News

Durham Academy fall sports have hit the postseason with much to be proud of!

Durham Academy sports are in the second to last week of a shortened 2020 fall season.

Durham Academy's Parents Athletic Committee will a fundraiser at Chipotle (Durham's Watkins Road location in the Gateway Terrace development) on Wednesday, Oct. 21, from 4–8 p.m

On Thursday, the boys cross-country team hosted Cary Christian School and Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill.

When Durham Academy’s varsity girls tennis team took to the court on Sept. 21 for a match vs. Ravenscroft, they were the first team to wear a DA uniform in more than six months. When the school went on spring break in early March — with the changes that the COVID-19 pandemic would bring not yet fully apparent — no one knew how long it would actually be before students and coaches would return to school and resume interscholastic sports.

We are grateful to have had another safe and successful week of interscholastic competition both at home and away for our DA sports teams! Field hockey, boys soccer and volleyball all returned to action this week, and beginning today, parents of our senior student-athletes will be allowed back on the sidelines while adhering to DA health and safety protocols. 

We’re excited to have kicked off our first week of Durham Academy athletics competition! Check out the full schedule for all fall teams on da.org/teams, and you can follow live results from matches on DA Athletics Twitter feed.

After the latest update from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as consultation with peer schools in the Triangle Independent Schools Athletic Conference, Durham Academy Athletics is ready to announce our return-to-competition practice protocols for Upper School moderate-risk sports: volleyball, field hockey and boys soccer.

Thank you once again for your patience and flexibility as we continue to explore all options for our DA fall athletics teams. After meetings with our Triangle Independent Schools Athletic Conference peers and our own Administrative Team leaders, we have a few updates to announce. 

I appreciate your patience and flexibility surrounding our athletic department decisions. As you can imagine, the independent school athletics landscape is changing almost daily, and we are doing our best with both short- and long-term planning.

Susan Ellis, who teaches physical education at the Middle School and coaches varsity girls soccer and JV girls tennis, is the 2020 recipient of Durham Academy’s F. Robertson Hershey Distinguished Faculty Award. The award was presented Monday at DA’s opening faculty and staff meeting. Watch a recording of the award presentation via Facebook.

Thanks to the efforts and cooperation of our DA Athletics staff, coaches, parents and student-athletes, we have had a successful summer of voluntary workouts and pre-season training. Last week, the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletics Association approved practices and competitions for fall sports in the low- and moderate-risk categories. While this is promising news for our teams, we will continue to move at a steady and safe pace before considering interscholastic competition. Please see the chart below for the progression of our teams over the next four weeks. Due to the evolving landscape of high school athletics during the COVID-19 pandemic, everything is subject to change.  

When coronavirus cut the spring season short, Cavalier coaches were presented with the unprecedented challenge of keeping student-athletes motivated, engaged and active — without the benefit of the in-person interaction and attention that are critical during a typical season.

Several Durham Academy athletics teams plan to conduct summer workouts with the following guidelines in place. All summer workouts are entirely voluntary; if at any point, the student-athlete, parent or coach feels uncomfortable participating, they should stop. 

Virtually surrounded by coaches, teammates, teachers and friends — and with an abundance of hugs and high-fives from family members at home — six Durham Academy seniors committed to continue their athletic careers in college on Wednesday.