Big Red Volume XI Issue 2

BIG RED VOLUME XI • ISSUE 2 • WINTER RECAP 2018

MID-YEAR AWARDS CHECK-IN predictions and nominations before the spring season

BY BIG RED STAFF // p. 10

THE PHOENIX Life after Cassius?

It’s going pretty alright.

BY AARON PARK // p. 18

• Playbook • BIG RED

4

Big Red Staff: PICTURES Taking a look at the Winter teams.

WINTER 2018 • VOLUME 11 • NO. 2

Big Red Staff:

12

MID-YEAR PREDICTIONS

The staff of Big Red looks ahead and makes predictions on the end-of-the-year awards.

16

Lucas Gelfond: GIVE SPORTS A CHANCE An editor’s perspective on the emotion, teamwork and value that sports can provide.

18

Aaron Park: THE PHOENIX Only three players return from last year.

The team has bypassed a rebuild phase.

Rian Ratnavale: THE SPORTS FAMILY Former staff member Rian Ratnavale shares experiences from multiple staffs.

Eli Adler: FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME Student-athletes with more modest expectations share their stories.

24 26

theStaff Editors-in-Chief Ellis Becker, Aaron Park

Presentations Editor Kitty Luo

Managing Editor Matthew Yam

Executive Editor Eli Adler

2 • BIG RED WINTER 2018

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

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 editors can be sent to editors-in-chief Ellis Becker, at ebecker1@hwemail.com, or Aaron Park, at apark2@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

Taylor LaCour ’19 reaches to block an opponent’s shot during the team’s match against Alemany on Jan. 11.

RYAN ALBERT/BIG RED

popCULTURE Wolverine athlete

Flynn Klace Soccer

Simon Pompan Basketball

Melanie Hirsch Basketball

Jake Neuman Soccer

What should’ve Biggest Grammy Perfect date in three words or less won Best Picture? snub?

LaVar Ball is...

Chronicle or Big Red?

Lorde

Sunset.

Picnic.

Food.

The dad of the Ball family

Chronicle

Dunkirk

Kendrick Lamar

Netflix and Chill

Ridiculous

Chronicle

Call Me by Your Name

Beyonce

Walk on beach

the GOAT

Chronicle

Khalid

Sunset.

Beach.

Dinner.

Destructive

Big Red

Lady Bird

Dunkirk

BIG RED WINTER 2018 • 3

KING OF THE COURT Johnny Juzang ’20 blows by his defender in a win against Campbell Hall on Nov. 21. The Wolverines defeated the Vikings 76-60.

PAVAN TAUH/BIG RED

NOAH AIRE/BIG RED

RYAN ALBERT/BIG RED

UP AND AWAY Left: Forward Truman Gettings ’21 takes a shot during the team’s match against Campbell Hall on Nov. 21. The squad won the match 76-60.

FIELD GENERAL Top: Winger Pablo Greenlee ’20 dribbles to the opposing team’s goal during the team’s massive 6-0 win over St. Francis.

ON A DIME Bottom: Forward Annabelle Heisel ’19 turns and dribbles around an opponent during the team’s 2-0 win over Hart on Jan. 5.

PAVAN TAUH/BIG RED

CAITLIN CHUNG/BIG RED

ON THE ATTACK Left: Flynn Klace ’19 starts the attack and tries to find a teamate upfield in a win against Marlbotough this season.

SMACKDOWN Top: Will Mallory ’20 goes up to hit the ball in a March 6 volleyball game against St. Francis.

SPLASH ZONE Bottom: Meera Burghardt ’20 fires a shot during the team’s 25-11 win over Alemany on Jan. 11.

RYAN ALBERT/BIG RED

PAVAN TAUH/BIG RED

HEAD’S UP Top: Forward Jake Neuman ‘18 escapes two defenders and turns upfield in a Jan. 19 shutout against St. Francis.

BOMBS AWAY Left: Emily HIilliard ‘19 Makes an outlet pass during a Jan. 11 match against Alemany.

The team won 25-11

DROPPING DIMES Krista Semaan ‘21 dishes an assist to Emma Sunkin ‘20 in a 74-26 drubbing of Marymount.

RYAN ALBERT/BIG RED

PAVAN TAUH /BIG RED

End of the Year Award Check-in As we head into the final athletic season of this year, the Big Red staff makes preliminary predictions for winners of the Big Red End of the Year Awards.

Team of the Year Award

13

Female Athlete of the Year Award

14

Male Athlete of the Year Award

15

Awarded to an outstanding team that showed success and teamwork throughout the duration of its season.

Awarded to a female athlete that single-handedly made a profound impact on the success of her team.

Awarded to a male athlete that single-handedly made a profound impact on the success of his team.

12 • BIG RED WINTER 2018

Team of the Year Award Current Nominee: Field Hockey

77

Goals Scored

0

4

Goals Conceded

Losses

In the hunt Girls’ Basketball

2 Current ranking

11

Team Members

0 League Losses

Baseball

7 Division I

2

Commits

22 Wins last

2017 Tournament Wins

season BIG RED WINTER 2018 • 13

FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR Current Nominee: Rachel Brown

1

League MVP Award

TEAM: Field Hockey

7

TEAM RECORD: 20-0

Goals Scored

POSITION: Midfield

8

Assists

In The Hunt Kiki Iriafen (Basketball)

17.3 380

Points Per Game

14 • BIG RED WINTER 2018

Total Points

241

Total Rebounds

Ashley Waco (Softball)

.447

Career Batting Avg

20

RBI’s Last Year

2

Home runs Last Year

MALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR Current Nominee: Liam Douglas

3

Star Ranked Recruit

TEAM: Football

41

TEAM RECORD: 8-3

Offensive Tackle Rank

POSITION: Offensive Tackle

12

Division I Offers

In The Hunt

Johnny Juzang (Basketball) Paul Rodriguez (Lacrosse)

88

Free Throw Percentage

467 Total Points

33

Three-point Percentage

1

All-American Honors

2

Losses Last Season

11

Months Undefeated

BIG RED WINTER 2018 • 15

WHY I LOVE SPORTS

by Lucas Gelfond

One year ago I was your average sport-hater.

I had never watched a full football game other than the Super Bowl. I regularly declined invites to basketball and baseball games.

I had never made a fantasy account and never planned to. My only personal sports experience had been an undefeated run as Left Field on my fourth grade little league team and three days of Cross Country in seventh grade before I dropped.

It goes without saying that I never read Big Red or the Sports section of the Chronicle.

Everything changed after I covered the varsity field hockey team this fall.

I was looking to move away from being a reporter on the Chronicle to focusing more on digital content when one of our current Sports Editors and Big Red Executive Editor Matthew Yam approached me about joining sports.

He said that Sports was short on juniors and that I’d have lots of responsibilities in the section.

After some deliberation I signed on and as all juniors do, was assigned a fall sport beat.

Beat coverage is a simple but rigorous task - cover everything that a team does.

Cover every single game that they play, take photos, interview players and add commentary to articles based on how the team is doing.

Along the process, get to know the team and try and get the most interesting perspectives you can out of them.

As an amateur journalist and zero-experience sports writer, the task was extremely daunting.

Little did I know how much I’d enjoy it.

Covering field hockey was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

The team had an undefeated 20-0 season and a win in the LAFHA game.

After every game I’d text the players and get their postgame reactions. While I can’t say I know exactly what it was like to be on the team, I could see the joy and passion that all of the players put into it.

I could see the bonds and camaraderie and friendships that formed.

I saw their hard work and determination pay off game after game.

I’d hear about their intense practicing and lifting schedule one day and hear about their unscored on win in our next interview.

I’d hear about the team going out for group lunch one day and about how their cooperation on the field strengthened their defense after another win.

One year later, I can say authoritatively that I have a different opinion about sports.

Sports is not about throwing or passing a ball around. Sports is not about strength or endurance. Yes,

those play into sports and are obviously important, but sports is truly one of the purest forms of human emotion that we have.

Sports is about relationships with your teammates and bonds that will last for a lifetime.

Sports is about determination and hard work that pay off in an undefeated season.

Sports is about the teammate out with an injury that the whole team comes together to support.

Sports is the impulse that made every single player run together after the time ran out in the 20th game of the field hockey season that marked the team’s title win.

While I still can’t say that I keep up with basketball, or play fantasy or even have watched a football game all the way through, I can say that I see sports in a completely different way.

I have a new respect. Sports teaches some things that we scarcely find elsewhere.

The payoff of hard work, teamwork, discipline, team bonding and so much more.

If I could somehow communicate to my past self how much value I think sports have, I would’ve embraced them much more quickly.

For all of you who are like me please learn from my mistakes and maybe take your friend up on that invite to the football game sometime. Sports really are worth your time.

graduated

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18• BIG RED WINTER 2018

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transferred transferred graduated

left the team

THE

PHOENIX By

Aaron Park

FUELED BY AN INFLUX OF YOUNG TALENT AND FREED FROM THE BURDEN OF A STRUGGLING STAR PLAYER, WOLVERINES BASKETBALL IS BACK, AND IT’S HERE TO STAY.

On March 26, 2016, the boys’ basketball team was leading Palma 66-49 in the state championship. From the bench and on the floor, the soon-to-be Californian champions looked up at the Sleep Train Arena scoreboard as the game’s last few seconds ticked off the clock. Freshman phenom Cassius Stanley waved his towel emphatically.

Senior point guard Wolfgang Novogratz pointed up, his hand closing into a fist as the clock read 0:00.

“It was absolutely ridiculous,” Neil Iken ’18, a former player who was a part of that team, said. “It was wild.”

Photographs by

Aaron Park and Pavan Tauh Big Red

BIG RED WINTER 2018 • 19

In many ways, that win was a remarkcolor analyst Adam Rich ’17 said. “I think able achievement. Led by a first-year head that’s why people came.” coach, a high-flying freshman and a star It wasn’t all just social media hype and point guard just a year removed from a leg over-the-top fan reactions. Stanley was, injury, the Wolverines had risen into the top without a doubt, exceptionally talented. echelon of teams in the state of California.

He flashed his athletic ability and per“It was nice to see it all come together sonal flair on the offensive end, but Rebibo and realize we’d been working towards a expressed hopes for his development as a goal,” Iken said. prospect.

It would only be another year before “He’s a tremendous passer, he really that team would come undone, and another passes the ball well, he finds people in tranwould rise in its place. sition, he can obviously score the ball, but I Stanley had arrived at Harvard-Westlake do believe he could be the best defender in in June of 2015 with all the hype the state if he put his mind to it,” of a blue-chip recruit.

Rebibo said that winter. “I think After all, this was the rising that that’s something we’ll continue freshman who’d replicated Vince to challenge him on and see progCarter’s legendary “cookie jar” ress throughout the years.” dunk, the very same one that That summer, Novogratz gradVinsanity used to seal the 2000 uated, but in came an even more NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Betalented freshman class: Johnny fore ever stepping foot on a high Juzang ’20, Mason Hooks ’20 and ’ school court, Stanley already Terren Frank.

Wolfgang had an offer from USC. Juzang is currently the 15th Novogratz ’16 The excitement over the ranked prospect in the class of potential of the team’s new star grew to epic 2020 on ESPN’s online rankings. Hooks proportions. is a 6’10” paint-controlling behemoth who Fans flocked to Taper Gym to watch received an offer last month from GeorgeStanley throw down his signature dunks town. Frank is now a starter on Sierra night after night.

Canyon’s transfer-laden roster.

“There was a possibility that if you Stanley went from sharing a backcourt didn’t show up, you were going to miss a with a talented senior guard to sharing SportsCenter Top Ten play,” former HWTV a backcourt with another ESPN Top 25 nathanson s

20 • BIG RED WINTER 2018

prospect and a high-potential crop of fellow underclassmen.

Tension within the team inhibited some of its early growth and led to a few losses at the outset of the season, Iken said.

Stanley, meanwhile, started to become a problem for the Wolverines.

On the court, his offensive production remained steady, as the sophomore drained 41 percent of his shots for 17.9 points per game.

He added to his highlight tape every week with slam dunks and flashy layups.

In other areas, however, the issues began to pile up.

“There was some butting of heads,” former player Blake Wong ’17 said. “Cassius needed to be the star but I think that if he had just bought into the system, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”

After an altercation during practice, Stanley walked out and left the gym early, multiple sources said. Stanley did not play

IN THE ZONE (above)...

Forward Holden McRae ’20 steps back on a defender during the Wolverines rivalry matchup against the Loyola Cubs.

BY THE NUMBERS League record (final rank)

8-4 (2nd) 9-3 (2nd)

+4.86 +9.25 2016-17 2017-18 Team scoring differential per game

17.9

22.8 Johnny Juzang points per game (2016-17)

Cassius Stanley points per game (2016-17)

LEADING WOLVERINES SCORERS 2016-17

2017-18

C. Stanley 17.9 ppg J. Juzang 22.8 ppg J. Juzang 16.2 ppg M. Hooks A. Iken

14.2 ppg

7.8 ppg S. Hubbard 7.8 ppg

60% Mason Hooks Career FG% BIG RED WINTER 2018 • 21

THE POSTAL SERVICE (above)...

Johnny Juzang ’20 posts up on Loyola’s Colby Brooks during the Wolverine’s 65-48 drubbing of the Cubs at home Jan. 21. in the following game against Alemany, a 74-52 Wolverine loss.

Additionally, Stanley’s effort level during games sometimes seemed to sag, Rich said.

These issues were particularly apparent on defense, the same area he’d been expected to improve in as a sophomore.

“He’d go for steals far away from the basket, quit on the possession and turn it into a five on four,” Rich said. “He’d give up on plays. Fail to rotate.”

That didn’t mesh well with the teamoriented and defensively-minded Rebibo. “[Rebibo] definitely reshaped the culture

22 • BIG RED WINTER 2018

of the team,” Wong said. “Practice got a lot more intense, there was a bigger focus on being more of a team and just playing better team defense, moving the ball around.”

On June 7 of last year, Stanley made it official: he was done at Harvard-Westlake.

The prodigal son was coming home to Sierra Canyon, where he’d join a projected starting lineup made up entirely of transfers. Following him to Sierra were L Simpson, a fellow rising junior, and the rising sophomore Frank.

First it was Stanley, announcing his transfer through an Instagram video. Over the caption “new chapter @ballislife”, Stanley throws down a vicious dunk in Hamilton Gym. As he soars to the basket, the “SC” logo of Sierra Canyon fades onto the backboard.

“After that Alemany thing I wasn’t really surprised to hear about Cassius transferring,” Wong said.

Simpson’s post was more subdued, but no less impactful. A picture of himself and

Stanley posing together on the upper school quad was accompanied by the caption “Gotta Blast.” Frank and Stanley were both tagged in the post, along with their soon-to-be teammate Kenyon Martin Jr. “I was a little disappointed in [the transferring players], because I think that, especially for some of them, they would’ve developed very nicely under Rebibo,” Wong said. “Rebibo’s a great coach. He takes care of his players, I think he’s got really great player development.”

David Sobel, an athletic director at Sierra Canyon, said that the team’s basketball staff and Stanley would not comment until their season ends.

In a flash of social media and bruised egos, half of Harvard-Westlake basketball’s future walked out the door. Though, in retrospect, it didn’t cripple the Wolverines, or doom them to the kind of rebuilding season that losing nearly all of last season’s rotation players might’ve suggested.

Freed from the shackles of a highly-

touted diva and the circus that he entailed, the Wolverines found success this season through a team-oriented approach.

Eschewing the expected rebuilding process that accompanies playing four sophomores and a freshman in the starting lineup, the Wolverines dominated long stretches through the season, compiling a 22-6 record (9-3 in league play) and earning the second seed in a revamped Division I playoff.

“We absolutely exceeded expectations,” Rebibo said. “Anytime you start five underclassmen and your first two subs off the bench are underclassmen, there should be growing pains. We experienced growing pains, but we experienced them while being successful and I think that’s a testament to our team’s hard work, the commitment level that they’ve all put in, and chemistry. We had great chemistry.”

Hooks and Juzang produced at a much higher level than they did during their freshman seasons.

Hooks in particular has seen his stats take a jump up across the board, shooting 61% from the field from his station in the low post. The sophomore forward and Juzang have led the way on offense, helping patch up Stanley’s offensive output with 15.5 and 19.0 points per game, respectively.

Team statistics would also seem to indicate an uptick in the Wolverines’ playing efficiency between last year and this one.

Throughout the season, the team averaged a +4.86 scoring differential, nearly doubling last season’s +9.25.

Though the Wolverines are averaging slightly more points per game this season than they did last season, this trend is mostly attributable to allowing less points on the defensive end.

“It’s a lot better basketball to watch, from a team standpoint,” Rich said.

“Johnny’s a great player and he still dunks.

Mason makes some incredible plays. Spencer Hubbard [’20] has filthy handles and he’s a great shooter too. There are a lot of exciting players on this team too.”

In addition to Hooks and Juzang, the Wolverines returned Simon Pompan ’18, the squad’s lone senior. Pompan started several key games for the Wolverines down the stretch, shooting 39% from three-point range.

Hubbard, an undersized but crafty Feb. 9. guard, started as the Wolverine point man, If the Wolverines had won either the while football quarterback Jameson Wang Alemany or Crespi losses, they would have ’20 emerged as a key contributor. had a chance to win a share of the league In the early part of the season, the Woltitle with a victory in the final game. verines looked poised to make Gettings missed that game a run at the Open Division to entirely with a concussion, while appearing on the CIF’s Open DiHooks only played a few minutes vision watchlist as late as the final in his return from illness. poll release Feb. 5. Ultimately, “It was tough because the however, the team was done in by flu makes you so much weaker,” untimely injuries and illness at Hooks said. the worst possible moments.

Despite an early Division I Brase Dottin ’20 missed exit to Rancho Verde, the Wolverseveral weeks with a concussion, ines will retain their entire roster ’ including a critical loss to Crespi except Pompan next season.

Simon on Jan. 17. Both Dottin and “The goal setting is very Pompan ’18 Hooks (flu symptoms) missed the simple: we want to win a league Wolverines’ Jan. 29 game against Alemany, championship,” Rebibo said. “This is the a two-point Wolverines loss. second year in a row that we’ve finished As a result of the Alemany loss, the outright second. We want to win the MisWolverines became the final team eliminat- sion League. After that we want to be in ed from league-title contention before their the Open Division and we want to win the final game of the season against Crespi on Open Division.” nathanson s

KICKIN’ IT (right)...

Spencer Hubbard ’20 drives through the paint and looks to pass during the win against Loyola. Hubbard averaged 3.8 assists per game.

BIG RED WINTER 2018 • 23

RATTY’S REFLECTIONS Rian Ratnavale served as both Chronicle Executive Editor and Executive Editor of Big Red during his three years at the Upper School. Now, he returns with some last words of wisdom from the University of Michigan.

I have to say, it does feel a little weird writing this column. Largely, I’ve moved on from HarvardWestlake.

I’m glad to be away from the place that caused me so many nights of stress, the place that was such a pressure-cooker that I felt that my brain was always on the verge of collapsing. To get through an environment like that, a family is important, and it was nice that my biological one lived less than a mile away from 3700 Coldwater.

Friends though are the family that you can choose. That family has, and always will, live in the confines of Weiler hall.

Walking into my first meeting on the Chronicle, I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to keep writing.

I constantly felt like the weakest link the year before writing for the Spectrum, and I was honestly just going along with journalism so I could put it on my college app. Without it, I was your stereotypical brown kid that was good at math and not much else.

So reluctantly, I decided to give it a try.

LEAVING THE NEST...

Former Chronicle and Big Red Executive Editor Rian Ratnavale ’17 at the University of Michigan, which he now attends.

Pushing my first page through the process was by every stretch a hellacious experience, and I’ll never forget getting my first story back and not being able to see the words I wrote because Kathy Neumeyer drenched my hapless story in green pen. I was ready to walk out and quit, but something caught my eye.

Everyone else was laughing it off.

Tenth-grade Rian didn’t know it then, but there would be a lot more failures in store for him.

Lots of sub-par grades.

Many, many college rejection letters.

The list goes on and on.

Chronicle taught me two important things: how to deal with losing, and that it was OK to lean on your friends.

Two lefts don’t make a right, but losses all add up to wins in the end. I made some of my best friends in the world by bonding over our collective failures, and those failures, in turn, pushed us to be better writers.

Jake, Carina, Juliana and Emily- I’ll never forget those days when we were the only ones to show up to Big Red layouts, even as sophomores.

All of us wanted to get better, and it’s no surprise to me that two years later we were some of the leading voices in both the sports section and the paper as a whole.

Aaron, Ellis, Matt, Eli, Elly and all of the juniors, it makes me so proud to see you guys grow as much as you guys have because I really do see me in all of you guys.

Going to Michigan, I can safely say that I’ve found the right place, and I’ve found a similar family: the sports section of the Michigan Daily.

I still don’t know exactly why, but the same dynamic that made sports the tightest family on the Chronicle applies here. Perhaps it’s because sports draws out the same feelings of hard work, failure, resilience, and success that we all go through in life. Writing about those stories together let me reflect on those facets of my life with the friends I love.

I still have a long way to go. I can’t say for sure that I want to do sports journalism as a career yet, but I’m working hard to get as good as I can at it, even if that means a bunch of rejected story ideas and not getting the articles or positions I want. I know though, whether it’s in Weiler, or in Michigan, I’ll have a community to push me up when I need to. All of you, do too.

Rian is currently a Softball Beat Writer for the Michigan Daily and was a former Executive Editor for Big Red and the Chronicle. He can be reached at rian@umich.edu or on Twitter at @ratnavale07 BIG RED FALL 2017 • 17

For the love of the game Not everyone is a five-star recruit. Student-athletes with more modest expectations share their stories and experiences from their athletic journeys. by Every Monday through Friday holds the same afterschool routine for Noah Martin ’18. He dashes out of his 8th period class and spends precisely seven minutes at the senior tables talking to friends about the day’s events before rushing to his car to retrieve his beat-up Nike duffel bag. He changes hurriedly in the back corner of the locker room before laying down on the field in preparation for the day’s workout, waiting excit-

26 • BIG RED FALL 2017

ELI ADLER

edly for the workout to begin.

Martin has been doing this since tenth grade, his first year at Harvard-Westlake. Coming from out of state, Martin had been an athlete back in New York, but he wanted to try something new. Seeing many of his new friends on the track team, Martin was inspired to join as well.

Even though he hasn’t qualified for the Arcadia Invitational or been named Athlete of the Month by the

Student Athlete Advisory Council, Martin still finds the experience a rewarding one.

For Martin, even though he may not be chasing the individual awards, he sees his Track and Field experience as one that has helped him grow as a person and as an athlete.

“Even if I may not be chasing the awards themselves, it’s still an incredibly rewarding experience to be on the team,” Martin said. “ In addition, Martin real-

izes that while he may not be leading the Varsity team itself to victory, his impact on the Junior Varsity squad is not to be understated. In the squad’s first league meet of the season at Crespi March 1, he emerged victorious in the Junior Varisty discus throw.

“For somebody who started his track career as a way to meet people, stay fit and most importantly have fun, knowing that I am actually helping to lead my team to success is

THE SIMPLE ACT OF COMPETING AND BEING IN A MEET AND DEALING WITH EVERYTHING THAT GOES ALONG WITH THAT IS A SPECIAL EXPERIENCE such an incredible feeling and and Frosh/Soph athletes and one I never expected,” he said. maybe be a league finalist or Track and Field Program league placer in their disciHead Jonas Koolsplines at those levbergen has seen many els,” he said. “These athletes throughout accomplishments his time at the school, are also spectacular and for him, athletes and valued by our such as Martin are program.” an integral part of In addition, for the team’s success, all the athletes on even if it isn’t on the the team, Kools’ bergen feels being a Varisty level.

Ethan Knight ’18 member of the team “Even if athletes is an important exdon’t quite reach that level, they still have the perience for personal growth.

“The simple act of comchance to become better JV nathanson s

peting and being in a meet and dealing with everything that goes along with that is a special experience that helps a young athlete grow and evolve as a person,” he said.

Ethan Knight ’18 has followed a similar trajectory to Martin, albeit with swimming.

While Knight knew that he wouldn’t be a swimmer who would be breaking school records, he nonetheless decided to focus his efforts on dedicating himself to swimming from freshman to junior year.

“For me, being a part of such an incredible program is a reward in and of itself,” he said.

Koolsbergen echoes a similar sentiment to Knight, believing that every athlete on the team contributes to the team’s success, even if that isn’t necessarily done by setting the school 200-meter sprint record.

“Every athlete has an opportunity to help to create the right team vibe and the right team chemistry,” he said. “They have an opportunity to improve and excel and an equal opportunity to help their friends on the team improve and excel. Enjoying the personal successes and taking pride in the group successes is a fantastic opportunity for everyone on our team.”

Sports do not build character. They reveal it.

-Heywood Broun