After listening to speeches from multiple different candidates, the upper school student body voted Abby Flood to be the Athletic Council president for the 2023-2024 school year. Untucked sat down with Abby to gain insight into her plans for the coming year and the best parts of Oak Knoll athletics.
What is your favorite part of sports at Oak Knoll?
I love how our athletic programs incorporate service and mental health awareness as such a big part of sports at Oak Knoll. Completing a service project as a team is so fulfilling and fun to do together as a group, and I really appreciate the one “blackout day’’ each season here to give athletes an often much needed rest day. I love how student-athlete feedback is considered as well throughout each season, whether with the google forms to give feedback to the athletics department, mid-season check-ins, and also the ability to design our own warmup shirts.
What are your plans for the council next year?
I’m still in the process of brainstorming, but as of now I would love to organize more student vs. faculty sports events as well as recreational events during school to get everyone involved, such as pickleball tournaments or knockout. In terms of service, I would like to work with Dr. Childs and the council to investigate the possibility of organizing a blood drive here at OKS, or a sports-equipment themed advent angel program to adopt a family for the holidays, for example. I also want to incorporate stronger relationships between different sports teams here at OKS by doing things such as designating one day a season for each team to go and watch another team’s game. Overall, I want to use my role to make next year as fun as possible for every student-athlete here, bring that fun to members of our community outside of the actual sports programs, and work to give back through new service opportunities.
What drew you to run for athletic council president?
When Ms. Ticona presented leadership opportunities to us back in early spring, running for Athletic council wasn’t actually ever on my horizon. I haven’t been on the council before, and we had really great reps for our grade already. But after being softball captain this season, I have really loved working with our athletic directors and coming up with fun and creative ways to make our season run smoothly. I have always enjoyed playing sports here, and am very passionate about Athletics, as I love being active, the thrill of each game, and also the special team environment. Additionally, field hockey and lacrosse tend to be the major talking-points about sports here at OKS. Both of those programs are super strong, accomplished, and amazing, but as someone who doesn’t play either I would like to work to spotlight some of our smaller programs as well next year.
After being softball captain this year, is there anything you have learned from that role that you are looking forward to bringing to the athletic council?
Being softball captain this year has been a really fun experience and taught me a lot about leadership and how our athletic programs function here at Oak Knoll. I’ve learned about how to balance the concerns of my teammates with my own, the importance of hard work, how to collaborate with teammates, coaches, and administrators, and also how to organize team events (from working on senior night, team socials, and our service project). I hope to use this experience to lead the council the best I can next year!