Big Red Homecoming 2017

BIG RED

INSIDE

THE EDGE OF GREATNESS

THE FOOTBALL TEAM REBOUNDS

BY AARON PARK / / P. 14

HOMECOMING HWBIGRED.COM FALL 2017 @HWCSPORTS

PREVIEWING THE HOMECOMING GAMES

BY BIG RED STAFF / / P. 20

• Playbook • BIG RED

Big Red Staff: LETTER FROM THE EDITORS Editors-in-Chief Ellis Becker and Aaron Park address goals for the upcoming year.

HOMECOMING 2017 • VOLUME 11 • NO.1

Big Red Staff: PICTURES A glance at Wolverine teams during games.

Ellis Becker:

BEATING THE HEAT

With temperatures rising, the football team has been forced to adapt.

Jenny Li: SHARPE SHOOTING A profile of distance track and cross country coach Tim Sharpe.

Aaron Park: ON THE EDGE OF GREATNESS Undefeated so far, the football team hopes to continue its winning ways into league play.

Asa Saperstein: BENCHED Many non-starters get more than just recruitment out of athletics.

Big Red Staff: HOMECOMING PREVIEWS A look at the four teams that will be competing at Homecoming on Oct. 7.

Eli Adler: COLUMN Fewer Fanatics showed up at football games last season. That’s a problem.

Matthew Yam:

Q&A

An interview with cheerleader Anneliese Bredsprecher ’18

3 4 10 12 14 18 20 24 26

theStaff Editors-in-Chief Ellis Becker, Aaron Park

Presentations Editor Elly Choi

Managing Editor Matthew Yam

Executive Editor Eli Adler

2 • BIG RED FALL 2017

Assistant Editors Asa Saperstein, Ben Tenzer, Ryan Albert, Jackie Greenberg, Lucas Gelfond

Adviser Jim Burns

BIG RED is a publication of the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle, the upper school newspaper at HarvardWestlake School, 3700 Coldwater Canyon, Studio City, CA 91604, produced as a part of Advanced Journalism classes. The school has 1,500 students in grades 9-12. For any questions, or to purchase a subscription or to advertise, please contact us at chronicle@hw.com or at (818)487-6512. Copies of BIG RED are distributed free on campus to students and faculty and are mailed to friends and family by subscription at $15 per year. Letters to the editor can be sent to editor-in-chief Bennett Gross, at bgross1@hwemail.com. BIG RED is a general interest magazine about athletics, including teams and individual athletic pursuits of Harvard-Westlake students and faculty, as well as health and fitness topics. For seasonal coverage of Wolverine teams, see The Chronicle or www.hwchronicle.com.

Cover image by Aaron Park

THE STAFF

Message from the Editors

BY ELLIS BECKER AND AARON PARK eryone who worked on staff last year, to the athletes who were supposed to be featured in the final issue, and most importantly to you, the readers.

But we don’t want to dwell on the past.

We messed up, we acknowledge that. But that means that we also unLast year, we pub- ourselves for our mis- derstand what’s not golished three issues. The takes, and we would like ing to cut it, and what it’s final issue simply did not to apologize. We would going to take to get done.

This year, we have get done. We take it upon like to apologize to ev-

an incredible staff of writers and editors and are super excited to present volume 11 of Big Red. We’re committed to quality. We’re committed to accuracy.

And we’re committed bringing you, our readers, the best coverage and insight into HarvardWestlake sports that we can produce.

And that means four issues.

BIG RED FALL 2017 • 3

PAVAN TAUH/BIG RED

RYAN ALBERT/BIG RED

PAVAN TAUH/BIG RED AARON PARK/BIG RED

WINGSPAN Top: Sam Krutonog ’18 prepares to block an opponent’s shot duing a match against Murrieta Valley on Sept. 6.

TAKE OFF Right: Team captain Cameron Jones ’18 outruns an opponent during the team’s game against El Camino Real.

RUNNING MAN Left: Austin McNab ’18 runs at the 2017 Seaside Invitational on Sept. 8.

PAVAN TAUH/BIG RED

STICK IT OUT Forward Mia Reilly ’18 dribbles down the field during the team’s match against Newport on Sept.

14. The Wolverines won the match 1-0.

PAVAN TAUH/BIG RED

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF WOO SIM

PAVAN TAUH/BIG RED

BUMP DAY Left: Bella Hedley ’18 bumps the ball to a teammate during a match against Notre Dame on Sept. 7. The team won the game 3-0.

SPLASH ZONE Top: Nico Tierney ’20 prepares to take a shot during the team’s match against Murrieta Valley on Sept. 6.

THE RETURN Bottom: Mia Stent ’18 prepares to return a hit from an opponent during a match against Palos Verdes on Sept.

14. The team lost the match 14-4.

PRINTED WITH PERMISSION OF WOO SIM

BEATING THE

HEAT

Finding purpose beyond ourselves on our joyful pursuit of athletic excellence, being diverse and inclusive of all temperatures. by

With just a few minutes remaining in the second quarter of the football team’s second game of the season against Jefferson, the Wolverines led 20-6. Even in the evening, it was a scorching 90 degrees out.

The Democrats were making their final push towards the end zone before the half. Jefferson’s Vel Harvey took a handoff and made a push through the Wol-

10 • BIG RED FALL 2017

ELLIS BECKER

verine’s line until he was brought down hard. He stayed on the ground. After being helped up, Harvey ripped off his helmet, bent over and threw up on the 10-yard-line.

“It may have been attributed to the heat,” Director of Sports Medicine Brian Gallagher said.

“I think there were a lot of factors that played into it, just the exertion, the heat and then what he ate, absolutely. But overall I

think the heat definitely played a part in it.”

While the Jefferson team was unaccustomed to the high temperatures of Studio City, the Wolverines had been practicing in it for months. Not only had the team been practicing throughout the summer, but also during the scorching first weeks of the school year. During the training period, there were instances during which the team

could not practice outdoors due to the intense heat.

“The only days with extreme heat have actually been when school started, there were two weeks in early to mid September,” Gallagher said. “I’d say between 10 and 12 days. We actually cancelled practice once, we pushed practice until later in the evening for when the heat index decreased. The other days we went to strictly walkthrough,

OBVIOUSLY EVERYONE WANTS THE HEALTH AND SAFETY OF THEIR STUDENT ATHLETES TO BE NUMBER ONE PRIORITY.

and then one day we went in- our top priside because the gym was avail- ority.” able.”

While The players said they agreed the trainwith the decision to change ers and practices in order to protect the the coachathletes. ing staff “We’ve definitely had times ultimately when we weren’t allowed to made the practice, so we’ve practiced in- decision to side and it would just be a walk- change the practice routine, CIF through,” offensive lineman also has guidelines regarding Liam Douglass ’18 said. “Brian practicing in the heat, specifi[Gallagher], and the whole cally regarding heat acclimatizastrength and conditioning staff tion. do a great job with that. And BriCIF rules state that the “inan [Gallagher] is fantastic, when tensity and duration of exercise we had that week-long stretch should be gradually increased where it got pretty hot outside, over a period of 7-14 days to give his first course of action was to athletes time to build fitness levmake sure that kids were ok, and els and become accustomed to making sure he was doing every- practicing in the heat. Protective thing he could to provide us with equipment should be introduced a place to practice safely.” in phases (start with helmet, The decision to alter prac- progress to helmet and shoulder tices in the past has ultimately pads, and finally fully uniform).” come from the athletic trainWhile many may view the ers, with the cooperation of the CIF rules as limiting, Gallagher coaches. said that he believes “It was my decithe rules are ultimatesion along with the ly beneficial for safety athletic directors,” purposes.

Gallagher said. “I “I think the acclitalked to them about matization period that my concerns, and then the CIF establishes is collectively we talked actually really good to to the coaches, and the get a baseline for the ’ coaches have been restudent athletes in the Head coach ally supportive of it. summer where they’re Scot Ruggles Obviously everyone not allowed to go in wants the health and pads, and then they safety of their student athletes to go in helmets, and then they go be number one priority.” helmets and shoulder pads, and According to the Center for then they go full pads,” GallaghDisease Control, high school er said. “So the student athletes football players are the most vul- by and large are better acclimatnerable group when it comes to ed than anyone else to perform heat-related illnesses. Football in the heat.” players in particular are on averAdditionally, Gallagher said age 10 times more likely to suffer that when it comes to the safety from these types of injuries. of student athletes, there is no As the trainers understand room for error. the risks that come with prac“For student athletes it gets ticing and playing in extreme harder because they’re obviously temperatures, Head Coach Scot in padding and then exerting Ruggles also understands, and themselves a lot, but you have said that the safety of the ath- to make adjustments and safety letes is the most important thing is always the first thing on evwhen it comes to practicing in eryone’s minds,” Gallagher said. the heat.

“You have to err on the side of “We went indoors and did caution.” walk through practices when As a result of the rising temit was really hot, we always do peratures and potential dangers what the trainers say,” Ruggles that it could bring, the trainers said. “The kids’ health is always have acquired new technology to

help athletes recover.

“We actually got two new indoor cold therapy tanks that we can use cold water immersion that are temperature controlled inside if we think anyone is suffering from a heat issue,” Gallagher said. “We treat everyone as if they could potentially have sickle cell disease, because it’s not like in the NCAA where it mandates sickle cell testing, they don’t do that at the high school level, so if someone is starting to have difficulties, you have to assume the worst case scenario and act accordingly.”

Douglass said that although temperatures have been high

lately, the team has continued to work hard in practice and is staying focused on winning.

“Obviously there’s a huge difference between practicing at 70 degrees and practicing at 90, but we try not to let it impact our practice at all,” Douglass said.

“At the end of the day, you want to have a practice that’s stronger than the last one, you want to build on each of the practices that you’ve had. So if you want to have a practice that’s strong or better than the one you had previously, then I think the weather is just not an excuse for having a bad practice. We try not to let it affect us.”

nathanson s

BIG RED FALL 2017 • 11

SHARPE SHOOTING

By JENNY LI

A profile of the renowned cross county and distance track coach, Tim Sharpe.

The wooden arrow hurtled at cross-country coach Tim Sharpe’s thigh. Thirty years ago in the Michigan woods, his friend’s finger slipped while stretching out his bow, letting an arrow hurtle point blank at Sharpe’s leg. He fell to the ground upon impact, but something in his pocket had braced most of the hit -- a small, dented quarter.

For the next thirty years, it was known as the lucky quarter. Every distance runner that has come through the program since Sharpe began coaching in ‘03 held it in their hands before each major meet. It blessed David Manahan ’14 before his 800 meter State Championship win. It followed Cami Chapus ’12 and Amy Weissenbach ’12 to the International Association of Athletics Federation World Youth Finals in France. Most recently, it was in the hands of the girls’ and boys’ varsity teams when they qualified for CIF semifinals last year. The little dented quarter, Sharpe said, embodied a sense of familiarity to the cross-country team.

“No matter how foreign the place was, it was what we always did,” Sharpe said. “Routine is good, and lucky items are a reminder to us to stay in routine. We do our warm-up, we touch the lucky quarter, and we go do our thing.”

This type of routine is a part of the distance team.

Fall is cross-country season. Winter is pre-track season. Spring is track season. Summer is pre-cross-country season. Repeat.

It’s as familiar to Sharpe as his Sunday morning routine to “wake up, have a cup of coffee, kick back and go over all of the statistics.”

He tracks any opposition the team could ever theoretically run against. He follows trends he noted from previous years about the patterns and mannerisms of certain schools.

12 • BIG RED FALL 2017

“I’m just a super nerd,” Sharpe admitted. This research paid off, with the help of head coach Jonas Koolsbergen.

“It’s our combined brains,” Sharpe says. “ There’s a magic between the two of us. We complement each other very well.”

Sharpe credits this partnership to the success of the distance team. From 1993 to 2000, there had not been a single qualification for CIF or state on the girls or boys side. Upon Sharpe’s arrival in ’03 to ’06 to work with Koolsbergen and return in ’09, there was a dramatic explosion of improvement in cross country, with 14 top four finishes on both sides.

However, this sort of success is not the main reason Sharpe coaches the team, he said.

“The core of what it is, is that I help people,” he explained. “I sometimes help people discover something in themselves that they had not quite discovered.

There’s an amazing joy that comes with being able to do that.”

Sharpe referenced fondly the story Sam Lyons ’13, who came into the program with the goal to run faster than 18 minutes on a three-mile course race. Sharpe recalled vividly running down to the finish life at the Wayne Walker Invitational five years ago to watch Lyons finish before the 18 minute mark.

“I sprinted over to the camp area, and we high-fived and jumped up and down because he did it,” Sharpe said. “It’s hard for people to understand that us jumping up and down like crazy in that moment is right up there with when our boys won our first CIF championships, when we were all sloppy and messy, and we ran around like idiots, jumping up and down, hugging in the rain. It’s all the same. That’s why I coach.”

The allure of coaching high school, Sharpe said, is the possibility of transformation for every runner.

“I get to help people go from the beginning to something,” Sharpe said. “You don’t do that in college.

I like the journey I get to go on with every individual that comes into the program. The journey has a lot of ups and downs. I’m at once thrilled with you and utterly defeated with you. I feel it with you, and that’s another amazing part of it too, how you get to know folks.”

Sharpe actively works to push the distance team beyond analyzing times and places, and toward creating an atmosphere of a second home, he said.

“I’d like to think we are a family that has this thing that we do,” Sharpe said. “It’s fun to do the work, even though it’s hard sometimes, we support each other,

and we leave school with memories to last a lifetime.

I genuinely am trying to make sure that everyone is a part of something and feels that this was one of the best things they’ve ever been a part of.”

This bond stems from the relationship between student to coach, and it noticeably affects the runners on the team. “[Sharpe] is not the kind of coach who just barks out orders and books meets,” Alex Ankai ’19 said. “He knows the condition and skill level of every runner.

He’ll know how long you’ve been running on the team and off, he can name every injury each runner might face, how you did at the last competition and how you could have done better. He helps us find inspiration in our lives so we, in turn, can inspire others, so we don’t quit when it gets hard and so we can run to the best of our abilities.””

Sharpe’s connection to the team is much more than just a coaching, Davis Cook ’19 said.

“He gives us on the running team an opportunity to make ourselves simply better as humans, but he’s constantly is working to improve whatever that opportunity is,” Cook said. “I cannot think of a gift for which I am more thankful, or something that spurs me on more to add to the world. That gift he gives involves way more than running.”

For cross country captain Lila Cardillo ’18, the sense of family in the team provided an atmosphere where she could feel comfortable despite moving across the country in the middle of high school.

“Moving in from Boston as a new junior was a challenge made significantly easier once I found my place on the cross country team,” Cardillo said. “Having an incredibly passionate and dedicated coach to welcome me into the family while also pushing me to become a much more efficient athlete than I thought to be possible gave me a newfound confidence both in running and in immersing myself in the greater community of Harvard-Westlake. I would not feel as secure as I do now if I hadn’t had the powerful family bond of the team to support me then and now.”

The sense of family emanates from Sharpe to every runner. A couple months ago, Sharpe’s car was broken into, and his running logs, CIF rings and lucky quarter were all stolen. However, Sharpe said the spirit of the distance team goes beyond those lucky items; the team didn’t need them to keep running.

“I had always said, if the quarter ever left me, it went to someone who needed the luck more than me,” Sharpe said.

RYAN ALBERT/BIG RED

BIG RED FALL 2017 • 13

On the Edge of

Greatness By

Aaron Park

HOW THE FOOTBALL TEAM WENT FROM 3-11 TO 5-0 (AND WHY THEY’RE FOR REAL THIS YEAR).

14• BIG RED FALL 2017

F

irst down and ten yards to go. Four minutes into the first quarter. The Wolverines were playing the Dominguez Dons on the road, their final non-league tuneup before facing Cathedral at Homecoming.

Jameson Wang ’20 took the snap and looked left, looking to pass on the Wolverines’ first offensive play of the game.

The sophomore signal-caller set his feet and fired a dart at receiver Thomas Glover ’18, who racing up the seam from the slot position.

The ball cut through the crisp Compton evening and sailed over the head of Glover, who had crossed into the middle of the field.

A Dominguez defensive back leapt into the air and snatched the errant pass, giving the Doms the ball on the Wolverines 35-yard line.

Dominguez marhced down the field and into the red zone. The Dons big bruiser of a running back, Jamarea Jones, juked and trucked his way across the goal line, staking Dominguez to an early 7-0 lead.

It would be their last lead of the game.

Perhaps a year ago, Wang admits, the result could have been different. Maybe he wouldn’t have had the confidence to rebound from such a steep setback on the game’s first play.

But this isn’t the same kid who spent last season learning on the fly. This is a different Jameson Wang, the one who’s already run for more yards and touchdowns than he did over the entire last season. The one who’d guided these Wolverines to a 4-0 start.

The one who would win the Daily News Male Athlete of the Week honors for his performance over the rest of the game, throwing for seven touchdowns and leading the Wolverines to a 54-31 that night.

“I didn’t really let [the interception] get to me,” Wang said. “I knew we should win this game and I can bounce back from it.” ································ The Wolverines 2016 season started hot but ended near rock bottom.

The team never fully realized its potential. Led by Wang, then a freshman, the offense averaged a respectable 25 points per game in non-league play, but the defense surrendered nearly as many points to opposing teams. The squad managed to battle its way to a winning record, finishing with a 3-2 record after five games. Despite a 42-21 Photographs by

Aaron Park and Pavan Tauh Big Red

BIG RED FALL 2017 • 15

blowout loss to senior-laden El Camino back, Tristan Gebbia, the Wolverines season Real, the Wolverines still averaged 1.6 more ended with a 56-28 loss. points per game than their opponents.

“Last year, we were young everywhere,” Then came the Angelus League, and the wide receiver and team captain Cameron wheels fell off.

Jones ’18 said. “Of course, JameOn every side of the ball, the son was a freshman and our entire Wolverines struggled. A string line was mostly underclassmen.” of blowout losses ended in a 56-0 Player experience aside, it was shutout loss to Cathedral, the a stark contrast from their 8-4 eventual league champions. The campaign a season ago. In fact, Wolverines lost, on average, by a it was the team’s worst season, hair under three touchdowns per record-wise, since Ruggles took game in league play. Their ofover the program in 2012. As the ’ fensive production dipped to just offseason began, Ruggles began Cameron 14 points per game, while their making changes on every side of Jones ’18 defense surrendered 50.4 points the ball. per game.

“I don’t think anybody enjoys Despite a brief struggle against their losing,” Ruggles said. “It’s one of those first-round playoff opponent, Calabasas, things where it’s sort of black and white. and their Nebraska-committed quarterWe’ve lost six straight games and we can nathanson s

16 • BIG RED FALL 2017

continue to do what we did last year or we can make some changes.”

On defense and special teams, the squad had struggled to stop opposing offenses and tackle opposing runners. Ruggles added Patrick Cartmill to the staff as defensive coordinator and began to add new defensive looks to the team’s gameplan, adding 3-4 and 4-3 looks to its 3-3 stack base defense to add flexibility. Former Fordham head coach

DUAL-THREAT PLAYMAKER (below)...

Quarterback Jameson Wang ’20 runs away from the Dominguez defense in a 54-31 win Sept. 22. Wang finished with seven touchdowns.

UNSTOPPABLE FORCE (above)...

Wide receiver Cameron Jones ’18 backpedals into the endzone with a touchdown catch, his fifth scoring reception against Dominguez. and University of Massachusetts defensive coordinator Tom Masella also joined the coaching staff.

However, turning the program around required not just staff changes, but a commitment to improving from the players, Ruggles said.

“The vibe in the locker room is just different,” Jones said. “I felt it the first week of summer. When we came out, the energy at practice, the freshman were running around. We automatically looked like it clicked right away.”

To condition themselves for the season and help fix the tackling issues last season, the team turned to its morning lift sessions.

“Obviously, I wasn’t around [the previous year] but from what I’ve heard, there were times when two guys would show up to morning lift,” USC-committed offensive tackle Liam Douglass ’18 said. “This year the entire team showed up the entire morning lift period. That’s when we realized that when we put all this hard work in, the coaches are figuring out gameplans for us and now we’ve put ourselves, in terms of strength-wise, in the best position to win.”

On offense, Ruggles returned to playcalling duties following a year of delegating that task.

Emphasizing an up-tempo attack, the Wolverines are averaging 46.2 points per game this season.

Much of the team’s improvement can also be traced back to the stellar play of Wang. With 14 passing and 10 rushing touchdowns in five games this season, Wang is just two scores away from matching last year’s full-season mark of 25 total scores.

Jones’ resurgence has also contributed to the Wolverines offensive revitalization.

After recording 859 receiving yards as a sophomore, Jones’ production dipped to 539 yards last season. But with the emergence of Wang and Ruggles’ return to play-calling, he’s recorded 663 yards in just half a season.

Jones also leads the team with five interceptions this season.

“I feel like we should be able to win every game and that’s just the mindset you have to have going into games,” Wang said.

“I feel like last year it was harder because I was a freshman. I didn’t know the offense 100 percent and I was just going out there to play. But this year, coming in after the 11 games we played last year, I feel like I’m more experienced, like I know how to run the offense better this year. It’s just that I trust my teammates more this year because most of them are returning.”

The adjustments made by the team are apparent not just in its record, but also in the way its achieved such success. The Wolverines have won their first five games of the season, but have done each in a somewhat different way, showcasing different areas of improvement.

The Wolverines were faced with a close, down-to-the-wire contest against Birmingham in the season opener.

Last season, the team lost to Garfield in the final moments of a one touchdown game. After forcing Garfield into a fourthdown situation, the Wolverines were flagged for roughing the kicker, granting the Bulldogs an automatic first down and the

chance to run out the clock.

This year, the team narrowly avoided a similar fate when Birmingham blocked Jeremy Yariv’s ’18 game-winning field goal attempt. With the Patriots needing only a single first down to ice the game, Vincent Temesvary ’20 forced Birmingham running back Shane Bennett to fumble on the first play of the series.

The Wolverines took advantage of the turnover and scored on a touchdown strike from Wang to Jones with just over a second left on the clock.

Since then, however, the team has rolled to four strong victories, the closest being an eight point win over Garfield in week four.

In week five, the Wolverines dominated El Camino en route to a 62-29 win, avenging last year’s blowout loss.

Along the way, the team has had to make adjustments to its game plan. Since starting Douglass at running back in week one, Ruggles has played him at his natural position of right tackle. Running back Jake Kelly ’20 scored a pair of touchdowns against Jefferson and has seen significant usage since then, starting the past couple of games.

The squad’s upcoming match against Cathedral looks to be important for several reasons; first of all, it will be at homecoming, in front of a large crowd.

Additionally, Cathedral could be the most difficult opponent the Wolverines play all season, having gone undefeated in league play last season.

“Cathedral has all the talent,” Wang said.

“They have a lot of good athletes on their team. They embarrased us last year and we have to go out and play our best to try and beat them. They’re a really good team, we do have the players to beat them, we just need to play our best.”

BIG RED FALL 2017 • 17

D-none bound

BY ASA SAPERSTEIN

Junior year: finding value in sports when you’re not the best player Junior year is demanding academically, but it also may just be the height of our social lives, too.

Compound these factors with the schedules required of a sport, and obligations can feel inordinately demanding, especially for someone who is not the best on the team.

Every Friday night, I have a decision. When I get home on Friday, I have a cup of coffee. Then I check my texts. Hmm… Do I want to do “x with person I don’t like A”, or “y with person I don’t like B”, or neither? I want to do neither. But at least I have this freedom. This is a freedom that I have and a freedom that a lot of athletes don’t.

Right now we find ourselves on the precipice of the rest of our lives, certainly a fraught way to

think on it. All of us will find our limits very soon. Luckily for me, I have very few extracurricular obligations, and, when they are a scheduled at a time such that it may prove obtrusive to the comfortable flow of itinerary, I am at liberty to reschedule them.

When I did play basketball as a freshman, I got little playing time.

I was always aggravated because I was not the star of the team, or even good at all.

Despite all of this, I still had to show up at practices, games, lifts, et cetera, and it was not a satisfying operation.

Now no obligation of me is ever comparable in time consumption to a morning life that forces me to wake up at 4:00 a.m., or a practice that brings me home after 9:00 p.m.

This is because I don’t play sports.

But, for those who do play sports,

it is pertinent to adhere rigorously to a strict regimen, most of the time set up by someone else, a coach.

All of this means that high school is a lot harder for athletes. Enormous blocks of the day are taken from them, and they are left wondering whether the lower grades they’re getting will prove highyielding or a waste of time.

On top of all of this, in this time of our lives, there is an overbearing unspoken obligation to participate in social functions. This is something that is particularly hard for athletes to navigate, but also something that the structure of a team offers many say.

Field hockey player Sydney Pizer ’19 values her social life and says that excitement about social functions impels her to work even

harder in school. She views a break from work as essential to success in school.

“Having a social life is actually important in being able to manage all of my work because it is not only a motivating factor to complete my work as soon as possible but it also provides a necessary break ’ from the pressures Sydney of the academic Pizer ’18 and athletic environments,” Pizer said. “I believe that spending time with friends is critical to maintaining a happy state of mind, which is critical to being able to manage the academic and athletic challenges that come my way.” nathanson s

While Pizer likes to see her at quarterback at the upper school, friends because it is a release from his one four-touchdown perforher stressful academics, former mance set aside, he believes that football player Jake Grode ’19 was all members of a team contributes able to forge valuable friendships to wins and that there is a unique with team members through sports. camaraderie that only sports could Grode quit football because he lost offer. his passion to “When you play, but what are a part of [a You’re still made it hardest team], regardless to quit was the of the playing contributing, even if brotherhood he time you get, it’s not affecting the had built with you’re still conoutcome of the game.” his teammates. tributing, even if “I actually — Jake Grode ’19 it’s not affecting really liked the the outcome Former football player of the game,” team aspect of the game and Grode said. the bond [I created], largely due This is a common sentiment. to practice and lifting each day,” Players love to play and have a Grode said. “It basically formed a strong bond with their teammates, fraternity. The value [of a team] is but, at a certain point, being reteam bonding.” cruitment is not a reality for many Even though Grode did not start players. At this point, they have a

“

crucial decision to make. Lacrosse player Jack Safir ’19 has to make this decision.

Safir has enjoyed playing lacrosse for most of his life and says that, when he was younger, it was an enormous part of who he was.

But now he faces a fork in the road: he loves to play and has a strong bond with his teammates, but he knows that he probably will not get recruited and that, ultimately, his passion for lacrosse will impinge on his schoolwork.

“For me, there is value in participating in a sport even without the chance of recruitment up to a certain point,” Safir said. “Sports can be a great way to blow off steam and escape from school for a while.

It’s also great to bond with your teammates over the course of a season. But at a certain point, if you know that recruitment isn’t some-

thing that’s in the cards for you, you have to know when it’s time to move on and spend your free time pursuing other hobbies that might contribute to your college application process a little more. If you’re investing your time into something and you no longer see the reward, it means it’s time to invest yourself in something else.

This is a harsh reality, one that many of us have to face, but one that many deal with. So maybe it is true that there is something valuable.

For some, it makes more sense to quit the team and pursue other things, but for others, the team is more important and there is a value in sports beyond recruitment.

It comes down to assessing priorities, and that’s a freedom we all have.

HOMECOMING 2017

Field Hockey

7-0 RECORD:

4:30 P.M. @ TED SLAVIN FIELD

PROJECTED STARTERS: LEFT FORWARD: NICOLE BAHAR CENTER FORWARD: MIA REILLY LEFT MIDFIELDER: ASTOR WU CENTER MIDFIELDER: RACHEL BROWN RIGHT MIDFIELDER: ALYSE TRAN CENTER DEFENDER: CYPRESS TOOMEY LEFT DEFENDER: TAYLOR JONES RIGHT DEFENDER: NATALIE BARNOUW CENTER DEFENDER: ERIN LEE HEAD COACH: ERIN CREZNIC 20 • BIG RED FALL 2017

Boys’

Water Polo

5:30 P.M. @ COPSES FAMILY POOL PROJECTED STARTERS: GOALKEEPER: SAM KRUTONOG RECORD: ATTACKER: KELLER MALONEY

7-5

ATTACKER: PIERCE MALONEY ATTACKER: RYAN NEAPOLE UTILITY: ALEX BUCUR CENTER: MOT STOTHART DEFENDER: NICO TIERNEY HEAD COACH: BRIAN FLACKS

BIG RED FALL 2017 • 21

HOMECOMING 2017

Football

5-0 RECORD:

4:30 P.M. @ TED SLAVIN FIELD

PROJECTED STARTERS: OFFENSE

OFFENSE

QB- JAMESON WANG RB- JAKE KELLY WR- THOMAS GLOVER WR- CAM JONES WR- CHASE HARLESTON WR- TERRELL LONG LT- VITO AMEEN LG- MAX EHRLICH C- KYLE HEARLIHY RG- EVAN LATOURRETTE-GHEZ RT- LIAM DOUGLASS

DE: DAVID RICH DT- LIAM DOUGLASS DE- GARNETT MARCH LB- KEVIN CHEN LB-WILL GOLDBERG LB- SULTAN DANIELS DB- CAM JONES DB- THOMAS GLOVER DB- JAKE KELLY DB- TERRELL LONG DB- BRENDAN KANG

22 • BIG RED FALL 2017

Girls’

Volleyball

13-5 RECORD:

6:00 P.M. @ TAPER GYM

PROJECTED STARTERS: SETTER: LINDSEY KELLEY OUTSIDE HITTER: BELLA HEDLEY LIBERO: CARLY WALLACE MIDDLE BLOCKER: CAROLINE TILTON OPPOSITE HITTER: CHLOE MUELLER DEFENSIVE SPECIALIST: ISABEL WIATT HEAD COACH: HAYLEY BLANCHARD

BIG RED FALL 2017 • 23

Fake News Fans

BY ELI ADLER

A rebuilding football team led to fewer Fanatics being at their games last season. As a supportive community, we must stick by our teams.

It was five minutes before the Wolverines’ first football game of the year, and the stands were sparse.

I didn’t have to elbow my way in to a good seat in the student section. I wasn’t shoulder to shoulder with anybody. I could actually hear myself talk. My only thought was, “where is everybody?”

This wasn’t what I had come to expect from us as a community. As Harvard-Westlake students, we devote ourselves wholeheartedly to everything we do. When we’re met with a challenge, we rise above it. When somebody’s struggling, we rally behind them. But as I was standing in the stands, able to actually move my body and not drowning in a sea of hundreds of red Fanatics shirts, I wondered why this didn’t seem to apply to our sports teams.

Last season, Wolverines football went 3-8. On all accounts, it wasn’t their best season. They lost their last six games of the season, which included a 56-0 shutout. As a young team, they were still developing their chemistry, especially following the departure of standout senior quarterback Noah Rothman ’16.

At the end of last season, there were games where it would feel like there were almost as many fans from the opposing team as there were Fanatics. That’s a big problem, and it put the idea in my mind that we were all fair-weather fans. It seemed like we only showed up when the football team was winning games, making good plays and enjoying a strong season. But as the team was struggling, people stopped showing up. Going to the games didn’t become as essential to our fall Friday nights anymore, and it wasn’t so much a question of who wasn’t going to the game, but instead who was going to the game.

One need not look further than last year’s home opener for further proof. I remember getting to the game and being absolutely shocked. I looked down on a loud, rowdy sea of red shirts. A sea of red shirts that was energized and excited, and a sea so full that once I got to my seat, I literally was unable to move, stuffed into place. The Wolverines had enjoyed a strong prior season, finishing with an 8-4 record, and

students wanted to see more of that. But as the season went on, fewer and fewer people started showed up at the games.

It was no longer a sea of red, but a smattering of red. The noise was no longer deafening. We were no longer scaring the opposing team with our size and our passion.

As members of the Wolverines community, we should have been there supporting them. We would do that for our friends, so why weren’t we doing that for our teams? Urban Dictionary defines a fair-weather fan as one who “only shows support when the team is doing well.” And by the end of last season, and heading into our opening game this year, it was clear that this was what we were becoming.

We only supported the football team when they were playing well. If they weren’t, we no longer cared.

This isn’t emblematic of the Wolverines community. We are the most supportive group of students in the greater Los Angeles area. We’re above being bandwagoners, and we’re above only supporting teams at their best. As members of a supportive community, we must stick with each other through thick and thin. Sure, football struggled last season, but that doesn’t mean we give up on them. It doesn’t mean we stop watching their games.

What’s great is that the Wolverines are off to a blazing 5-0 start this year, absolutely handing it to their opponents. We’ve seen incredible rushes and beautiful plays. We’ve seen a team that has been more fun to watch than many expected, so now we’re seeing more people back at games. That’s good, but there never should have been a dropoff in the first place.

We don’t drop out of a class if we do poorly on a test, and in the same vain, we shouldn’t stop following a team when they’re not at their best. This doesn’t just apply to football, but every sport here e, be it basketball, field hockey or lacrosse. When a team is struggling, we should show up with more passion, more fire, and more excitement than we ever have before.

Because that’s what really makes you a true fan.

AARON PARK/BIG RED

26• BIG RED FALL 2017

Q&A WITH

Anneliese Breidsprecher

BY MATTHEW YAM

Q: Why do you cheer?

A: It’s such a great group of girls. I cheer because of them. There’s nothing like feeling part of a team. I also do it because there’s something great about having a routine, about getting ready and going to games and getting to experience friday night lights. It’s all in the little moments.

Q: What is your training routine?

A: I’ll go through a summer practice just because it encompases everything that we do. We start by running between a mile-a mile and a half just to kinda get warm. Then we condition [with] lots of circuit training. We’ll usually do a leg circuit, then an ab one, then an arm one, then a mixture of all 4. Then we do a ton of planks and arm circles and then we stretch. Then we usually stunt for about an hour.Then we either learn a dance or clean a dance, and it’s a lot of fun. Our routines are always super fun to do and it’s fun to learn them, but it’s hard and takes a lot of focus.

Q: How does the time commitment affect the rest of your life? What do you sacrifice to do cheer?

A: I sacrifice a lot of family time. I try my best to go to all my sisters’ dance and cheer things, but it’s hard. I wish I would spend more time with them, because I love them a lot and it’s my last year with them. And it of course affects academics. That’s time I could spend studying. But it also just gives me a chance to disconnect for a while you know, regain my focus. I gain more than I sacrifice for sure.

Q: Do you love it? Is it a passion of yours?

A: I don’t really know if I would call it a passion. I do love it though. I feel like a passion entails a lot of ‘I want to wake up at 4 a.m. to go to practice to get better.’ That’s not me. I’m happy when practice gets cancelled. But like I said earlier, I love the girls, I love cheer, I love cheer camp. It’s one of my favorite memories. It’s a million cheerleaders from different schools, practicing different stunts, dances and cheers.

Q: What would you say to the people that believe that cheer is not a sport?

A: I think I’ll be the only cheerleader to say that I get it. We don’t compete. We don’t technically classify as a sport if you look up the definition. But you better be sure that we’re athletes. 100 percent. We practice just as much as other sports do. We literally put our blood, sweat and tears into it. Stunting isn’t easy, we’re holding humans in the air. There’s a lot of missing communication, the school doesn’t give us correct locations for away games, and we’re always last priority in practice space. We have to practice in Chalmers a lot. But it’s part of what we do. Put on a smile and cheer on our school.

BIG RED FALL 2017 • 27