ll show you around and come, consider joining the sailing team.”