Photo by Francesco Compagna
By Luke Ito and Justin Alpert
Sports Reporters
The Massachusetts defending champion Newton South boys gymnastics team won their fourth straight state title this past weekend, adding yet another achievement to their impressive dynasty as a joint program with Newton North High School.
“It was an unbelievable feeling winning states as a team. Everyone on the team worked so tirelessly and hard for the championship throughout the season and improved so much, so to see it finally pay off is unbelievable,” junior captain Sam Arber said.
Arber and senior Adam Iskander played crucial roles in the teams’ championship run. While this season is wrapping up, the team is already looking to build upon its success by grooming the younger gymnast and improving as a team.
I would say our goals moving forward would be to practice harder and push ourselves more,” Iskander said.
Another strong championship performance was delivered by sophomore Matthew Hassan, whom Sam Arber gives overwhelming praise.
“Matthew and I were on a club team together a few years back and to have him on the team is great. He contributed so much to winning the championship and he also improved greatly throughout the season,” he said.
With gymnastics being a sport that is not offered at the youth level as much as soccer, baseball etc, it is very important to quickly expose the gymnasts to the sports as soon as they reach high school and build upon their natural athleticism.
“Most of the guys on the team are fairly new to gymnastics and want to learn new skills and improve. Our goal is to compete at a higher level than the other teams, which we must do to keep winning championships,” Arber said.
