Sue MacAvoy has been the Athletic Director at Northern Essex for 16 years now and is looking forward to the upcoming school year, but most importantly the upcoming sports seasons. I got to sit down with Sue and talk to her about the different sports offered and her thoughts on them before the school year starts.

Here is what she had to say.

On Cross Country

Northern Essex has not fielded a cross country team since 7 years ago, and MacAvoy is trying to bring it back. NECC Athletics has just hired cross country, Thomas Bradley, who had coached cross country at Wilmington High School for the past 18 years before announcing his retirement at the end of last season. His retirement would not last long though, as he signed on with NECC earlier this summer. “We’re excited to have him and his experience,” MacAvoy said.

On Volleyball

This is another team that NECC Athletics has not been able to get on the court since 2 years ago, when MacAvoy retired as head coach. However, MacAvoy is actively trying to bring the team back. “We are looking at re-vamping some things, and then we are going definitely going to try to bring it back next year,” she said. NECC Athletics will be looking to hire a new head coach throughout the year and will need to start recruiting students sooner than later.

On Baseball and Softball

The Knights baseball team undoubtedly had the most successful season his past year out of all the teams at Northern Essex. Now both the baseball and softball teams are looking to take advantage of the fall before their regular seasons start. They will both play 3-4 scrimmages with other schools but they will not keep statistics or scores to make it purely a scrimmage atmosphere.

Also this is the second year NECC will have a full softball squad and MacAvoy wants to make sure students and athletes know this. “We are trying to get the word out that we do have softball here,” she said.

On Sports Sign-Ups

Sign-ups for sports teams will start the first week of school and all fall teams will be having meetings then. Tryouts will happen the first weekend that school starts. Be sure to visit www.athletics.necc.mass.edu or contact Sue MacAvoy if you are interested in joining any of the teams.