This time of year most people are focusing on the upcoming holidays, but for high school athletes it means the beginning of the winter sports seasons, which kick off in early to mid-December.

Last season the Wareham High School boys basketball team was league champion for the fifth year a row. The team previously won the state championship for the first time in school history in the 2010 season.

Head Coach Kevin Brogioli says the boys basketball team has already been preparing for their first game at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 13 at Duxbury.

"We're hoping to get back in the hunt [for the league championship]," Brogioli said of the team's goals for the season.

The girls basketball team also achieved success last season, making it to the South Division 3 quarterfinals before being defeated by Archbishop Williams, a Braintree high school.

The girls will attempt to follow up last season, starting with its first game at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 12 at Quincy.

Though the professional hockey teams have been playing for months now, the Wareham High School hockey team will play its first game of the season at 5:20 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17 at Pope John Paul II High School in Hyannis.

The boys made it all the way to the first playoff round of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament, but fell to the Medway High School Mustangs. The team finished up with a regular season record of nine wins and 11 losses.

In past years female hockey players have either had to chose to play on the boys team or hang up their skates. This changed last winter when the Bourne-Mashpee-Wareham girls ice hockey team played their first season.

"The girls mesh really well together," said coach Kristyn Alexander, who teaches physical education in the Bourne school district. "We have inherited some very good skaters and we're excited for our second season.

The league is sanctioned by the three school districts and is accredited by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA), but relies soley on fundraising to support its costs. The team will potentially make the transition into a varsity high school team next season.

The girls are ready to get back on the ice for their first game at 1:10 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10 at Falmouth against Sandwich.

Rounding out the winter sports teams are the boys and girls indoor track teams.

"We want to achieve anything we possibly can," co-coach Mark Hudson said of the team's goals for the season. He primarily works with the boys, while he fellow co-coach Chris Gardner works with the girls.

"I want the seniors to go out at the top of their game," Hudson said.

Gardner said the girls on the team have always had success individually, an achievement that he wants to keep up. But this year his would like to see success as a team as well. Last season the team finished with 14 girls and this year the team has 23 members, a good first step towards that goal.

The teams will compete in their first meet against Fairhaven at 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10 at the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School (GNBRV).