22 Sports
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The Smoke Signal
Friday, February 2, 2018
Sports facilities
investigative report: By Rishi Chillara, Kikue Higuchi, Lucia Li & Maggie Zhao Staff Writers
Baseball/Softball Fields (est. 1964) Used By: Baseball, Cross Country, Softball Issues: The grass is uneven and there are many gopher holes. Recent Updates: The grass on the infield has been replaced over the summer, and MSJ is currently repairing the fencing. Future Plans: The district recognized the need for upgrades to all fields; there is no funding for these upgrades.
Track (est. 1964)
Tennis Courts (Contract with FUSD since 2000)
Used By: Tennis Issues: The courts are owned by the City of Fremont and are not free. Additionally, the tennis courts face the problems of misuse and the sagging of nets. Recent Updates: The courts were resurfaced with slipsheet to prevent cracking. Regular Repairs: None Future Plans: None
Soccer Field (est. 1964)
Used By: Cross Country, Soccer Issues: It is unusable and muddy for much of the year. Gopher holes are hazardous to the athletes who use the field. Recent Updates: None Regular Repairs: Gophers are eradicated, but gopher holes persistently re-emerge. Future Plans: The district recognized the need for upgrades to all fields; there is no funding for these upgrades.
Used By: Cross Country, Track and Field Issues: Unusable and hazardous when muddy. Recent Updates: None Regular Repairs: Smoothing and filling sand Future Plans: The district recognized the need for upgrades to the track, but there is no funding for these upgrades.
Weight Room (est. 1964)
Used by: All sports History: The weight room replaced the woodshop classroom. Equipment is bought as the Athletics Department gets the money. Some equipment has never been replaced, as there is no way to upgrade them. As a result, much of the equpment is outdated, but maintenance for student safety is done frequently.
Cardio Room (est. 1964) Pool
Currently undergoing renovation!
Used by: All Sports History: The room began as a mat room, was converted into a dance room, and finally transformed into the cardio room. It is the most updated facility. Equipment is bought as the Athletics Department gets the money.
Main Gym (est. 1964)
Mini Gym (est. 1964)
Used By: Wrestling Issues: The Mini Gym is small, old, and not versatile enough for sports and activites besides wrestling. Recent Updates: None Regular Repairs: None Future Plans: Athletic Director Tom Thomsen and Assistant Principal Jeff Evans plan to buy new, lighter mats to make the mini-gym into a multi-purpose building.
Used By: Volleyball, Basketball, Badminton Issues: The Main Gym is too small and old for the number of students who use it. Recent Updates: Bleachers were made electronic 10 years ago. Regular Repairs: Floors are sanded and refinished. Future Plans: The district has recognized the need for a 3 court gym. However, there are no definite plans or funding. GRAPHICS BY GRAPHICS EDITOR EVANGELINE CHANG
Boys’ Basketball dominates Irvington, 64-50 Boys’ Basketball took on the Irvington High School Vikings on Thursday, January 11 at Irvington High School for the third game in their MVAL season. The two teams were neck-and-neck, until the third quarter when MSJ boosted their offense and began to pull away. Coming through with flying colors, the Warriors soundly beat the Vikings 64-50 in a hard-fought game. Despite the overwhelming cheers for the home team, MSJ took a small but steady lead early in the game. The audience, filled with Vikings fans, was riled up throughout the entire game, shouting and at the edge of their seats. In the first and second quarters, the lead kept bouncing between the two teams; by halftime, the score was very close, and it seemed as if the game could go either way. MSJ’s Warriors worked together and played great offense, scoring via layups while preventing Irvington from stealing the ball. Senior Akshay Aravindan and Sophomore Arnav Arora were key figures on the offense, racking up many assists. A highlight from the first half of the game was when Arora took control of the ball and sped across the court, outrunning every Viking to execute an open layup. In the third quarter, MSJ picked up their aggression, and Irvington was unable to keep up with the change in pace. Another highlight was when Senior Garrett Chao leaped after the ball over the baseline in the final quarter to keep the ball from going out of bounds. This not only helped maintain possession of the ball, but also increased their lead. Junior Sidarth Raman said, “In the 3rd quarter, we really took over, and that was the turning point in the game.” At the beginning
#23 Sophomore Arnav Arora jumps for a rebound.
#32 Senior Austin Chang drives the ball into Irvington’s key.
By Shreya Sridhar Staff Writer
of third quarter, the score was 33-30 in favor of MSJ, but with 9 seconds left on the clock before third quarter ended, the Warriors had a lead of 15 points with a score of 47-32. MSJ played with solid defense, preventing multiple Irvington rebounds, and consistently diverted the ball across the court. Team Captain Senior Alex Wu and Chao were instrumental in drawing foul shot opportunities, giving MSJ significant opportunities to score. Coach Mike Kenney was especially proud of his team’s performance and said, “Any win is a good game. The team played very hard. The seniors especially had a good game today.” Although the team as a whole had a great game, Kenney named Raman the best player of the game. Raman managed to dunk the ball three times throughout the course of the match, which is a tough skill for most high school players to execute. Raman said, “We just wanted to play hard, play good defense, execute on offense and play as a team overall… it was just another game where we worked really hard.” Moving forward, the team hopes to make it to the NCS Champion Tournament in March. In the future, they hope to defeat Irvington every time rather than have the wins be split between the two. The team thinks that they came together well as a team this past season, which heavily contributed to their improved chemistry on-court. Wu said, “We played very hard as a team and followed all of [our] coach’s directions. We have become like a family this season, like brothers now.” Boys’Basketball’s next home game will be on Tuesday, February 13 against John F. Kennedy High School.▪ PHOTOS BY STAFF WRITER SHREYA SRIDHAR