Every year NHS hosts an annual fall sports season kickoff event called Fall Fest. This year’s Fall Fest was hosted on Aug. 27. The event is a tradition that has been taking place for many years. A variety of teams scrimmage one another to show the progress they have made since school has started and throughout the summer. Fall athletes, coaches and sponsors have the opportunity to be introduced and recognized by the community. 

Athletic Director Brian Becker plays a big role in helping with the organization of Fall Fest. He facilitates the team pictures and also introduces teams at Fischer Field football stadium for the final part of the event. 

“The afternoon is spent doing team pictures, which must be coordinated with our picture company, Strawbridge Studios. For the scrimmages we work to coordinate with the coaches to have their activity ready to go,” Becker said. “We also have to coordinate the times for everything that takes place at Fischer Field such as concessions, busses for teams, booster club, etc.”

The volleyball team has their own scrimmage along with pictures and introductions on Fall Fest night. Scrimmaging lasts for only an hour due to a scheduled varsity tournament the day after Fall Fest.

“We don’t spend a lot of time actually preparing for Fall Fest as much as we prepare for our opening tournament the day after,” volleyball coach Elizabeth Gunn said. 

Gunn says as a volleyball coach there is not much they do other than supervise the players since they are not able to practice in the gym because team pictures are taking place. Before the teams are introduced at Fischer Field, Gunn says the coaches typically go out for dinner.

“We appreciate the opportunity to showcase our team but that practice before the tournament would be nice. The girls do create class t-shirts to wear for the scrimmage,” Gunn said.

The girls tennis team says they on the other hand do not do much for Fall Fest. Tennis coach Nick Sisson says they usually have meets during the day of Fall Fest so they are not able to do much as a team since they are busy with practice and meets. The girls tennis team does attend introductions at Fischer Field where Sisson introduces the team and the team’s seniors introduce the players. 

“There isn’t a lot of work that has to be done to put Fall Fest together, but there is a lot of coordination,” Becker said.