Paly, Gunn juggling clubs host Game Of rows festival

Juggling clubs from both Paly and Gunn hosted the Game Of rows Juggling and Flow Festival, a three-day event featuring professional performers and jugglers from Jan. 2022.

Gunn Juggling Club adviser Matt Hall said the fair was incredibly successful.

“It was excellent,” Hall said.

“Out of the four years we have done this, it’s looking like this is the largest one yet.”

Hall said the opening day was his favorite because of the environment and intense activities.

“We had some of the best jugglers in the world head-tohead,” Hall said. “It was fantastic. e hype was real.”

Junior Eileen Chao competed at Game of rows and said she liked watching the professionals dueling against each other.

“It was really fun to watch the battles,” Chao said. “I was also a part of them, (and) it was really fun seeing the really good people juggle and (to) cheer them on.” e festival also included a Gala Show on Saturday evening that showcased the talents of professionals, including Frank Olivier, a three-time world juggling champion. Chao said the theatrics of the show kept her engaged and entertained.

“I enjoyed the lighting and the performances,” Chao said. “It was fun to laugh along with the audience.”

Hall said a major part of the festival was teaching others how fun juggling can be.

Hall said, “ ey’ve learned that this wonderful art we call juggling, circus art or manipulation art is fantastic.”

As players run their last scrimmage of the night, shouts echo and sneakers squeak across the glossy hardwood court at girls basketball practice. With less than 10 seconds on the practice clock, the ball darts toward number 24, who catches it and shoots it in a clean arc through the hoop. Shooting guard and sophomore Vienn Sheng is one of the youngest yet most impressive players not only on her team but also in the state.

As a freshman, Sheng ranked in the top 30 shooting guards in California, and by her sophomore year, she led her team to multiple victories, scoring up to seven 3-pointers per game.

Sheng said she began playing basketball in third grade through her dad’s encouragement.

“My dad was a really good tennis player, and he played tennis at Stanford,” Sheng said. “So I started playing tennis, and I remember quitting tennis for basketball. And my dad told me, ‘Well, if you’re going to quit tennis, you’ve got to take basketball seriously.’”

Sheng said although she initially received a push from her parents to play basketball, she no longer needed it when she began to enjoy the activity.

“I immediately fell in love with the sport,” Sheng said. “I loved it so much, it wasn’t even my parents who wanted me to play.”

Lucas Guan Guest Writer

It seems like Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, haven’t been out of the news for the past few years. First there were all the allegations of racism, then the two stepping back as senior members of the Royal Family, then the Oprah interview and now Prince Harry’s tell-all memoir “Spare.”

And like almost everything related to the couple, the book immediately provoked a restorm of reactions, some less favorable than others. e book also contained an unprecedented number of allegations against members of the British Royal Family, which made Harry either a hero or public enemy number one, depending on whose side you’re on.

Putting the media circus aside, the book isn’t nearly as juicy as people seem to think. Sure, there are moments where I think I could’ve done without a slightly excessive amount of visual detail, but as a whole, the work is more of a re ection on his life and his family, described in unparalleled detail.

If you ever nd yourself wanting to know more about Harry’s life or what it’s really like to be a part of the Royal Family, the book is probably your best bet since members of the Royal Family generally don’t give interviews or talk about their personal lives. In fact, it’s probably the most comprehensive narrative written about a royal. roughout the book, Harry’s raw emotions are displayed, including his description of the despair of having no purpose –– I especially appreciate him openly writing about his mental health and his decision to see a therapist.

Most pointedly is the racism against his wife.

Harry describes the frustration the couple endured as his family repeatedly failed to protect his wife from biased media reports, like the infamous bridesmaid dress asco, which he says was motivated by racism.

Yet many people have heard about the book because of its explosive claims against members of his family, especially the accusation against Harry’s mother-in-law, Camilla. I’m sure all of you have heard about her infamous a air with Charles while he was still married to Princess Diana. As a result, Camilla was deeply unpopular with the British public after Diana’s death in 1997. So, Harry alleges, the Queen Consort struck a deal with the largest British tabloids where she would feed them false stories about William and Harry in exchange for positive press coverage. I nd this possible, though unlikely. I’m sure Charles did pull some backdoor shenanigans with the British press so they’d treat Camilla better; however, a full-blown conspiracy (especially with William and Harry thrown

But who knows? And that “who knows” is the most damaging part of this book for the British Royal Family, because even though they supposedly have God’s right to rule, they must actively campaign every day. ey’re not campaigning for votes, like politicians, but for public popularity. Because even though the monarchy claims God’s right to rule since they o cially head the Church of England, the legitimacy of the current monarch is based on nothing more than popularity. e monarch no longer wields political power, and the entire institution is essentially at the whim of popular support. So you can imagine why Harry’s startling allegations that paint the entire family as cruel, scheming and malicious can end up producing so much harm. We live in the 21st century, sensitive about social issues. And though the Royal Family’s popularity in the United Kingdom hasn’t su ered as much as some have predicted and a majority of the UK remains supportive, the approval ratings of Charles, Camilla and William have dropped signicantly. So maybe the book is the beginning of the end for the Royal Family, or maybe it’ll be just another blip in the family history, just like the ascos surrounding Edward VIII or Princess Diana. But given the increased public awareness of issues like racism and mental health, and that the Royals have already been su ering from PR issues in these departments, it won’t be rainbows and unicorns for them anytime soon. Since its publication, “Spare” has become fodder for comedians, who see it as an immature child complaining. e Onion,” a satirical news source, ran the mocking headline, “One Time I Was In England And I Was A Prince And My Mom Was Diana And She Died And My Family Is Mean And My Wife Is Brown And I’m Sorry I Wore A Nazi Uniform” to summarize the plot. e last part is a reference to an infamous incident where Harry wore a Nazi uniform to a Halloween party). I nd these comments too harsh. e plot can get messy at times, but the narrative of “Spare” isn’t one deserving of complaints. Rather, it’s about the pains of being caught between a changing world and an antiquated system. So if you have time, give it a read. I promise you won’t regret it, because there might never be anything like it written again.

To this day, Sheng said her parents remain her biggest supporters.

“ ey really believe in me and in what I can do,” Sheng said. “Knowing that people see potential in me and understand my goals is really helpful. I don’t think I would be here today without them.”

Sheng trains intensively during the season and o -season to improve her skills. When training by herself, she said she’ll shoot up to 300 baskets in a single day.

“Because I’m a shooting guard, I work on a ton of shooting,” Sheng said. “My teammate Catherine and I did this thing for a week and a half where we came to the gym every day and we shot about 100 jumpers and 100 threes.”

Sheng said she is able to motivate herself to shoot hundreds of hoops a day because she sees it as a fun pastime.

“Even if it’s by myself, I’ll put my headphones on,” Sheng said. “I’ll be in the zone, and I’ll just let the ball y. It’s like therapy for me to be in the gym by myself. When I’m upset or stressed, I’m shooting.”

Sheng said her biggest motivation during the season was being surrounded by her teammates.

“One of the biggest reasons I love the sport is just being around teammates,” Sheng said. “From day one, I have made long lasting friendships with my teammates.”

Sheng has been playing with some of her teammates on the same team for over six years.

“(My teammates) are some of my closest friends, and we’ve been able to see each other grow, which is an awesome thing,” Sheng said. “I think that the connections that you make with each other in basketball are just so exciting.”

Scott Peters, the girls basketball coach, said the team had great chemistry that allowed them to play well together.

“We have a lot of great girls on the team,” Peters said. “ e girls have a lot of positivity they bring to practice everyday and in games.”

In the future, Sheng said she hopes to be recruited to play college basketball, and though she doesn’t have a dream team in mind yet, she said she is not worried about it.

“I kind of have the mentality that whatever happens, happens,” Sheng said. “I don’t want to set my heart on something.”

Sheng said although keeping a balance between basketball and her social life often requires sacri ces, it is worth the tradeo

“I’m OK spending three hours every day on basketball,” Sheng said. “I’m OK missing hangouts with my friends for basketball because I have a goal, and I really want to accomplish my goal.”