Viking Volume 3 ISsue 5 - Spring Fever

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Volume 3 Issue #5 April 2010

Staff List Editors-in-Chief Christine Chang Emily Fowler Cassie Prioleau

Business Managers Sophie Biffar Wade Hauser

Section Editors Lauren Hammerson Hana Kajimura Photo Editor Malaika Drebin Design Editors Varun Kohli In Depth Features Editor Kylie Sloan Copy Editors Sam Greene Erin Kiekhaefer Statistician Sana Bakshi

Staff Mary Albertolle George Brown Michael Cullen Skylar Dorosin Brandon Dukovic Will Glazier Alex Kershner Cooper Levitan Sam Maliska Grace Marshall Talia Moyal Dustin Nizamian Mariah Philips Mark Raftrey Allison Shorin Spencer Sims Jack Smale Alistair Thompson

Adviser Ellen Austin

The Viking Palo Alto High School 50 Embarcadero Road Palo Alto, CA 94301 650-329-3837 Email contact: vikingeds@gmail.com Letters to the editor The Viking, a sports magazine published by the students in Palo Alto High School’s Advanced Magazine Journalism class, is an open forum for student expression and the discussion of issues of concern to its readership. The Viking is distributed to its readers and the student body at no cost. The staff welcomes letters to the editor, but reserves the right to edit all submissions for length, grammar, potential libel, invasion of privacy and obscenity.

Advertising in The Viking The staff publishes advertisements with signed contracts providing they are not deemed by the staff inappropriate for the magazine’s audience. For more information about advertising with The Viking, please contact the The Viking by e-mail at vikingeds@gmail.com or call 650-329-3837 for more information.

Printing Services The Viking is printed six times a year by Fricke-Parks Press in Fremont, Calif.

KICKOFF 6 | STAFF VIEW The Viking sheds light on what the new administration for next year can do to imporve Paly athletics.

8| ZOOM 10| HOT/NOT METER AND By THE NuMBERS 12|ZOOM 14| TEn QuES. wITH mAyA FIELDEr 15| InSIDE THE mInD oF juLI DAHm

CoLumnS

The Li

April 201

Volume III, Is

20| VIkIng workouT

Get in shape with The Viking’s own workout plan.

by Talia Moyal

22| The Viking TrIES CurLIng

Viking staffers wenture to try curling!

Their experience as well as everything else you need to know about curling.

by Dustin Nizamian

photo credits (clockwise from top left): spencer sims, Brandon dukovic, malaika dreBin, courtesy of linda cullen, talia moyal, aleX kershner, allie shorin, allie shorin, allie shorin. cover: photography By allie shorin.

PAGE

6

FEATuRES 16| THE LAST STrAw The Viking sheds light on thet typically hushed subject of quitting, and details the motives, decision making process and consequences of this difficult decision.

by Will Glazier

20 22

28 30

ProFILES

24| BROKEN SEASON After getting hit in the left jaw with a lacrosse ball in his second game of the season, boys’ lacrosse captain and midfielder Isaac Plant (‘10) is out for the season, with two fractures and a jaw wired shut.

by Kylie Sloan

27| DICK AND DAVE

The story of Paly baseball’s two assistant coaches, who teach more than just baseball.

by Mark Raftrey

30| BEHIND THE ACTION

A look at Wes Rapaport, the guy beind the scenes of sports proving commitment is not always being physically involved.

by Mariah Philips

4

Lineup

2010

II, Issue V

LAST worD

In-DEPTH rEPorTIng

61 | CALEnDAr

42| HoW To PLAy THE NuMBERS GAME

62 | THE LAST worD

The process of Central Coast Section (CCS) seeding is explained in a detailed look at a variety of Paly CCS experiences.

by Mary Albertolle

44

47

The Viking’s own Michael Cullen shares what it’s like to be a “lax bro.”

by Michael Cullen

57

61

64

SPrIng SPorTS

FEATuRES 32| TEAM CHEMISTRy Team chemistry plays a huge role in the overall success of the Paly sports community and is founded in a mutitude of different and creative ways.

by Gracie Marshall

36| WHERE ARE THEy NOW?

48 | SPrIng FEVEr

A quick preview of what to come of Paly’s 11 spring sports and an overview of what the teams have already accomplished.

A look at four Paly grads who advanced to colligate athletics in track and feild, baseball and swimming.

by Erin Kiekhaefer

38| THE PERFECT PERSCRIPTION

A look into the ways in which sports reduce and induce stress.

by Skylar Dorosin

40|PLAyIng In PorTugAL

Staff writer Alex Kershner describes her travels to Portual and participates in the Algarve Womens’ Cup.

by Alex Kershner

5

Kickoff

“Staff View”

Staff View on April 9, 2010, a committee of students, teachers, parents and district staff will sit in the Palo Alto School District office. At this meeting, the committee will interview candidates for the position of principal of Palo Alto High School.

Current principal Jaqueline McEvoy announced her resignation on Jan. 22. Following this announcement, assistant principal Todd Feinberg - who is in charge of athletics - released a resignation announcement of his own in an e-mail to teachers on March 9. Both resig-

New administration should be more involved with Paly athletics

ics and the administration, the new principal should supervise the Athletic Director while the two work together, so that all involved parties achieve satisfying results. Perhaps an invitation to the Athletic Director to be on the Education Council, a committee made up of administrators and Instructional Supervisors, may be a plausible idea.

The Viking realizes that administrators have many different duties to fulfill, but at the same time the staff feels that the administration should have a presence

By attending athletic events, the administration has an opportunity to exert a strong, positive effect on students and the greater Paly community. nations are effective June 30, 2010.

During her time at Paly, McEvoy and her administration implemented some positive change in the athletic community.

In November 2008, after The Viking published the “Hazing” story, McEvoy hosted a meeting for parents to review the California Interscholastic Federation’s rules. Attendance was mandatory for every athletes’ parents.

Since that first meeting nearly 17 months ago, the administration has continued to hold these meetings and, while there is no perfect solution to solve sportsmanship issues, The Viking believes that McEvoy and Feinberg made a solid attempt to improve the overall quality of Paly athletics with these sessions.

The current administration also oversaw the addition of boys’ lacrosse to Paly.

However, there is still much more to be done.

The new administrators should be able to work with the Athletic Director to make Paly sports more successful. Rather than creating tension between athlet-

6

in Paly athletic events.

By attending athletic events, the administration has an opportunity to exert a strong, positive effect on students and the greater Paly community. Administrators should be more approachable, and their presence will go a long way to improve the athletic program as well the overall Paly social climate.

With two new administrators walking onto the Paly campus in the next fall, there is an opportunity for clearer communication between administrators, who make the big decisions at our school, and the Athletic Director. Better communication and cooperation can only help to pave the way for the best decisions to be made for the Paly athletic community, especially when money is tight.

As the transition to the new administration begins, there will clearly be many important issues that affect the students of Paly. With this in mind, The Viking hopes that new administrators can keep the success of Paly athletics in mind, for the overall benefit of the community and Paly sports. <<<

newS brief The Palo Alto High School varsity baseball team (12-3, 8-0) held on late against last-place Cupertino High school to win 7-5 on a drizzly Friday afternoon at home.

Paly starting pitcher Jack Smale (‘11) pitched a total of 3.1 scoreless innings, giving up only two hits over that span.

“My specialty is as a low ball pitch to get ground balls, and they were not hitting me well,” Smale said.

The Vikings got a pair of runs in the first and third innings to gain an early lead. In the first, right fielder Christoph Bono (‘11) singled home center fielder Joc Pederson (‘10). Bono later scored on a hit and run single by first baseman T.J. Braff (‘11).

Left fielder Cory Tenanes (‘11) led off the third for the Vikings with a double to left center. After Pederson flied out to right, Bono hit a triple to drive in Tenanes, and then scored on a single by designated hitter Wade Hauser (‘10).

Paly tacked on another run in the fourth and two in the fifth to make the score 7-1 going into the seventh.

In the fifth, Hauser and first baseman Sam Maliska

Paly varsity baseball edges Cupertino 7-5, remaining undefeated in league.

(‘11) hit back-to-back doubles, and outfielder Jered Beeson (‘10) singled to score Maliska.

With the game under control, Paly put in their reserves to finish the game, leading to a Cupertino comeback.

“We let a lot of people play, but they didn’t do the key things we need to do to be successful,” Paly head coach Eric Raich said.

Geoff Dodson (‘10) came in to pitch the final inning. The first batter hit a routine pop-up to short, but two Paly players collided, and the ball fell to the ground.

Cupertino third baseman Desmond Maisel slammed a double off the left field wall to put runners on second and third with none out. Dodson proceeded to walk three consecutive batters, including two home, before being replaced by Bono, who made his first pitching appearance of the season.

Bono gave up two singles before Paly put in ace Braff to close the game out.

“We need to be careful with teams like that, and not play down to their level,” Bono said.

-Christine Chang and Mark Raftrey Read more online at www. voice.paly.net

PHoToS By MALAIKA DREBIN

behind the photoS: the SwimSuit iSSue

No one loves tradition more than The Viking staff. For the past two years, we have been proud to publish the annual Spring Swimsuit edition. While nude body painting and scantily clad models might be a bit too scandalous for our family-friendly readership, we love to feature spring athletes at their finest.

In the past, we have profiled athletes and explored sports issues. This year, we tell the story of spring teams and their seasons through the very best photos we have to offer. They say “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and we could not agree more. Look for our eleven pages of full-page photos, with spring season updates. As always, we have five Zooms scattered throughout the magazine.

There is no more to say, or to write. These photos speak for themselves.

7

ZOOM

Grant Sauer (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11) runs in the hurdles for the Vikings in their meet against Lynbrook. The Vikings won the meet 79 -43.

Photo by Allie Shorin

ZOOM

ZOOM

Gracie Greenwood (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11) does a reverse dive pike for the Vikings in the meet against Gunn on March 25.

The Lady Vikes lost this meet.

Photo by Allie Shorin

Kickoff

“Intro Section”

BY THE NUMBERS 48 Combined hours goalie travAlex Kershner (‘11) spent trav eling to and from the Algarve.

Women’s Cup in Albufeira, Portugal.

84

Saves by first year boys’ lacrosse goalie Josh Chin (‘11) in the first eight games of the season.

1133 Strikeouts by

pitcher Kelly Jenks (‘10) in her first perfect game of the season against Woodside Mar. 16.

00:1

seeded teams, 2 Fifth Butler and Michigan State, made it to the final four in the men’s NCAA tournament.

Seconds left in the womens’ Stanford vs. Xavier NCAA Elite Eight game when Cardinal pointguard Jeanette Pohlen made a layup, giving Stanford the win.

+3

CCS points awarded to Paly when it beats an A league team.

The PoP CulTure Grid greta Sohn (Track ‘11)

Charlotte Biffar (Lacrosse ‘13)

Dream Prom Date?

Liam from 90210 (but don’t tell my boyfriend)

Channing Tatum

Favorite Spring Time Activity?

Bike rides with my girlfriends

Going to the Beach

Baseball or Lacrosse?

Lacrosse

Senior you will Miss Most?

Snow or Shine?

10

John Dickerson (Baseball ‘12)

Star Wars Skylar Dorosin

Emily Swanson (Softball ‘12)

Michael yuan (golf ‘11)

Gracie Marshall...

Sorry Ben.

Yuna

Fishing

Softball

Wearing Shorts

Lacrosse

Baseball

Baseball

Baseball

Tyler Nigro

Sophie Biffar

Jamie Blake

Lauren Bucolo

Shine

Shine

Snow

Snow

All of Them

Snow

Paly Baseball

HoT

With an 13-3 overall record and a SCVAL leading 8-0 record, the Vikings continue to blow opponents out. In recent action, the team defeated rival Gunn, 7-2 .

or

Ice

NOT

According to The Viking’s now expert curlers, ice is not very hot.

After offing Xavier in the Elite Eight, the team also beat Oklahoma in the semifinals. Ball onwards Jane Appel, ball onwards.

First seed upsets in the NCAA Tournament

Number one seeds falling out early in the tournament, leaving only Duke to represent. [Kansas, Syracuse, Kentucky]

.. . f l e urs 11)

o Y r (‘ e g n i n e pla an Z

Ex

Stanford Women’s Basketball

ord

rJ Dive

Paly Lacrosse

Both the boys’ and girls’ lacrosse teams are in first place in their respective leagues. The boys have a overall record of 8-1 while the girls’ stands at 9-1.

The highlight of the girls’ season was beating power house Saint Ignatius 5-4.

Prama

With senior girls asking junior guys and junior guys asking Saint Francis girls or sophomores, enough is enough.

Ask who you want to boys!

Phillip MacQuitty

MacQuitty is on a roll as he has recently broken the school record in the 800 meter and the mile. He ran the 800 in 1 minute, 52.37 sec and the mile in 4:13.92.

American Idol

Compared to previous years, the talent level is severly lacking. You know it’s bad when the best part is Zac Efron’s look alike Tim Urban.

SpoTlight GaME 3/5/10 paly vs. St. Ignatius

photo by Allie Shorin

Paly girls’ varsity lacrosse beat Saint Ignatius during a preseason game in overtime by a score of 5-4. Before playing Paly, the opposing team stood undefeated in North California for the previous 12 years and was ranked sixth in the state. The game was followed by tears of excitement from the Paly players and fans for one of the most important games in the Paly girls’ lacrosse history.

“There was a bee on the board, and he made a mean face at me.”

Want Paly sports updates sent to your phone?

Folllow us on www.twitter.com/thevikingmag 11

ZOOM

Grant Audet (‘10), with doubles partner Alex Freeman (‘10), played against Lynbrook on March 25 at home. The Vikings won the match 6-1.

Photo by Allie Shorin

10 Questions

with

Maya Fielder

WHo KNoWS SENIoR LACroSSE STAr MAyA FIELDER BEST? PROM DATE ALEX FREEMAN, BEST FRIEND EMILy KENyoN or COACH JEN GRAy? photos left to right by Brandon Dukovic, Allie Shorin, Brandon Dukovic, Cassie Prioleau and Allie Shorin

Maya Fielder

Alex Freeman

Emily Kenyon

jen gray

There Will be Blood

Favorite Movie

An Inconvenient Truth

Something foreign

300

Ignorant liberals

Pet Peeve

Liberals

Radical Liberals

The secret buddy gifts

Freeman

Prom Date

Me

Freeman

Her really good friend...

I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know his name

Mr. Foug

Favorite Teacher

Foug

Ms. Paugh

Her history teacher

BBQ

Favorite Food

Plutos

Anything

Everything

SNL/30 Rock

Favorite TV Show

Weeds

Weeds

The office

Touchy people/ Michael Zao

Biggest Fear

Being ugly

Michael Zao being president

Driving

Chad ochocinco for personality, Chris Long for looks

Favorite Athlete

Chad o ochocinco

Chris Long

Jamie Nesbitt

Whistle when my hands are like a cave

Secret Talent

Trashing her car

Something inappropriate

Singing

Blonde, blueeyed and athletic

Characteristic of Perfect Guy

Nice eyes

Blonde and Blue Eyed

Sense of humor

50% Correct

50% Correct

Images taken from

20% correct

Inside theJuliMind Dahm

“

of

on LACroSSE Lacrosse is pretty sick. I have been playing for four years. My favorite part is the games with my friends on the team. I don’t really like peoples’ attitudes towards lacrosse from Paly. They could be a lot more supportive cause we go to the same school. But what matters is my team, and we all have a lot of fun. We like dressing up, just in case you have not noticed. We were undefeated last year and so far we are 9-0 and we beat what was supposed to be our hardest competition, St. Ignatius. 5-4 it was a close game. I play attack. Me and Brianna [Boyd] and Mari [Wilson] (well actually all the attack players), we have a name for ourselves, Eight Meter Mafia. Cause you know when we are like in attack we run that s***. EIGHT METER MAFIA! on BEIng A SEnIor I like being a senior, I don’t really care about stuff so it’s nice. I like my teachers.

ON SIMBA oh I love my dog, he’s awesome. you know how people say their pets look like their owners, I think it’s true. So that’s why he’s so cool cause he looks like me.

ON BOyS None have really gotten lucky enough to settle down with me. on HAVIng THrEE SISTErS Kati (‘08), she plays lacrosse, and Maddy (‘12), she plays volleyball and badminton now. And she’s my favorite sister, I guess you could say.

I’m the middle child. I have middle child syndrome.

And then I have a baby sister that I babysit. She’ll probably go to Paly.

Her name is Haley Dahm.

The Wild Child

By SP E NCE R SIM S

Photography by Spencer Sims

ON MARK Mark’s pretty chill I guess. It’s interesting having your dad as a coach; it’s really funny. I like making fun of him some sometimes and I think other people like making fun of him too. He likes to drive around in his stupid red Mini Cooper and his Lexus and Mercedes. But yeah, I didn’t get any of the love I have to drive a Jeep.

ON “THE CORPORATION” It’s pretty sick cause we’re such a big deal and think we’re so much better than other people.

We’re really exclusive. I’m just kidding. We like kick it on the weekend. I’m not really into partying. I have other hobbies like lacrosse of course. on BEIng THE wILD CHILD someI think Jen gets really frustrated with me some times because I don’t pay very good attention all the time and I’m always spacing out. She always looks at me like I’m crazy. rEALLy goES on In HEr mInD on wHAT r I can’t think of anything. Nothing is going on. I want to get a tattoo. It says “Carpe Diem.” But it would be where no one could see it. It means seize the day, which I think sums up me pretty well. Because I seize the day which means live in the moment.

“

Wild child Juli Dahm (‘10) speaks with The Viking about her life during senior year. The lacrosse attacker dominates on the field as well as the social scene.

ON PET PEEVES It makes me mad when people touch my hair and face. When people walk really inconsistently in front of me, I want to scream.

I don’t like it when there’s stickers and the sticky stuff gets stuck in your skin.

15

Features

“The Last Straw”

The Last Straw The Viking sheds light on the typically hushed up subject of quitting, and details the motives, decision making process and consequences of this difficult decision

F

or many avid Boston Red Sox fans, the first sign of spring is Truck Day; the day when the Boston Red Sox equipment truck departs for Fort Myers, Fla. for the opening of spring training. This date in early February kicks off months of anticipation and excitement for the new season. It is the proverbial spring-cleaning for Red Sox Nation, where the slate is wiped clean, hope for the new season is abundant and failure seems impossible.

While no Paly athletic team spends its off-season training at a facility nearly 1,497 miles away like the Red Sox do, the feelings of optimism, confidence and hope that come with the beginning of a new season are feelings all athletes are familiar with -- from professionals to high schoolers. In high school, the star player may aspire to be named first team

all-league and lead his team to a Central Coast Section (CCS) championship, while a backup may have a simple goal of seeing the playing field more often.

But what happens to players whose goals for the season are not met, and begin to feel distanced from the team for reasons such as arguments with coaches, disputes over playing time or a lack of time to devote to the sport? often, these players are faced with a simple, yet excruciatingly tough question: to quit or not to quit?

The decision to quit is rarely a rash, impulsive one made with little thought toward the consequences. Players view the decision as a very important one, with consequences that will have effects in all areas of their life including the remainder of their athletic career, academics and their social life.

Carmeli (‘10), lim (‘10) and Young (‘10) look on as Paly takes on Cupertino

16

By WILLIAM GLAZIER PHoToGRAHy By TALIA MoyAL

Former baseball player Stephen Lim (‘10), who played three years for the Vikings, decided to stop playing baseball in between his junior and senior seasons after playing sparingly as a junior.

“The decision to quit a sport has been a huge part of my life and identity and [it] is certainly a serious decision,” Lim said. “It probably took a couple months to decide to stop playing.”

Lim did not expect much playing time, thus he felt that his time would be better spent elsewhere.

“Now, I tutor at a local school in EPA 3 times a week, which I enjoy a lot,” Lim said. “I feel like it is a better use of my time, for me personally.”

Two other athletes that decided to quit baseball along with Lim were Marcus young (‘10) and Ariel Carmeli (‘10). Along with Lim, they both played sparsely and thought they could pursue other interests in their senior years, such as young who played football for the first time this fall.

“Not to say that I deserved to play more than I did, but the fact of the matter is, you don’t join the team to watch the games.” young said.

Carmeli also directed his new free time toward weightlifting to rehab his injured throwing shoulder, as well as enjoying a relaxing second semester of senior year.

While lack of playing time is a common reason for athletes to quit, it is by no means the only one. Football player and thrower Kevin Anderson (‘11), who was named SCVAL DE of the year in 2009, quit his secondary sports of basketball and baseball in an effort to commit himself to football and track.

“By not playing baseball or basketball I was able to really hone my football and track skills,” Anderson said. “I got a great

Ca

Carmeli (‘10) and lim (‘10) take in a Paly baseball game from the bleachers after quitting baseball before their senior seasons. deal stronger and faster and I was also able to do better academically.”

TJ Braff (‘11), varsity football and baseball player, also decided to quit basketball after his sophomore season even though he enjoyed success on varsity. While Braff only quit one sport, he found there was a great difference between playing just two sports compared to three.

“It was a really hard decision for me to give up basketball because I had a lot of fun last year,” Braff said. “It gave me a chance to focus more on school and get my grades up. It also gave me more free time to work on my other sports, hang out with friends and get stronger in the

weight room” Anderson and Braff have both benefited from quitting their secondary sports to devote themselves more to their favorites, however they both describe the toughness of the decision to quit and how they did not want to let down their teammates or coaches. oftentimes coaches hold high expectations for athletes of Anderson and Braff’s caliber, and when they quit, coaches face the challenge of restructuring their lineups.

“I had played both sports for so long that it would be tough to tell coaches that I wasn’t playing when they planned for me to play,” Anderson said.

In addition to factors such as time to spend on other sports, many athletes find that the giant balancing act between school and sports becomes so difficult that something has to give. Talia Moyal, who danced at Captivating Dance by Nona for 3 years, found that the time she devoted to dance was impacting her schoolwork so much and causing so much stress, that it was affecting her overall happiness.

“I couldn’t imagine myself without dance but I also couldn’t take it anymore,” Moyal said. “I was not doing as well in school and I was stressing more. I needed to push myself harder, but that wasn’t going to be possible with the amount of time

17

Features

“The Last Straw”

I had.”

Another large time commitment that competes with sports employment. Ethan Black (‘10) who played football, basket-

cision. This adds yet another layer to the complicated nature of the decision to quit a sport as some coaches, players, and parents view quitting during the season a fail-

football mid-way through his senior season, also felt his time would be better spent elsewhere after he became disappointed with his performance during the season.

“Football is a tough sport “I would have issue with any parents that allow someone to mentally quit mid-season when they have committed to that season both and physically and not see it through. If they don’t want to play again the and you really following year that’s a different decision, but once you start need to be all in or not at all,” something, in my household, you will finish it.”

Berry said. “If -Athletic Director and head football coach Earl Hansen you have hesitation, it will really get to you ball, and lacrosse this day after day year found that the time needed for a job ure to follow through on a commitment out at practice, and it eventually can force was overwhelming, causing him to quit la- made at the beginning of the season. you to quit, like I did.” crosse.

The nature of a sport such as football, Tommy Berry (‘10), who quit playing “I quit lacrosse because I just got a part time job at Jamba and I’m now working sometimes 25 or more hours a week there and so I don’t have time for lacrosse,” Black said.

While time, or lack thereof, is a large component of the decision to quit, it is only one piece of the overall experience playing a sport, and there are plenty of other things that factor in the decision to quit. one factor that is commonplace in high school sports is a dispute with a coach for a variety of reasons. Black decided to quit basketball mid-way through his senior season as a result of his sour relationship with the new coach Bob Roehl.

“I had been debating quitting basketball for a while, but now Paly’s team is so messed up with coaches and everything that it was not worth the effort,” Black said. “There was one game where I was just done with all of Paly basketball.” oftentimes, quitting mid-season is one of the toughest decisions because of the emotions involved and the impulsive nature of such a quick decision. This approach often creates the most problems after the decision to quit.

While the reasons to quit are numerous, all players who decide to quit face the decision of when they should announce their decision to quit, and must debate whether they should stick through the season and stop playing afterwards, JuGGliNG Kevin Anderson (‘11) found that participating in three sports was overor quit immediately after making their de- whelming and quit basketball before the 2011 season to focus on football and track.

18

and the daily grind of high school sports in general can cause athletes to become quickly disappointed during the season.

This disappointment can lead athletes to second-guess the commitment they made to their team at the beginning of the year.

“I disappointed myself with my lack of effort and I felt like I was letting [Coach] Hansen down because it seemed like he wanted to give everyone an opportunity.”

Throughout athletic director and head football coach Earl Hansen’s career at Paly, he has heard every reason in the book for quitting. However, regardless of the excuse, the athlete who chooses to quit also chooses to not follow through on his or her commitment to the team.

“I would have issue with any parents that allow someone to quit mid-season when they have committed to that season and not see it through,” Hansen said. “If they don’t want to play again the following year that’s a different decision, but once you start something, in my household, you will finish it.” young and Lim also believe that waiting until after the season to quit allowed them time to reflect on the season without the influence of their emotions and it allowed them to fully consider the consequences of their decision. Also, the decision to wait until after the season concludes mitigates any drama and distractions that will take away from a team performing to its potential.

“It’s better [to quit] at the end of the season because you went through the whole thing and can reflect on the season as a whole instead of quitting on an impulse,” young said. “Quitting during the season just wasn’t worth the drama.”

Quitting after a season also allows a player to still enjoy the priceless moments of a team atmosphere that they would otherwise miss, and also allows them to retain the respect of their teammates even after they quit, because they will admire them for sticking through the tough times.

“Mid-season you don’t really have time to think of the consequences and the reality of suddenly quitting,” Lim said. “The

“It’s better [to quit] at the end of the season because you went through the whole thing and can reflect on the season as a whole instead of quitting on an impulse. Quitting during the season just wasn’t worth the drama.”

-Marcus Young (‘10)

biggest benefit of waiting until the season is over is not looking like an idiot who’s full of himself. After the season, I had lots of time to consider my decision.”

The difficulty of an athlete’s decision to quit is an opportunity for them to learn about themselves and their character. This decision and how they go about carrying it out, reflects greatly on their character and their ability to confront an adverse situation with maturity and poise, qualities that are useful not only in athletics, but in real life. one final factor that plays an important role in many athletes’ decision to quit is the possibility of regretting their decision later. While most athletes try to envision their life after quitting prior to making the decision, sometimes it is very hard to measure the amount of regret one will feel after something that they spent such a large portion of their time on, is gone. often, the stinging feeling of regret is one that lingers with an athlete longer than any of the other consequences.

“It was sad to quit because I knew it would be the last team sport I would ever participate in,” Berry said. “I do regret quitting, but only because I did it so late in the season. My mom was ok with my decision as long as I wasn’t going to regret it at all later in life, but to be honest I do regret it.”

Many moments a player experiences as part of a team are priceless, and can factor into a players regret.

“There are some things I miss, like the relationship you acquire with your teammates, the coaches and of course hollerin’ at chicks on the way back from Gatos,”

young said. overall, many people associate the word quitting with reneging on ones commitment and failing to live up to expectations. However, players believe that people should not be so quick to pass judgment and label someone a quitter, and instead they should look more deeply into the situation to uncover the persons true character, and judge for themselves whether they handled the situation with maturity and poise.

“I think that it’s all individual,” young said. “Everyone has their reasons for quitting and each case should be judged on its own.”

While most people would not relate words such as hope, anticipation, or optimism with an athletes’ decision to end his or her career in a particular sport, the silver lining in the typically dark and hushed up subject of quitting is that they now have plenty of time to focus on other things and discover a passion that may not have anything to do with sports.

Many players will end a season and look forward with great anticipation toward the beginning of the next year, with a whole new set of goals and expectations, and their next shot at a championship. However, a couple individuals will also look forward to the next year, and its new set of goals and expectations, but for a completely different reason: a shot at finding another passion and something else to devote themselves to. “overall, I don’t have many regrets,” Lim said. “Everyone has to stop playing at some point and only you know when is the right time.” <<<

19

Kickoff

“The Viking Workout”

the Viking Workout

By TALIA MoyAL

The Viking prides itself in being a magazine full of athletes. This issue we decided to explore what makes us athletes and how we prepare our bodies for competition. We spoke to Brian Fox and Nick Weiss, two certified personal trainers at Equinox Fitness Club, in Palo Alto, as well as Aaron Ryan, Equinox’s fitness manager.

Core

“The most important part of working out is consistency and taking care of your body.”

Classic Plank Prop yourself up on your elbows. Keep them shoulder width apart. your body should be parallel with the ground.

HoW MuCH? 4 sets of 30 seconds on the plank and 30 seconds off

-Nick Weiss, personal trainer Side Plank Prop yourself up on one elbow or if you prefer, hold yourself up with one arm extended. Extend the opposite arm straight into the air so it is perpendicular to the ground.

HoW MuCH? 4 sets of 30 seconds on each arm separated by 30 seconds of rest

Scissor Kicks Lie flat on your back with your legs resting on the ground also. Lift one leg as high as you can, but keep both knees straight.

Alternate legs in a “scissor” motion.

HoW MuCH? 4 sets of 30

20

Legs

Side Lateral Lunge Squats Start with your feet about a foot wider than shoulder width apart. Start to lean to one side so your weight is on your heel. Make sure to push your hips back. Then do the same to the other side.

TIP! If you are having a hard time, keep your hands on your hips or reach to the ground as you lunge HoW MuCH? 3-4 sets of 15 Single Leg Squats Start with your legs about shoulder width apart. Extend one leg straight out while bending the opposite knee. Reach with the hand that is on the side your knee is bending. you want to try and make a parallel line with the extended knee and your outreached hand.

TIP! Lean forward so your weight is pushing towards your extended leg to stay balanced HoW MuCH? 3-4 sets of 10

“Be as diverse as possible, your body will adapt if you do the same things all the time, and you will stop getting results.”

-Aaron Ryan, Equinox’s fitness manager

Cardio Burpee Start in a squat position with your hands on the floor in front of you. Shoot your legs back into pushup position. Return your feet to the squat position and shoot up, jumping as high off the ground from squat position.

HoW MuCH? 3 sets of 10

21

Columns

“The Viking Tries... Curling!”

By DuSTIN NIZAMIAN PHoToS By BRANDoN DuKoVIC

wHAT LIVES on ICE, starts a frenzy every w

Tries...

CURLING!

four years, confuses the heck out of ninety per percent of its spectators and does all this while masses, ready to lay down their lives—but first their dignity—for crawling along at a… let’s just say a “relaxed” the glory of curling.

It was 9:15 at night and Delta Curling Squad sat nervously in pace? Why, curling of course, that mysterious game of “shuffleboard on ice”… but with the car, lost in the middle of a mildly sketchy San Jose neighborbrooms and screaming. our lack of under- hood. Having missed our freeway exit and frustrated by incredstanding set aside, one couldn’t deny that, for ibly slow red lights, running low on gas and lower on spirits, we no reason in particular every winter olympics, traversed the eerily vacant streets as our situation bordered on this peculiar winter game captivates a much- hopelessness… And then Sam pulled out his iPhone and looked expanded, wildly enthusiastic and often shock- us up some turn-by-turn directions and we were saved. Still, we ingly unexpected audience—from star tight- did arrive about half an hour late to Sharks Ice in San Jose, one of Sana Bakshi end Vernon Davis of the San Francisco 49ers three Bay Area locations of the SFBACC, the Bay Area’s foremost (who, believe it or not, served as honorary captain of the u.S. authority on Curling since 1958 and where Brandon, Delta Squad Specialist (our cameraman) men’s team this olympics) had been waiting for about to Wall Street financiers 20 minutes. who find relaxation in the our minds steeled for comgame’s lethargic pace (plus bat, we entered the chilly, it airs on CNBC anyway, cavernous expanse of Sharks sparing tired businessmen Ice, a giant complex with the unholy drag of findmultiple ice rinks, and more ing the channel changer importantly the current locain their G4 jets). With this tion of an official, late-night year’s Vancouver games SFBACC curling session. Luckjust finished, the spell ily, despite our tardiness we has descended like clockonly missed out on the off-ice work and yes, The Viking’s portion of the lesson, somechronic curling-itis has rething easily remedied by my turned with a vengeance. prior curling expertise. After There is a cure, though, asking who was in charge, we and I’ve heard they’ve got were fatefully directed to Lyle cases and cases of it down at the San Francicsco Bay firSt Shot Sam Maliska balances precariously as he releas- Seig, a tall, middle-aged man es a shot. Dustin (left) and Sana (right) prepare to sweep the ice. who simply radiated curling Area Curling Club prowess (we later learned (SFBACC) in San Jose…

Task one was selecting the team. As might be expected, the that his team had been a single shot away from a trip to the world offer to go curling caused mass hysteria on the staff, championships in Canada). Lyle kindly took Dustin and nearly every Viking cadet was trying to wiggle us under his wing, found an extra sheet for Nizamian his or her way into a spot on the team. There was us to play on, and then proceeded to teach constant sweet-talking and I’ll admit I received us the ins and outs of the game, from some bribe offers that are much too inappropriate hoglines to corner guards to the perfect to publish here. Regardless, understanding that the release and sweeping technique.

As we took our very first shots, grave importance of the task called for the selection of nothing but the very finest in curling talent, I set out slipping sliding, and embarassing ourto select the team without bias. Thus, after rigor rigor- selves, Lyle called down Brent Halpenous examinations and much thwarted bribery, ny, a burly man with a grizzly beard, I compiled DELTA CuRLING SQuAD: myself president of the SFBACC and a man Brandon and four other brave souls picked from the for whom curling is life. Brent

Dukovic

22

n

was quick to educate us on the unique culture of the game—we learned that Curling is first of all a true gentleman’s sport, where the winning team customarily buys the losers a drink after a match. He also spoke to the profound modesty of professional curlers, pointing out that, on the very same ice where we stood were nov novices like ourselves as well as former world contenders. Another crucial piece of information we picked up Sam Maliska was that, at its core, Curling is profoundly…. well, Canadian. Brent explained that while there might be 15,000 curlers in the entire united States, Canada, with one-tenth the population, fields nearly 3 million. The Brier, the annual Canadian men’s championship, whips up a frenzy comparable to our Superbowl—and at the 2005 Tim Horton’s Brier, a record 281,985 people attended.

Now understanding the puny minority we had gained access to, we set out for our very first curling match. our opponents were a group of twenty-something business guys who had gone to Sacred Heart Prep together and, as adults, had apparently found curling as a pleasant diversion from their normal douchebaggeries. Having never played before, we were at a pretty serious disadvantage and quickly, we found that sliding a 42-pound rock down more than 100 feet of ice into a six foot ring makes finding a needle in a haystack seem like childs-play (and having two sweepers who don’t know what they’re doing either only makes things worse). By the end of our shortened match

History:

the score was pretty lopsided but honestly, we could care less, because for all five members of Delta Curling Squad it was unanimous.

Curling was the Jack m o st Smale f u n a ny of us had ever had. our experience with curling was valuable on several levels.

We learned a great new game, gained entry into a small and affable fraternity of curlers, and now have an incredibly useful icebreaker the next time we venture to the frosty north.

Personally, I feel that I’ve really taken to the game and culture of curling, and, despite my solitary curling expedition, I’d like to fancy myself a true curler, if a budding one. And for this budding curler, as well as the good folks of the SFBACC, nothing would be more pleasing than seeing a frenzy of curling enthusiasm hit Paly. oh, and one last thing I forgot. Perhaps more popular than any other aspect of the game, Delta Curling Squad fell in love with the customary greeting of curlers around the world, two words always accompanied by a warm handshake. So, until next time Paly… Good Curling!

Curling! for non-Canadians

FIRST played in 1300s Scotland FIRST Curling Club - Kilsyth Club in 1716 in Scotland EMIGRATED to Canada via Scottish immigrants FIRST played in America in 1830 in Michigan TRIED by The Viking in March 2010 Key Equipment: 42-PouND CuRLING RoCKS - only produced from a single granite deposite in Scotland BRooMS - old-fashioned brooms were essentially just small wooden dust-brooms but today brooms have synthetic handles and either horse-hair or synthetic brushing surfaces SHoES - Curling shoes have a Teflon sliding sole and a textured sole for the hack foot (the foot used to push off)

Basic Rules:

A match consists of 10 Ends In each end, teams alternate shooting eight rocks each Four members on a team, including a skip, lead, second, and third A team scores a point for every rock that is closest to the center of the house after every end In each shot, the shooter pushes the stone down the ice and the sweepers use brooms to increase its speed

Curling In The Bay Area: San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club Since 1958 88 S. Third St. #243 San Jose, CA 95113 http://www.bayareacurling.com

The Rink:

A 146-foot sheet of ice which is “pebbled” with frozen water droplets for better sliding

23

Profiles

“Broken Season”

By KyLIE SLoAN

photo courtesy of Linda Cullen

o

n Thursday, Mar. 11, the Palo Alto High School varsity lacrosse team was a man down when Isaac Plant (’10) stepped up to cover Burlingame’s shooter. Plant ran towards the shooter who had just received a pass. As Plant stepped up to cover his man, his opponent wound up his stick in preparation for a shot. Plant ducked down to his right just as his opponent hurled the small, compact ball forward. The ball went under Plant’s helmet and smashed into the left side of his jaw.

“He went down and just laid there crumpled up on the ground,” teammate and defenseman Cooper Levitan (’11) said.

“I saw that and I just thought, ‘oh s**t, this can’t be good.’”

Plant’s lacrosse season was over before it could really begin, due to his injury in the second game of the Paly boys’ lacrosse team’s first ever season. His jaw has two fractures in the mandibular, the lower part of the jaw. His jaw is wired shut for four

24

weeks. He is not only out for the season, but in recovery for three months, away from contact sports.

“I was shocked, angry and upset,” long pole midfielder Elliot Beckstrom (’11) said. “I couldn’t believe that the ball was able to hit him in his lower jaw.”

After the impact, Plant remembers falling; he remembers being on the ground; he remembers the left side of his face feeling numb: no pain yet.

“Then people, like the trainer, etc. came out and they were worried about a head injury, concussion,” Plant said. “As I took my helmet off, I remember being annoyed because something was wrong with my mouth, not my head.” once on the sidelines with an ice pack, Plant began spitting out what he recalled as copious amounts of blood. He went to the emergency room immediately. After X-rays and CT scans,

photo courtesy of Isaac Plant

LEFT: After being hit by the shot, Plant walks off the field with trainer Josh Goldstein.

ToP RIGHT: Plant’s x-ray from the evening of Mar. 11 showing one of two fractures in his jaw.

photo by Brandon Dukovic

the fractures became visible, with one fracture four teeth away from the center of his mouth on the bottom left side, and the other behind his teeth, also on the bottom left side. He was then sent home with pain medications, in wait for the swelling to go down and for the next step: surgery.

Back in the hospital four days later, Plant had two plates inserted on the fracture at the front of his mouth. With his mouth sealed up tight, he returned home, his situation drastically changed.

“It is annoying because I can’t eat,” Plant said.

“I haven’t had any injuries that haven’t kept me out of more than a game or so, mostly just really, really bad bruises. This type of injury is a new experience

“I am sure some [teachers] are a bit happy I can’t talk as much,” Plant said.

Naturally, most people respond to Plant with the, “oh my god that is horrible” reaction, according to Plant, but for his teammates, the sympathy goes a little deeper.

“I know it’s gotta be tough for him right now,” Levitan said.

“His mouth is gonna be wired shut for around a month. Who wouldn’t struggle with that?”

Plant came into the season as co-captain and starting face-off midfielder. He loved lacrosse ever since joining the Tomahawks, a Palo Alto club, in sixth grade. Plant’s past experience playing football and hockey only strengthened his love of lacrosse.

“As an athlete, Isaac is one of those rare high school kids who knows exactly what he wants from the sport he plays,” twin brother Ethan Plant (’10) said. “unlike a lot of athletes who spend hours and hours of time over the course of the year playing different sports, Isaac plays one sport during one season and enjoys it to its fullest potential.”

For once, Plant does not have a sport to focus on and his lacrosse team feels a significant shift in ability without him playing.

“I was shocked, angry and upset, I couldn’t believe that the ball was able to hit him in his lower jaw.”

- Elliott Beckstrom (‘11)

for me.”

Plant feels frustrated by this injury, “However, I don’t have much choice,” Plant said.

Plant is not alone in this frustration, and he said many have shown much sympathy and understanding towards what he is going through, especially teachers.

According to Beckstrom, the loss of Plant was felt immediately because he was such a valuable player.

“When Dr. Spain said that he would probably be out for the rest of the season, I was definitely disappointed,” Levitan said.

“Isaac was definitely one of our most experienced middies and he did a lot for the team.”

25

Profiles

gain as many possessions of the ball as possible.

“Now, me and the other midfielders on the wings have more responsibility to get into face-off to make sure we got the ground ball,” Beckstrom said. “When Isaac was facing-off, it was fairly predictable where the ball was going to be and he was usually able to recover it himself.”

Although he will be kept off the field for three months, Plant feels that this injury will not affect his lacrosse ability in the slightest. He will be back.

Levitan summed this up when he said, “I know Isaac’s going to fight through it and be there to support us as much as he can.” <<<

photo by Brandon Dukovic

According to Levitan, teammates John Brunett (’11) and Kalen Gans (’12) stepped up to fill the huge gap Plant left behind with him no longer there for face-offs.

“With Isaac and lacrosse only one word comes to mind: face-offs,” Ethan said. “He is invariably smarter than his opponent and he knows it; I have seen him play twice and I have never seen him lose a face-off.”

Without Isaac there for face-offs, Beckstrom feels personally affected by his injury. Beckstrom, who has known Plant since they attended Jordan Middle School and played on the Tomahawks together, is left without his goto man on the field. The duo worked together a lot in the past as midfielders who bounced off of each other to

“Broken Season”

BELoW: Isaac Plant (‘10) faces off with a Woodside opponent earlier in the season, before he was hit by a lacrosse ball in his lower left jaw.

RIGHT: Plant had his jaw wired shut after surgery, when he had a plate put on one of two fractures; his jaw is wired for a total of four weeks. photo by Brandon Dukovic

26

dick and dave

By MArK rAftrey PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALLIE SHORIN

The Viking reports on two of Paly baseball’s assistant coaches, who have been the model of consistency through the recent turbulence of the Paly baseball program

A

The effect that the two coaches have on the baseball team is more than any ordinary coach.

Goldman and Held are not only teachers of the game, but also of life in general.

“They’ve influenced me through the lessons that they teach,” infield- STrATEgy Coach Goldman (left) and coach Held (right) chat er Graham March- outside the dugout as they await the beginning of a game. ant, who has known Dave since Marchjust as important. ant was nine, said. “Whatever they say, I “He’s so dedicated and spends lots of take it all in.” time on Palo Alto baseball,” Pederson said.

Center fielder Joc Pederson (‘10), who “He teaches life lessons, not just baseball. has committed to play baseball at the uni- He’s the best coach I’ve ever had.” versity of Southern California next year, At a Paly home game in late March agrees that there is more to coach Held against Wilcox, Kurt Swezey announces than just knowing baseball. The way that the Paly coaches’ names. Head coach Eric a coach carries himself and interacts with Raich, Dick Held and Steve Bono. Goldthe players and the community can be man’s name is absent from the list. Today, Goldman lies at home in bed, unable to walk, and unable to coach baseball for the “They have been the only two constant time being.

Life Before Paly coaches, and without them I wouldn’t be While both Held and Goldman came to coach out of love of the game, their paths the player that I am today. They spend to this point are entirely different. Held’s more time on Palo Alto baseball than any- journey began when his daughter attended Jordan Middle School and played on one.” the basketball team.

-Wade Hauser (‘10) “I helped out with girls’ basketball at Jordan where my daughter played bas-

t the end of a Paly baseball practice on a brisk Friday night in midMarch, there are three people who remain on the quickly darkening field when all others have left. All three are coaches, clad in green windbreakers, Paly baseball hats and gray baseball pants.

The tall, wiry, mustached Dick Held leans on a bat as he chats with head coach Eric Raich. His counterpart, the shorter, spectacled, soft-spoken Dave Goldman diligently maneuvers a tractor around the infield, grooming the dirt surface to perfection.

Held and Goldman enter their 10th and fourth years at Paly, respectively, and have become beloved in much of the Palo Alto baseball community. Their selfless dedication and passion for the game make the baseball program what it is today.

“They’re volunteering their time, they’re helping out, working on the diamond, doing everything they can to just be there and have a good time and help,” Paly Athletic Director Earl Hansen said.

27

Profiles

“Dick and Dave”

NICE HIT Held congratulates T.J. Braff (‘11) at first after a single against Los Altos, a 5-2 Paly win. The Vikings are currently undefeated in league play after 8 games. ketball to try to sneak into her life,” Held said. “I was trying to pay my dues by volunteering and I got to know coach [Peter] Colombo.”

Held asked Peter Colombo, who at the time was the head coach of the Paly baseball team as well as a Physical Education teacher at Jordan, if he needed any help coaching. Colombo accepted the offer and Held certainly had the prerequisites for the position. He played first base as well as basketball at the university of Montana, and had also coached girls’ basketball and American Legion baseball.

After starting his coaching tenure at Paly, Held could not stop.

“I wanted to be with my own daughter, but then I found I so enjoyed the kids, and I had time, so I could continue,” Held said.

“The kids are tremendous.”

Before coming to Paly, Goldman had been coaching in the Palo Alto Little League for 19 years before giving it up for the high school game. He was no ordinary Little League coach. Away from team operations, Goldman would maintain the fields on his own time, a task that he continues to perform today, even after leaving.

“He spends countless hours with the fields for Little League and he hasn’t had a kid there for 15 years,” Held said.

28

After the Little League season ended, Goldman had not yet had enough, so he coached all-star teams into the summers.

“I had [coached Little League] for so long, so I was looking for a change,” Goldman said.

He added that he had known many of the current Paly players for much of their lives.

“I have been around many of these players before, some of them for almost half of their lives,” Goldman said. “I like to

talking to players on the bench, or who are about to go up to bat. During a game, a spectator can clearly hear the incessant baseball lingo encouraging hitters. Think, “Whaddayasay now kid!” on the defensive side, he analyzes Paly pitchers to help them make mid-game adjustments. For both coaches, note-taking is an important part of improvement.

Neither coach expects publicity or praise; they both just want to coach baseball. In response to being interviewed, Goldman said, “you must be running out of ideas.”

However, ask the players and one will hear a different story. Second baseman Wade Hauser (‘10) has played under five different coaches over the past three plus years, and attributes much of his success to the consistency of Goldman and Held.

“They have been the only two constant coaches, and without them I wouldn’t be the player that I am today,” Hauser said.

“They spend more time on Palo Alto baseball than anyone.” outfielder Jeff Cohen (‘11), who played for four years under Goldman in Little League as well as the latter part of last season at Paly, echoes Hauser’s gratitude.

“He [Goldman] is a role model,” Cohen said. “He looks after me and makes sure I get good grades and do the right things. He’s a coach, but also a friend.”

Since Held began coaching in 2001, seven different head coaches have led

“[Held] teaches life lessons, not just baseball.

He’s the best coach I’ve ever had.”

-Joc Pederson (‘10) watch them mature as young adults and as baseball players.”

Players can be sure that they will see the same familiar face of coach Held waving them around first base.

“At first, I’m telling runners what to do, talking to hitters about pitchers, things they’re doing right, and things to watch for,” Held said.

Despite not being on the field during the game, Goldman plays an integral role in the team’s success. From his seat just inside the Paly dugout, Goldman helps by

the team, and five have done so since Goldman joined the team in 2007. There has been little that the coaches and players have seen eye to eye on. one would think that such complete and utter disarray would destroy a team. However, the duo has helped keep the program running with their unwavering devotion to Paly baseball.

“They are very solid people that the kids count on. It gives a little stability to the kids,” Hansen said.

Held cites the players as the reason

guIDAnCE Held coaches Wade Hauser (‘10) at first base in between pitches against Scotts Valley in late February. The Vikings continued on to win by a score of 3-2. that he returns to the team year after year in the midst of such disorganization.

“These are all great kids, and I’ve so enjoyed all of them,” Held said.

As Goldman continues to drag the field, Held comments on his dedication.

“He’s so devoted, even now on a Friday night, he’s out dragging the field,” Held said. “He’s a huge support for these young athletes.” on March 24, Goldman underwent surgery to correct a knee problem stemming from bowed legs. He cannot put weight on his right leg for three to four months.

After that, he will have to repeat the process on the other leg. However, Goldman is coping. To pass the time, he reads and performs exercises to avoid stiffness. Not surprisingly, he is reading about the Giant

great, Willie Mays, among a stack of 11 other books.

“It’s alright,” Goldman said. “It [the leg] hurt the first day, but not after.”

Just under a week later, nearly the entire team crowds around Goldman’s bed to show their support for their injured coach. They talk about school, each other and, most of all, baseball.

“How are you doing?” asks second baseman Jack Smale (‘11) as he enters the bedroom.

Goldman’s response epitomizes his attitude about Paly baseball.

“We’re in first place,” he says. “That’s how I’m doing.” on the field, Goldman’s absense is noticed.

“Dave is good with raising the morale,

which we miss,” infielder Graham Marchant (‘11) said. “He’s also just fun to have around in the dugout.”

As always, the appreciation is mutual.

The team visit had a monumental effect on Goldman.

“It is extremely complimentary,” Goldman said. “It’s better than any medicine.”

Despite the numerous coaching changes, neither of the two has taken a shot at the head coaching position. According to Hansen, he has considered hiring them, but neither is interested. He believes that as assistants, Goldman and Held have more freedom, and a closer relationship with the players.

“We [Goldman and I] are more than just player-coach,” Marchant said. “We’re like friends.”

“I like what I’m doing,” Goldman said.

“Personally, I think that the head coach should be someone younger who brings energy.”

The relationship between Goldman and Held is not strictly a professional one.

While they first met on the diamond, the two are now friends off the field as well.

“We sometimes discuss history or politics,” Goldman said. “We also have children the same age who do similar things.”

Through their years of coaching in Palo Alto, and at Paly, the two assistant coaches have impacted numerous athletes to move through the system. Their hard work and dedication rub off on those around them.

And, of course, they love the game of baseball. That fact is undeniable. It is evident in the way Held carries his bat wherever he goes, sometimes pausing to take a practice swing at an imaginary ball. It is evident in the excitement in Goldman’s voice on a drive to park the tractor, still going strong after all the years, and all the hours on the diamond. And it is evident in the way others talk about and respect the two.

In his first season as head coach, Raich already appreciates what Held and Goldman do for the team.

“They are two great men who treat these kids like their own sons,” Raich said.

“There’s not a thing they wouldn’t do for these young men.” <<<

29

Profile

“Behind the Action”

Behind the Action Wes Rapaport talks about the hectic life on the sidelines of sports

By MARIAH PHILIPS PHoToGRAPHy By ALEX KERSHNER

I

t seems as if every sports story always starts the same way. Boy meets game, boy plays game, boy loves game. But Wes Rapaport’s (‘11) story takes a different path.

While under the Friday night lights when the Paly football team storms the field or in the gym below the dim, buzzing lights, Rapaport is not in uniform. Rather, he is in the announcers’ box, at the scorers table or on the track filming and commentating on the action. For Rapaport, it has never been how well you play the game, it is how much you are willing to sacrifice for it.

Rapaport loves sports and his decision to discontinue his play was not only based on his priorities, but also on increasing his desire and ability to cover as many sports as possible.

“I wasn’t going to have time to go to practices,” Rapaport said. “To still stay involved I could go to every game, and support the team.”

Rapaport found announcing to be the equilibrium between maintaining his commitment to sports, and not being tied down by timeconsuming team practices. Rapaport recalls his first inclination to announce, after noticing the lack of voice at the Paly basketball games.

“I realized that nobody was announcing Paly basketball, so [Vice Principal] Berkson introduced me to [Athletic Director] Hansen,” Ra-

30

paport said. “I distinctly remember Mr. Berkson telling him I was interested in announcing and Hansen’s response was, ‘Well we have a game tonight.’”

Rapaport has grown to enjoy his role in sports, and finds it advantageous.

“I love sports because sports are legit,” Rapaport said. “It’s cool to be on the inside track of things and meet people who are amazing through sports.”

Among the people Rapaport has met through his commitments to sports is Emilee osagiede (‘12), a member of the varsity girls’ basketball team.

“He [Rapaport] makes the team feel important,” osagiede said. “In a way he has become a part of the team because he is so involved and helpful.”

Rapaport has brought a sense of fulfillment and importance to the basketball teams, and in doing so, boosted the confidence and energy of the teams.

Paly girls’ varsity basketball coach, Scott Peters, also attributes some of the attention the girls’ basketball team has received to the efforts of Rapaport’s announcing.

“Wes is a great addition to the basketball program,” Peters said. “He adds texture and a certain level of excitement to the game.”

According to Rapaport’s broadcast journalism teacher Mr. Mike McNulty, Rapaport does not only announce for the approval of the members of the basketball team, but also to satisfy his need for competition.

“He is great as a P.A. announcer,” Mc-

uMPIRE Rapaport calls the batter out in a Little League game at Hoover field.

Nulty said. “Most high school students in the same venue have a great tendency to overdo praise for their home team, but Wes already knows the proper restraints to sound professional and informative. It’s his way of competing, so to speak.”

Rapaport, on top of his dedication to announcing, is an active member of the In Focus broadcast journalism crew and the Palo Alto community Media Center, where he films and covers events in Palo Alto.

Rapaport’s father and Paly history teacher David Rapaport believes that Rapaport’s commitment to the Media Center and communications through journalism are beneficial to his immersion into society.

“He is getting the training necessary to be an integral part of the community,” David said.

“He has found a niche in helping people improve perspectives, and being willing to undertake that task as a junior is a

significant commitment.”

Media Center Studio Technician, and member of the Web Team Stan Ng, shares a similar view of Rapaport’s commitment and versatility.

“Wes is a great camera operator and editor,” Ng said. “He is a quick study and I wouldn’t, and I have not in the past, hesitate to call on him to work on any project of mine.”

McNulty has also taken notice of Rapaport’s dedication, and aptitude for communication and journalism.

“Wes has an insatiable desire for all things journalistic,” McNulty said. “He maintains incredible curiosity, which is most important for any journalist. In addition, his understanding of what is or isn’t informative goes way beyond the high school level.”

Rapaport has contributed a multitude of work and effort to In Focus as the programs producer, anchor and cameraman.

“I can see him both in front of the camera as a reporter, and behind it as a decision-making producer,” McNulty said.

“I can’t even begin to calculate the number of hours he contributes not just to In Focus, but the Media Center as well. He is

VIDEoGRAPHER Rapaport mans the controls at the Media Center in Palo Alto.

as driven with this interest as any athlete or entertainer is to theirs.”

However, despite Rapaport’s knack for journalism, his true interest is in sports.

He is able to pursue both by constantly filming sporting events.

“As much as he likes the news side with all the intricacies, Wes’s true passion is sports,” McNulty said. “He will often shoot footage that we never use on the show [InFocus] because of time con-

ing role in his favorite of all sports: baseball. He wanted to learn to be an umpire.

“I’ve known for a long time that I wanted to be an umpire,” Rapaport said.

“I used to feel like I could do a better job then the other officials so I wanted to make the officiating world slightly better.”

Thus far, Rapaport loves his role, especially as a baseball official. “umpiring is very therapeutic,” Rapaport said. “It’s nice to feel a little power

“umpiring is very therapeutic.

It’s nice to feel a little power on the field but still be helping kids. It’s like therapy with benefits.”

-Wes Rapaport (‘11) straints, yet he wants to make sure we have it available.”

When Rapaport is off duty for filming, he also sporting events by keeping score umpiring or refereeing.

Rapaport began his sideline involvement in sports while in middle school.

“In seventh and eigth grade I was the scorekeeper coordinator for the volleyball, football and basketball games that were held at [Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School] JLS,” Rapaport said. “The refs liked the way I ran things and I think they enjoyed coming to JLS because they knew the scorebook and scoreboard were always going to be done right.”

After coordinating the technicalities of the game in middle school, Rapaport became interested in refereeing and, because of his already impressive reputation, he was encouraged by other officials. “[Coordinator of the refs] Tracy Gomez said I would be good for the middle school games to ref games since I had so much experience working the games, so I did a few games for the middle schools,” Rapaport said.

Rapaport thought it fitting to expand his repertoire after receiving his referee training and decided to pursue an officiat-

on the field but still be helping kids. It’s like therapy with benefits.”

According to classmate and ump-mate Will Glazier (‘11), Rapaport’s passion for the game was evident through his umpiring.

“He was excellent,” Glazier said. “His strike zone was very consistent throughout the game, especially for someone who doesn’t still play baseball, and he was very attentive and was giving onehundred percent.”

It is because of Rapaport’s love of baseball that he participates in the regulation of it. “you can definitely tell Wes loves baseball when watching him umpire just by the way he carries himself on the field,” Glazier said. “He seemed very knowledgeable.”

With a positive motive behind all of his work, Rapaport gets great enjoyment out of being involved in sports, and has pursued them with a fervent passion.

“His most memorable characteristic is his enthusiasm for anything to which he’s assigned,” Ng said. “I think it’s that enthusiasm that feeds a natural curiosity which I think makes him stand out.” <<<

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Features

“Recipe for Success”

Recipe for Success By grACIE mArSHALL PHoTogrAPHy By ALLIE SHorIn

HuDDLE The Paly girls’ lacrosse team comes together in a huddle before a game and raise their sticks for a pre-game Viking’s cheer.

W

hen dissecting the components of a chocolate chip cookie, one thing is very clear: without the chocolate chips, the otherwise delectable treat tastes bland. What people may look past in their analyses is the perfect combination of the oozing chocolate pieces and the soft, sweet dough; the eggs, of course, hold this simple yet scrumptious mixture of ingredients together.

For most, the same is true in sports. onlookers focus on individual pizzazz but disregard the importance of team unity, which keeps everything intact. Like the absence of eggs in cookies, if a natural bond is not formed between teammates, the squad will be left picking up the individual components of the potentially delicious, but crumbled treat.

In the Palo Alto sports community, the importance of team chemistry is held in high esteem. unlike club sports, where the main focus is on individual improvement, the primary purpose of a high school squad is to represent one’s school. In the high school arena there is a larger emphasis on team experience, and

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for many Paly athletes, participating in a sport means a chance to extend beyond regular social circles and form new relationships.

At the same time, Vikings strive to win. With a plethora of trophies in trophy cases and numerous league and Central Coast Section titles under their belts, Paly athletes recognize that without exemplary team chemistry, championships cannot be won.

Teams in the Paly community build strong team unity in a variety of ways. Viking squads recognize that it is necessary to go beyond the confines of the field and establish a more intimate relationship between teammates through team dinners and other planned activities.

The boys’ and girls’ soccer teams bond through weekly pasta feeds, a dinnertime potluck in which the squad loads up on carbohydrates and plays fun games to prepare for the game the following day and form stronger ties amongst teammates.

“It’s really hard to develop team chemistry only by playing

with new people every day,” Ethan Plant (‘10) said. “Pasta feeds let you meet them not just when you are in a pressure situation. It’s a lot easier to develop the relationship you need in such a fun setting. The team performs better when everyone is comfortable with each other.”

The Paly girls’ water polo team organizes a preseason retreat each year to ease the infiltration of underclassmen on the team and strengthen team unity.

“Last year we went camping and the year before that we went to Santa Cruz and stayed at a hotel and played on the beach,” Haley Conner (‘11) said. “We do lots of activities like scavenger hunts and dance.”

The team does additional team bonding during “Hell Week,” an intense week of double-day practices during preseason.

“For the water polo team, the biggest portion of team bonding comes from our ‘Hell Week,” Conner said. “That is when we do our 80s run. We dress up in 80s attire and jog down El Camino and Blaise Daigel (‘12 above) and Wade Hauser through Town and Country. It is a way for (‘10 below) support their teammates by givall of the players to feel united through ing them a congratulatory pat on the back. something other than water polo and be able to form a deeper connection with the other girls on the team.”

Paly girls’ lacrosse attributes their success on the field to the mutual understanding among teammates that their main goal is to improve.

“None of us hold grudges and [we] are able to move past things and come together for our common goal,” Natalie Gauthier (‘10) said. “That goal is not only to be the best team we can be, but to always leave the field better lacrosse players. our coach Jen always tells us that every minute you are playing you need to be improving, otherwise you are just wasting your time. We challenge each other to be the best we can be.”

For the Paly baseball team, team chemistry comes in the form of the little things.

“We all joke around and play jokes on each other to have fun and stay relaxed,” outfielder Jeff Cohen (‘11) said. “Half our team took an adventure to Lake Lagunita and ended up swimming through the

water.” one of the most difficult obstacles posed by the assemblage of up to four different grade levels in one team is the cohesion of all members of the team despite the age gap. However, once this gap is closed, friendships form across class lines and the overall environment becomes more comfortable and allows for relationships to develop beyond the field.

“A lot of it [team chemistry] had to do with the upperclassmen being so open and accepting,” midfielder Lily Seedman (‘12), who plays on the varsity girls’ soccer team, said. “The fact that we were all so close made my experience so much better and, even though the season is over, we are still continuing our bonding.” on the other hand, many high school teams find it challenging to create a fluid connection between teammates who only play together for three months out of the year. However, for the newly created Paly boys’ lacrosse team, five out of the ten starters on the team come from the same club team.

“Many of the returning Tomahawks have played together at one time or another for the same club, which provides camaraderie that takes most teams a long time to develop,” Elliot Beckstrom (‘11) said. “Since we have played together, we also know each others’ individual playing styles. This helps the team to function smoothly because we all share the same understanding of what a certain player will do in a situation.”

Kris Hoglund (‘12), another member of the Tomahawks and the varsity boys’ lacrosse team, expresses a similar feeling of conectedness.

“We know the other guys’ styles of play and tendencies, making on-field communication easier and the overall game flow better,” Kris Hoglund said. “you always know what someone is going to do because you’ve played with them so much, enabling us to anticipate the action, cutting out reaction time.”

Luckily for the members of the Tomahawks lacrosse team, their old club coach Craig Conover is also the coach of the Paly team, which allows them to be familiar with the style of play the coach imple-

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Features

“Recipe for Success”

ments in game situations.

“Most of us have played for coach Craig, which makes the entire team run even smoother,” Beckstrom said. “We know what we have to do at practice and we know how we will run a game usually.

Some plays from prior years have also been brought back, which is awesome because it expands our arsenal.”

Chemistry between teammates in such sports as pairs tennis and relays in track and field is even more crucial because familiarity with a teammate’s skill set can be the difference between a win and a loss.In tennis, this intimate relationship with one’s court-mate plays a particularly

can’t physically cover. If you don’t have trust in that person, then it’s going to throw off your entire game.”

Daniel Jones (‘12), a member of the 4x100 relay squad, expresses a similar sentiment regarding trust amongst members of the relay teams.

“Team chemistry is essential in the relay because you need to be able to trust that your other team member will carry out his duties,” Jones said, “you have to know that he will be able to give you the baton when you need it and where you need it. This idea of mutual trust plays a huge role.”

Erika Hoglund (‘10), who runs track on

said. “Having a good hand-off comes from constant repetitions and good form. you can hate the person you’re handing off to, but if you both do what is required, everything will go fine.”

Despite the doubles component and relay factions, the other elements of tennis and track and field are individual. other sports, such as cross-country, swimming and wrestling, also focus on solo performances. However, many Paly athletes who participate in both team sports and individual sports value the importance of team chemistry in equal standing in both areas of competition.

“It [team chemistry] is important in bas-

“This year, even between sophomores and seniors, everyone felt like they were part of the same group,” Erika Hoglund (‘10) said. “We weren’t different classes on the field, just one [soccer] team.”

CELEBRATIoN The Paly boys’ soccer team celebrates after scoring the winning goal against Gunn in the last minute of play.

crucial role because both members must have a similar sense of court-awareness.

“It is very important to have good chemistry with your doubles partner,” Paly tennis player Alex Freeman (‘10) said. “They are covering a part of the court that you

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the Paly team as well plays on the soccer team, holds a contrasting opinion and believes that technique plays a bigger factor in the success of the relay team.

“It [the relay] has more to do with practice than with chemistry,” Erika Hoglund

ketball because you’re playing with each other,” Lauren Mah (‘10) said. “However, it is just as important in tennis because having team chemistry means that each player is in sync with the team dynamic and wants to be at the court all the time.

A tennis team can fail when you don’t have a good team dynamic and people don’t want to play together anymore.”

Mah, who plays tennis, basketball, and lacrosse, recognizes team chemistry as involving a cohesive team mentality. on the

team to hang out with between races, these friendships are not pivotal for success,” Hoglund said. “In soccer, you need to be able to trust your teammate. The whole game is based on teamwork, improvisations and fluidity, as opposed to

about how you react to one another, and push each other to get better.”

The bond between teammates is crucial to the overall performance of the team in competition, but also creates a chance for people to come together over

“Team chemistry isn’t just about how you perform in a game,” Lauren Mah (‘10) said. “It’s about how you react to one another and push each other to get better.” other hand, Freeman, who participates in both soccer and tennis, defines team chemistry as the reliance of teammates on each other, which can be applied to both individual and team sports.

“Both sports have teammates relying on each other for a victory,” Freeman said. “So that companionship and friendship that you find on teams is crucial for both sports.”

Erika Hoglund holds an opposite viewpoint. She recognizes a clear divide in the necessity of team chemistry between individual sports and team sports, arguing that personal relationships are crucial in soccer but do not play a role in track and field.

“While it’s nice to have friends on the

the practiced work of track. you need to cooperate with the person you’re improvising with, but not with the person you’re handing the baton to.”

Regardless of whether a sport has a more individual focus or is more interested in the team as a whole, the role of teammates as a supporter is explicit in both areas of competition.

“We all try to watch each other’s matches after our own matches are finished and support each other during practice,” singles and doubles player Gracie Dulik (‘10) said.

Teammate Mah communicates a similar view.

“Team chemistry isn’t just about how you perform in a game,” Mah said. “It’s

a common love of sports and establish relationships that would not normally be formed. Along with the masterful product that results from finding the perfect combination between the independent components and the ingredients that hold the cookie together, comes the comfort of eating the delectable dessert.

“I have never been on a team where I have felt as accepted by and comfortable with everyone,” Erika Hoglund said about the soccer team. “Everyone, from the seniors to the freshman, felt comfortable with each other. This year, even between sophomores and seniors, everyone felt like they were part of the same group.

We weren’t different classes on the field, just one team.” <<<

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Features

“Where Are They Now?” Photo by Hana Kajimura

Where Are They Now? A look at Paly grads who now participate in collegiate spring sports across the country

By ERIN KIEKHAEFER

S

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even hundred and seventy two students at Palo Alto High School participate in sports. A vast majority of students, however, stop competitive play at the high school level, leaving only a select few to continue on at the collegiate level, such as Paly grads Skyler Cummins (‘09), Leah Gaeta (‘08), Liv Jensen (‘08) and Matt Tracy (‘09).

Cummins now attends Wesleyan, a Division III school for cross-country and track. At Paly, Cummins raced for the first Paly cross-country team to make it to the state championships in almost two decades. The team placed eighth overall, with Cummins placing 51st and third for Paly in the race. Cummins notes many differences between the Wesleyan’s and Paly’s team mentality. “everyone on the team [at Wesleyan] is there because they are truly passionate about running and wants to make a serious commitment to improving and performing their best,” Cummins said.

According to Cummins, many of the athletes on the track and cross-country teams at Paly are only on the team because of social groups or to receive a prep period, where students enrolled in a Physical Education class are excused from the class while on a roster for a sport. College is an entirely different story; the dynamic and intensity changes because the athletes at the college level are more serious.

Upping his weekly mileage from 55-60 miles per week his senior year to 65 miles per week, Cummins plans on increasing his mileage to a total of 85 miles per week in his sophomore and junior years.

Both the Paly coaches and his coach at Wesleyan focus on threshold and tempo training. Instead of two workouts per week, Cummins now runs one longer workout each week, such as 6x1000

meter repeats, and, in addition, lifts weights three days per week.

With practice beginning at 4:15 p.m. everyday and lasting, at the latest, until 7 p.m., Cummins eats, breathes, lives and runs with the other members on his team.

“Here, the team does everything together,” Cummins said.

“Needless to say, the team is incredibly close.”

G

aeta, a runner on both the track and cross-country teams at the University of Southern California, (USC) for the past two years, finds juggling her classes, social life and running career difficult during her time at USC. As a solution, she gives herself down time on the weekends, and then focuses on her Commitment Skyler Cummins (‘09) runs for schoolwork during the week.

Paly in his senior before continuing at Wesleyan.

“I have to balance my time in order to do all the things I want to do,” Gaeta said. s an extremely successful swimmer At Paly, Gaeta competed on the crossat Paly, Jensen placed first in the country and track teams only during her Central Coast Section [CCS] 50 freestyle senior year. Gaeta feels like cross-coun- her sophomore, junior and senior years, try and track are her job and her family, in addition to the 100 freestyle her juinstead of a recreational or extracurricu- nior and senior years. Jensen is now in lar sport. With more rigorous practices her sophomore year at the University each day and higher competition than of California Berkley and swims for the in high school, Gaeta works to keep her team. The Cal swim team has a simiconfidence up. lar mentality to Cummins and Gaeta’s “The competition is much greater, teams; everyone participates to achieve which can potentially ruin your self es- the same goal of placing well at NCAA teem,” Gaeta said. “You just have to re- nationals. mind yourself that you are a [National Instead of being a member of a disjointCollegiate Athletic Assosiation] NCAA ed team with different aspirations, Jensathlete and are greater than practically en is now part of an extended family.

99 percent of the population and that “You feel you know a person better greatness will come with time, dedica- when you’ve seen them almost moved tion and hard work.” to tears because they’ve been allowed

A

to take three breaths in a ten minute period; we’re very close,” Jensen said.

With her group of friends from the swim team, Jensen easily transitioned into college. At Paly, she received more structured feedback about her stroke, but in college, the coaches ask for her own opinion on ideas to improve her stroke.

“I’ve got to take the initiative and I have to make the correction to my stroke and practice the correction,” Jensen said. “No one’s going to be watching me everyday in practice, making sure I breathe a certain way or something that’s up to me.”

Jensen practices five days a week, with a break on Wednesdays and Fridays. This limitation allows her to focus more on the subtle improvements to her strokes during the workouts she does have, and so she practices for quality above quantity.

“I think that [limiting practice] has done has really made me focus on making everything that I do has to count for something, so even when I’m warming up or swimming easy, I have to think about my technique or my race and my coach holds me to that - holds everyone to that,” Jensen said.

T

racy plays baseball for Washington University in St. Louis, which has an improving Division III program, accord-

ing to Tracy. Tracy played second base and pitched for the varsity baseball team at Paly his junior and senior years.

“Going from Paly varsity to DIII varsity was a pretty big step, but it wasn’t monumental,” Tracy said. “Everybody is bigger, stronger, smarter and faster, but you, too, get better with time and adjust.”

Practicing for three hours a day in the off-season and weight lifting for another two each day has made Tracy

18 innings can take over seven hours, and Tracy’s baseball time commitment puts a damper on his academic and social life.

“Time management is really hard, especially in the spring now that my course load is heavier than in the fall coupled with the fact that we’re in season,” Tracy said. “However, I tend to get more done and be more efficient when I have a time limit, and baseball essentially puts that on me. With lifting, games,

feel prepared for the season. He knows his team is all-around stronger than the Paly team because of its intense training, which is comprised of collected exercises from the players.

Not only has Tracy increased his training time and diet, but his team also plays about 50 games each season, which is about twice as many league games as the Paly varsity baseball team will be playing this season. Because of the numerous games in a season paired with the Midwest weather, Tracy says that his team often plays double headers, or two games back to back. These

homework and friends, I don’t have very much time, or sleep for that matter, but I am able to get through it. It’s all about keeping your head above water by just doing the best you can with the amount of time you have.”

Tracy feels that, even with the huge commitment he has made to baseball this year, it was a good decision for him.

He enjoys being involved with an activity outside of academia or clubs where everyone shares a similar interest, and he uses baseball as a stress reliever for school and relationships. He loves the physical condition he is currently in, but one of his favorite parts of the team is the chemistry.

“When you’re in a college setting, you’re not only playing with them all the time, but you [also] go hang out in their rooms, apartments and houses on the weekends or during the week,” Tracy said. “You can’t do that as easily in high school.”

The transition to college gives way to an entirely different sport dynamic than high school. With a larger time commitment and athletes who are more dedicated than before, the members of the teams have a closer connection. Also, each member on the team, be it the swim team at Cal or the baseball team at Washington University, has the same goals as the player next to him. <<<

“Everybody is bigger, stronger, smarter and faster [in college], but you, too, get better with time and adjust.”

-Matt Tracy (‘09)

dediCation Leah Gaeta (far right) lines up for the start of a race for a dual meet.

Photo by permission of Leah Gaeta

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Features

“Perfect Prescription”

Perfect Prescription

The role stress plays in sports

Photo by Brandon Dukovic

By SKyLAR DoRoSIN

anielle Carlson (‘10) jumps into the pool after a day filled with tests, projects and presentations. With each

sport at any level.

Dr. Clyde Wilson, a professor at both San Francisco and Stanford Medical

stroke, Carlson falls into a meditative rhythm as her stress melts away.

“Sometimes I have to get away from all work I have to do,” Carlson said. “[Swimming] is my way of getting away from stresses in my life and thinking about calming myself down.”

About 44 percent of Palo Alto High School’s student body participates in school sports. Athletes find peace under the depths of a sparkling pool, the fresh cut grass of the softball diamond, and the turf of the lacrosse field. Sports relieve sress and are a means to focus solely on something enjoyable. However, there are kernels of stress embedded within every

Schools as well as Stanford Department of Athletics, says that exercise relieves the both physical and mental stress. Sports physically relieve the stress that the human body feels. The brain releases certain hormones while engaged in exercise that relieves anxieties. Dr. Wilson views the relaxed state of mind as a result of two things occurring simultaneously.

“First, it is the release of ‘reward response’ neurotransmitters and beta endorphins,” Dr. Wilson said. “Second, it is the absence of stress hormones.”

Reward response neurotransmitters help to increase focus and happiness, while decreasing anger and irritability.

CoNCENTRATIoN Danielle Carson (‘10) keeps her focus on the blocks as well as in the water.

D

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overall, these neurotransmitters leave a person more relaxed.

According to the American Council on Exercise, these neurotransmitters can mediate how people feel. When stimulated in physical activity, endorphins, simply put, release a feeling of well being. Endorphins explain why soccer and lacrosse player Emy Kelty (‘12) feels she is in a better mood after she plays a game.

“After a good workout, I feel more at ease with myself and the responsibilities I have to fulfill,” Kelty said.

Dr. Wilson stated exercise decreases the impact of cortisol, the dominant stress hormone. Cortisol may be dangerous to a person as it breaks down muscle tissue, increases accumulation of fat in the internal organs and overstimulates the immune system.

“Muscle breakdown will keep an athlete from recovering, or adapting to, training,” Dr. Wilson explained. This will subsequently result in being overtrained very quickly.”

Along with the many scientific benefits of physical activities, sports give student athletes a time to release the tension they feel, and focus solely on the activity they are engaged in.

Junior varsity basketball and varsity water polo player Aaron Zelinger (‘12) feels that practice or a game is a time in which he can release all the energy bottled up after sitting in a classroom all day.

“The feeling of adrenaline is a great outlet for me,” Zelinger said. “When I’m in the pool and on the court, none of the pressures or obligations I have outside the pool or off the court matter to me anymore.”

However, mental benefits of repetitive, simple activities are very different from the benefits of mental and physically intensive sports, such as football and lacrosse.

Varsity football player Kevin Anderson (‘10) and lacrosse player Cory Valenti (‘11) feel stress melt away in high contact sports like football because of the colossal physical and mental effort required by their respective sports.

“There is nothing else really on my mind, it’s all about what’s going on and what’s happening in the game,” Valenti said.

Anderson believes the high contact element of football can reduce bottled up

tice not wanting to swim at all, but then I do a super hard workout, and I’m super tired, but I get out of the pool, and its just a huge relief,” Carlson said. “I feel really proud of myself after a hard workout.”

Nevertheless, no matter the activity, level, or intensity of exercise, sports can be stress inducers in and of themselves.

However, sport induced stress is not often rooted within the actual physical activity, but rather within hype around the sport such as team dynamics and college recruiting.

The recruiting process and anticipation around an athlete’s future in a sport can be a large contributor of stress. Contacting coaches and having the scrutinizing eyes of a prospective college coach on the sideline of a game can be extremely daunting. “It’s stressful knowing if you mess up, they are going to see you no matter what,” Anderson said. “It’s a lot of pressure.”

Anderson tries to combat this stress of having college coaches watching him by not thinking too much before a game. “you kind of have to think that they are not there or else you will make a mistake,” Anderson said.

Aside from the potential worry of performance in front of college coaches and focus on playing, constantly leading a team as captain can add an additional stress.

“I finish running and I feel more at peace with myself, more at peace with everything.”

-Susan Heinselman (‘11)

following the black line at the bottom of the pool for about 8,000 yards every afternoon. Carlson uses her time in the pool to recover from the day and relax. Though swimming, like other sports, is a large time commitment for students, swimming provides a mental break from school and time to prepare for work and obligations.

“Even though I’m spending my time swimming and not doing my work, it almost is beneficial to me,” Carlson said.

“At swimming, I’m calming myself down, telling myself its okay, and organizing what I’ll do that night and how I’ll make things less stressful,” Additionally, completing a physically difficult swim practice adds a feeling of reward, and Carlson described the feeling as amazing. “Sometimes I come into prac-

Lauren Bucolo (‘10), captain and short stop on the varsity softball team, feels that being a team leader is extremely rewarding and fulfilling, yet feels some stress in the responsibility of keeping the team at its best.

“If people are goofing off or not practicing as hard as they could, you feel like it is kind of your responsibility to say something, but you don’t want to act like the coach,” Bucolo said.

Though not a captain, volleyball player Trina ohms (‘11) feels obligated to perform well because of her age and experience, especially as one of only four upperclassmen on varsity this year.

“There is expectation to perform your best because, as an upperclassman, all the younger eyes are on you and you have to

Photo by Allie Shorin

anxieties.

“It’s a good way to get stress out, if you are mad or something, you can go and hit someone really hard,” Anderson said. on the lacrosse and football fields, the massive amount of focus required by the game forces athletes’ minds away from thinking about school related topics. Simple sports, such as swimming and running, creates an environment in which athletes can recuperate from the school day, mentally prepare for homework, or simply enter a relaxed state of mind.

Varsity cross-country and track and field runner Susan Heinselman (‘11) finds that stress dissolves within the physical stride of running and creates a peaceful rhythm through breathing and listening to her body. Heinselman loses herself within a workout, often dismissing the happenings of the day.

“Sometimes I forget about everything.

I don’t even think. Running brings me into that calm spot,” Heinselman said. “If you can get into the zone, you can completely lose everything.”

No matter the length of a workout, a workout always leaves Heinselman feeling better.

“I finish running and I feel more at peace with myself, more at peace with everything,” she said.

Long distance swimmer Carlson finds solace below the surface of the water,

INTENSITy Attack Cory Valenti (‘11) drives with the ball towards the goal. set an example for them next year,” ohms said.

Stress in a sport is often more short lived than in academic classes. Alcott, who in addition to coaching the paly girls varsity water polo team heads the English department at Woodside Priory High School, compared the two as sports stress to be much more intense and in the moment, whereas school stress in contrast is more ongoing.

“The urgency around a bad grade cannot easily be rid of, yet your next assessment in sports, the next game, the next practice, it replaces in your mind what happened before,” olcott said.

Paly varsity wrestling coach David Duran believes that stress felt in sports is not related to the physical activity.

“It’s all the other stuff, a lot of it mostly has to relate with not having enough hours in the day, or days in the week for everything they need to get done,” Duran said.

Despite all the internal stresses within sports, athletes feel sports are worth it. In a student-athlete’s hectic life, sports provide the escape from the rest of his or her life. Exercise provides the relief for the rest of a student athlete’s life.

“Everything off the field doesn’t matter anymore,” Kelty said. “All the problems are put on hold until practice ends. All that matters is playing the game, you, your team and the ball.” <<<

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Features

“Playing in Portugal”

Playing in Portugal

By ALEX KERSHNER o, they are not on ESPN yet. They are not making the front page of the sports section. But mark my words, within five years, they will be.

Four weeks ago, I traveled internationally to play soccer and represent my country. As a member of the Region IV olympic Development Program (oDP), I went to Algarve, Portugal to spend a week like a professional soccer player. No school, no family, no homey comforts. Just me, my team and my favorite sport.

With the hype of playing the Irish National team and participating in international athletics, you might think that it would have been all business. Get there, play, go to bed, eat, play, leave. But, on the contrary, the girls from Region IV taught me to love soccer in a new way.

I now present to you the future of women’s soccer... collegiate signees, national team members, girls with guns the size of Davante Adams’s (‘11) and players that change the game. Don’t believe me?

I’ll prove it.

1. Megan Kufeld (‘11) - Fremont, Calif.

Commitment status: university of Washington. Position: Goalkeeper. Quiet and reserved like an animal, she waits for her prey to show weakness before she obliterates them. Her only kryptonite: AP Bio. yet, despite her beef with organisms, Megan was the team tutor, teaching us everything from how to calculate Fahrenheit from Celsius to how to say “We just beat you” in Portuguese.

2.) Maya Theuer (‘12) - San Diego, Calif. Commitment Status: None. She is just a sophomore. Position: Center defender.

She commands the back in a way that only a military general can. She could pick

N

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PRIDE Top: Region IV team, Middle (top to bottom): Hope Solo, Abby Wambach, Solo, Rachel Buehler Bottom: WNT sings nat’l anthem before defeating Sweden 2-0 in group play of Algarve Cup.

up Kevin Anderson (‘11) if you asked her to, no sweat. And before she goes to sleep every night she does 90 push-ups and 100 sit-ups.

3.) Lo’eau Labonta (‘11) - Los Angeles, Calif. Commitment Status: none as of yet.

Captain of the squad and moral leader of the team. Small, feisty and virtually indestructible. She knows all the words to Mulan and can auto-tune like my boy T-pain.

As a rookie in the oDP circuit, I had much to learn. But by traveling abroad with these seasoned veterans I became a pro in no time. Let me be the first to tell you the hints inside u.S. soccer....

First, you must take losing bags with style. No tears, no complaints, just wear that dirty underwear with swag. Don’t worry, the luggage will come back to you on the last day.

Second, no matter how gross the food is, eat it. Nothing says I don’t want to be here like refusing the double fried cod with roasted tofu artichoke pasta and chocolate curd.

Third, bring nutella and peanut butter: you can literally put them on anything (including artichoke pasta).

Fourth, no matter how much jet lag you have, don’t force your roommate to stay awake while you are watching Glee on your ipod under the covers (thanks Megan).

Fifth, even if the Internet costs 26 Euros for 24 hours (about 35 dollars), buy it.

But I digress. This oDP program, contrary to that of men’s soccer, is the leading example of women’s soccer at the highest level. For years, boys all over the world have had youth national teams. At ages three and four, they are given cleats and told to hit the field. But in the soccer world, the u.S. men’s oDP program is laughed at - the u.S. was learning how to pass while the other countries were perfecting the bicycle kick. on the contrary, girls in the u.S. benefit from being part of the greatest training organization in the world.

What I never realized is that the sport of soccer is much larger than just the extent to which it is played here. No men in short shorts crying over a slide tackle. In Spain and Portugal, soccer is life. <<< background: antor.org

ZOOM

ZOOM

Scott Witte (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;10) pitches against Los Altos on March 19th at home. The Vikings won the game 5-3. Witte pitched four innings, while allowing three runs on four hits.

Photo by Allie Shorin

Features

“How to Play the Numbers Game”

How to Play the Numbers Game Season records are easy to calculate, but the formula to making CCS is a full on math equation

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ing from football to field hockey to golf.

In some high school sports programs, including Paly’s, making the playoffs is not computed by a series of multiplication problems, but rather by votes, coin tosses and rankings.

Wrestling follows this trend, but diverges as individuals make it to CCS by match records, the opinions of the appointed team representatives and other qualifications. for volleyball, soccer, basketball and football teams, CCS qualification is based on a season’s wins, losses and the occasional ties that are calculated, and determine their postseason seedings. Once the equation is tallied up, there are no disputes about getting to CCS. Either a team makes it or not. No controversy. “the CCS Soccer committee is largely satisfied with their point system,” CCS Commissioner Nancy Blaser said. “It makes for an objective way to select at-large teams and also

photo by Allie Shorin

A

three-point basket at the buzzer was not enough to raise the spirits of the heartbroken Palo Alto High School Vikings. As the Archbishop Mitty boys’ varsity basketball team began to take the lead over Paly, the possibility of a Central Coast Section (CCS) title for the Vikings slipped away. Sweat pouring down their faces, the boys fought for every point on the scoreboard in the crowded Foothill College gym on Mar. 2, 2010.

“We were down by 11 or 12, and then they had a fast break and [Aaron Gordon (’13)] just dunked and that took the air out of our balloon,” point guard Brendon Rider (‘10) said.

At the end, the Vikings’ defense was not strong enough, their offense did not function properly and all their hard work over the four-month season seemed to dissolve away. The time ticked down and though Paly had just scored, the buzzer was just another reminder of defeat. 62-39 severed as a reminder as faces dropped and tears fell. Despite a league championship, the Viking’s season ended on the diminished hope for a CCS championship.

But, what the entire CCS experience depended on was a mathematical equation that brought Paly into the 2010 semifinals.

The CCS is a part of the California Interscholastic Federation, (CIF) which hosts 13 different sections, including CCS, throughout the state of California. One hundred thirty eight schools are eligible to participate CCS in 23 sports, rang-

By MARy ALBERToLLE

Paly Soccer

Carlmont Soccer ADVANCED To CCS

ADVANCED To CCS

League W/T/L W/T/L Bonus Total 3 2.5 5.5 Win Sacred Heart B 0 2.5 2.5 Win Santa Clara B 0 3 3 Win Aragon A 0 0.5 0.5 Loss Woodise Priory B 0 1 1 Loss St. Ignatius A 0 1.5 1.5 Tie Menlo School B 0 1 1 Loss Monta Vist A 0 3 3 Win Gunn A 2 1 3 Loss Los Gatos A 0 3 3 Win Los Altos A 0 1 1 Loss Mtn. View A 0 3 3 Win Homestead A 0 2 2 Tie Monta Vista A 0 3 3 Win Gunn A 0 1 1 Loss Homestead A 2 1 3 Loss Los Gatos A 0 3 3 Win Los Altos A 0 1 1 Loss Mtn. View A Team bonus points 0

Game Date opponent 12/1/09 12/2/09 12/3/09 12/4/09 12/7/09 1/5/10 1/7/10 1/12/10 1/14/10 1/19/10 1/21/10 1/26/10 2/2/10 2/4/10 2/6/10 2/9/10 2/11/10 2/16/10

Game Date 12/2/09 12/3/09 12/8/09 1/2/10 1/5/10 1/7/10 1/12/10 1/14/10 1/19/10 1/21/10 1/26/10 1/28/10 2/2/10 2/4/10 2/9/10 2/10/10 2/11/10 2/24/10

ToTAL 41

ToTAL 41

Game Date opponent 12/4/09 Sanger 12/5/09 Lemoore 12/5/09 Redwood 12/7/10 Notre Dame 1/5/10 Sequoia 1/7/10 Aragon 1/12/10 Carlmont 1/14/10 Terra Nova 1/19/10 Woodside 1/21/10 Hillsdale 1/26/10 Burlingame 1/28/10 Sequoia 2/2/10 Aragon 2/4/10 Carlmont 2/9/10 Terra Nova 2/11/10 Woodside 2/16/10 Hillsdale 2/18/10 Burlingame

League B B A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A

NoT IN CCS

W/T/L W/T/L Bonus Total 2.5 0 2.5 Win 2.5 0 2.5 Win 3.5 1.5 2 Tie 3 0 3 Win 3 0 3 Win 1 0 1 Loss 3 0 3 Win 0 2 2 Tie 2 3 1 Loss 0 3 Win 3 0 1 Loss 1 0 3 Win 3 0 1 Loss 1 0 1 Loss 1 0 3 Win 3 2 3 Loss 1 0 3 Win 3 0 1 Loss 1 Team bonus points 0

ToTAL 42.5

photos by Brandon Dukovic

Menlo Atherton Soccer

League W/T/L W/T/L Bonus Total 1.5 0 Tie 1.5 B Woodside Priory 2 1 Loss 1 A Presentation 2.5 1.5 Tie 2 A St. Francis 1 0 Loss 1 A Notre Dame 3 2 Loss 1 A Woodside 3 0 Win 3 A Hillsdale 1 0 Loss 1 A Menlo-Atherton 2 0 Tie 2 A Aragon 1 0 Loss 1 A Burlingame 3 0 Win 3 A Sequoia 3 0 Win 3 A Terra Nova 3 2 Loss 1 A Woodside 3 0 Win 3 A Hillsdale 3 0 Win 3 A Menlo-Atherton 1 0 Loss 1 A Aragon 1 0 Loss 1 A Burlingame 3 0 Win 3 A Sequoia 3 0 Win 3 A Terra Nova Team bonus points 0 opponent

above left: Emy Kelty (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;12) holds the ball in the midfield against rival Gunn. left: the girls soccer team prepares to take the field against Woodside Priory

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Features

“How to Play the Numbers Game”

an objective way, based on actual wins and losses, to seed the teams in the tournament.

The seeding equation used for football, soccer, basketball, volleyball and baseball consists of different rankings for each league and each team. Every two years, leagues’ rankings are put through a test. The more teams that qualify for CCS and the higher they place, the better a league is ranked. In the end, leagues are classified as either A, B or C, A being the highest rank. The lower the league, the fewer points rewarded for a team’s wins, losses and league championship titles, ultimately making it harder for teams in lower ranked leagues to qualify for CCS. Although teams get judged by their league rankings, they still play teams from other leagues and receive the appropriate amount of points for beating, losing or tying with an A, B or C league team. This allows lower ranked teams to earn more points, therefore giving them a better change to qualify. for more specific details on the seeding equation check out the chart.

The Paly girls’ varsity soccer team ranks as an A team because of its position in the De Anza Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, SCVAL. According to the equation for seeding and its A league status, the team narrowly made CCS this year when it advanced to the playoffs, despite the fact that its score was less than the score of the Menlo Atherton (M-A) soccer team.

To see exact qualifying numbers of the Paly, Carlmont and M-A teams, look at the chart.

“Since Carlmont and Paly were tied, they had to both go

44

in together,” Blaser said. “That was not the case this year.

There were two spots and so both teams with 41 points got in. [they] filled the total number of teams allowed in the playoffs, so M-A did not get in.”

M-A players expressed their disappointment that they missed qualifying for CCS and were penalized because of PAL’s bylaws.

“We were all pretty disappointed, especially knowing that we had more CCS points than both Carlmont and Paly,” M-A head coach Paul Snow said. “However, Carlmont beat us in league, so they had to make playoffs before we were considered [because of] our league bylaws. So, Carlmont and Paly both went, and we didn’t.”

Snow’s reaction reflected his players’ disappointment and discontent with not advancing into the playoffs. the girls expected to advance into the playoffs because they were confident in their 6-7-1 record.

“I was devastated because I really had a gut feeling we were going to make it,” M-A captain Mallory Stevens (‘10) said. “I think we could have gone far in CCS, everyone wanted to go, and we were just unlucky. I personally can only reiterate the fact that we had an incredible season, and we should all be proud.”

On the flip side, the Paly girls were relieved and thankful for the opportunity to make it not only into CCS, but to the second round. Paly went on to beat Watsonville 4-0, but failed to beat Woodside. The Wildcats scored in the closing minutes of the second half to end, ahead of Paly.

2 F

2009 CCS FooTBALL

The Paly football teamsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; CCS Power points and how they earned each and every one of them. These Power points were used for their seeding. Paly received the #3 seed in the open Division.

2009 FooTBALL LEAguE ALIgnmEnTS AnD CLASSIFICATIonS Peninsula Athletic League ocean - B

Aragon

Burlingame

Lake - C Capuchino

+ 2 CCS points for defeating a B league opponent

Carlmont

M-A SHP

El Camino

Half Moon Bay

Hillsdale

Terra Nova Menlo King's San Mateo

Jefferson

Woodside

Sequoia

Mills

So. San Francisco

De Anza Athletic League - A

Palo Alto Los Gatos

+ 3 CCS points for defeating an A league opponent

Homestead

+ 2 CCS points for tying an A league opponent

Milpitas

+ 3 CCS points for defeating an A league opponent

Mountain View Blossom Valley Athletic League STAL - B

MHAL - A

WVAL - B

Leigh

Branham

overfelt

Leland

Evergreen

Sobrato

Lincoln

Hill

Silver Creek

oak Grove

Gunderson

yerba Buena

Live oak Piedmont

Independence

Del Mar Lick

Pioneer Santa Teresa

Willow Glen Westmont

Prospect

WCAL - A Mitty + 1.5 CCS points for losing to an A league co-champion

Bellarmine St. Francis St. Ignatius Serra Valley Christian SHC Riordan

El Camino Athletic League - B Gunn + 2.83 CCS points for defeating a B league tri-champion

Lynbrook Monta Vista Cupertino Fremont Los Altos Santa Clara

ToTAL 25.33

+ 3 CCS points for defeating an A league opponent

Saratoga

+ 3 CCS points for defeating an A league opponent

Wilcox

+ 2 CCS points for tying an A league opponent

Mt. Pleasant San Jose

TCAL - A Gilroy

+ 3 CCS points for defeating an A league opponent

Salinas Alisal San Benito North Salinas Palma Alvarez

photo by Malaika Drebin

Bay - A

Santa Clara Valley Athletic League

45

Features

“How to Play the Numbers Game”

back t.J. Braff (‘11) sent a soaring ball to receiver Joc Pederson (‘10) to make the score 13-6. At halftime the score was 20-6-- Paly with 13 rushing yards compared to Bellarmine’s 198. the Bells scored just three plays after halftime. On offense, Braff got sacked a total of six times throughout the game. After scoring the last touchdown of the game, the Bells ended the game with a final score of 34 “We ended up winning it, so I guess [the seeding] worked out pretty well for us,” Bellarmine head coach Mike Janda said.

“In the Open Division, every team is good. [Seeding is] just formulaic because you need some kind of formula and that’s the one they use. It doesn’t give too much of an advantage to any one team.”

Regardless of seeding, a team’s location in a bracket can Make the playoff schedule either easier or harder for some teams. In this case, Paly faced off against Bellarmine, the winner of the Open Division, in the first round, challenging for the Vikings and increasing the level of difficulty for Paly to advance. “[Seeding] can be very important,” Hansen said. “In football this year, we got a three seed and we played BelJoC PEDERSoN (‘10) scores the Vikings sole touchdown against Bellarmine in the first round of CCS playoffs larmine, a six seed, which is not a great draw. It’s all points, “One thing about football is it’s very objective,” athletic but seeding can make a huge difference.”

The CCS administration sees seeding as an estimate of the director and varsity football head coach Earl Hansen said.

“There’s no sitting down and discussing ‘my team’s better team that “should win” based on previous wins and losses.

“The purpose of seeding is to try and separate the top few than yours’ and arguing about it. There are no arguments.

Everything’s up. You have to have a system that’s as fair as teams so that they do not meet in an early round,” Commissioner Blaser said. “It is an attempt to try and give the top possible.”’

Paly football had a high seed as the league champion of two teams the best chance to meet in the finals If seeding SCVAL De Anza. Coming into the playoffs 7-2-1, Paly was the was perfect, we would not need to bother to play the games at third seed and set to play Bellarmine College Preparatory all.”

Wrestling is unlike any high school sport regarding CCS (8-2-1 before playoffs) who was seeded sixth out of eight teams at Paly. After a scoreless first quarter in the first round, seeding. First, there is only one CCS division and no league Bellarmine scored a touchdown with 8:51 left in the second classification. there is also only one CCS champion for each quarter, then failed to get the extra point after 12 plays. On weight class, without division champions. A more subjective the ensuing kickoff, Paly fumbled and gave possession right system is put in place to advance teams to the playoffs. repreback to the Bells. On the next play, Bellarmine scored again, sentatives from each league are appointed to attend a seeding pushing the score to 13-0. On the next possession, quarter- meeting. The representatives, including Paly’s own David Duran for SCVAL, decide who from their league they want to put

photo by Malaika Drebin

“It was really nice to make it to CCS,” Paly’s captain and forward Maeve Stewart (‘10) said. “I knew that we didn’t have the best chance to make it this year, but we crossed our fingers, and thankfully we made it.”

Unlike the M-A girls, the Lady Vikes were unaware of any controversy of their team being seeded.

“I honestly had no idea there was any controversy behind us making it,” Stewart said. “I’m not really sure how the CCS policy works, but it seems to be quite bizarre. A lot of the time, seeding doesn’t reflect on who the best team is.”

Football is calculated by an equation, similar to soccer. After CCS points are tallied, some teams automatically advance to the playoffs. for the De Anza league, which Paly plays in, the top three teams move on to the playoffs according to their points and school size.

46

photo by Allie Shorin

up for seeding. Once a wrestler from every league is included for consideration, seeding begins. the first criteria to seed a wrestler is his head to hear victories against any of the other considered wrestlers.

In wrestling, seeding can determine the difficulty of an individual’s opponents. The higher a wrestler is seeded, the lower his or hers competitor’s seed. Joe Buckley (‘10), a 154 pound wrestler from Los Altos, discovered this when he received the fifth CCS seed, one behind Paly wrestler, Max Simon. Simon got the fourth seed despite losing to Buckley.

At the league championship in February, Buckley and Simon faced off in the first round. Buckley had a seven-point lead when he pinned Simon in the second period. Buckley went on to place second overall after losing to Cupertino wrestler, Gurmukh Singh (‘10), in quadruple overtime. Simon won the consolation championship and placed third overall.

“First of all, there’s a lot of planning, before you get to [the

“They don’t always get seeding right,” Simon said who was unable to attend the CCS tournament due to illness. “Seeding doesn’t really mean anything in wrestling because anything can happen. All it takes is one mistake and you can end up on your back: pinned.”

Head coaches hold responsibility for getting their wrestlers’ information to the representatives, who then, presumably fairly, decide who to put up for each seed. Every two years the league rankings are re-decided, therefore it is very important that as many wrestlers as possible, for each league, advance to improve a league’s status. A representative has the responsibility to be fair and honest when picking wrestlers, without being biased towards their own school, but rather to have the league in mind.

“Representatives do favor their own league, but I don’t think they favor their own school,” Duran said. “[The other coaches in our league] are suppose to give us all their data,

seeding meeting],” Duran said. “the one thing is that people don’t get that much because you can only put one person on the board at a time from your league and that’s all. You try to put [your better wrestlers] up first, but if they’re not going to get seeded because they don’t meet any criteria, you can’t put them up: it’s a waste of time.”

Next, previous league or CCS titles are accounted for. If the seed still hasn’t been picked, the representatives look at common opponents between the wrestlers, tournament placing and overall record to differentiate each. If the representatives still cannot decide, the seeding comes down to a vote and if there still is not a winner, they flip a coin.

“Sometimes you weed it down, but sometimes it goes down to a vote,” Duran said. “If somebody puts someone up from a league and we know we’ve beaten him, and maybe it’s not the best guy in our league, sometimes we’ll put that guy up just because we know he can take that seed.”

This seemed to be the case for Buckley and Simon. Despite Buckley’s victory over Simon, he was seeded 5th, one behind Simon.

and then we meet at after the league tournament. They give us the information and we go from there. Not all the coaches are the best at getting you information.”

Seeding is only one part of the playoff equation. Predictions do not always stay true and games are not played on paper. At every level of competing, teams and individuals get ranked, but this process is commonly misunderstood. In CCS, teams get seeded according to the difficulty and success of their leagues, overall records and league titles. Although this might not be the definition of success, the CCS administration categorizes a team’s season based on a mathematical, predetermined equation, which determines a team’s placement in the postseason. It all comes down to one sack, one point, one pin and one second, all of which can make or break a team or an individual.

“If seeding was perfect, we would not need to bother to play the games at all,” Blaser said. “This makes coaches more comfortable and less worried that human bias, lack of knowledge, or favoritism, will impact their team negatively in at-large and seeding.” <<<

“I honestly had no idea there was any controversy behind us making it. I’m not really sure how the CCS policy works, but it seems to be quite bizarre. A lot of the time, seeding doesn’t reflect on who the best team is.”

-Maeve Stewart (‘10)

47

by Mark Raftrey, Christine Chang, Cassie Prioleau

The Palo Alto High School varsity baseball team started its season off strong after a recent history of rocky seasons. The Vikings are first in league play so far, with a 8-0 record and a 12-3 overall record. In his first year at Paly, head coach Eric Raich has focused the team on pitching and defense.

The Vikings shut down their biggest competition for the league title, Wilcox High School, in two games, which they won 13-6 and 4-2. These wins secured Paly’s place at the top of the SCVAL. “We’ve been playing flawless defense and have had great team unity,” pitcher and shortstop Scott Witte (’10) said.

Moving forward, Los Gatos High School will be the greatest threat to the Vikings’ perfect league record and first place spot. The team hopes to approach every game with intensity to continue its success.

“We need to play through every game and every inning,” Witte said. “We need to keep our focus.”

Joc Pederson (‘10)

Spring Fever

Photo by Allie Shorin

Kristen Dauler (‘10)

by Ali Kershner, Alistair, & Mary Albertolle

The Palo Alto High School girls’ varsity softball team enters league play with a strong preseason record of 8-1. The team is currently 10-3, and 1-1 in its new league, De Anza SCVAL. The Lady Vikes started the season with shaky hitting, but have improved with star hitters Lauren Bucolo (’10), Caroline mcDonnell (’10) and gracie marshall (’11). Several personal records have already been broken, starting with a perfect game by pitcher kelly jenks’ (’10) who threw 13 strikeouts against woodside. In a later game against milpitas, Bucolo hit two homeruns for a career best. under new coaching direction from Tim Anderson, the Lady Vikes will look to pick up some wins and stay in the upper division. with only one league win under its belt, the team sits in second place behind mountain View in De Anza. one game to watch for will be Paly versus mountain View on Apr. 26 at Paly.

Photo by Alex Kershner

Photo by Allie Shorin

Section

“Story Title”

The Palo Alto girls’ varsity lacrosse team is on a nine game hot streak. The team began the season with a 5-4 overtime upset win against Northern California lacrosse powerhouse Saint Ignatius (SI) .

The SI Wildcats had previously been 30-0 against CIFCentral Coast Section competition, dating back to the 2002 season. other key wins include a 12-11 win over league rival Los Gatos and 16-5 win against Menlo-Atherton (M-A). Last season, M-A knocked the Lady Vikes out of SCVAL playoffs in the semifinals.

The Lady Vikes suffered a tough loss to Menlo in sudden death triple over time with a score of 11-12.

The squad’s next key matchup will be against Burlingame on Apr. 30.

by Cooper Levitan, Mariah Philips & Skylar Dorosin

Emy Kelty (‘12) 16

Photo by Allie Shorin

The Palo Alto High School boys’ lacrosse program came out strong in its inaugural season. The Vikings currently have a 8-1 overall record, and first place in the El Camino league with a 5-0 record. The team opened the year with four consecutive victories, highlighted by an 11-6 win over powerhouse Archbishop Mitty High School.

Although the Vikings suffered a loss to rival Los Gatos High School, they quickly rebounded with three additional victories over Woodside, Woodside Priory, and Los Altos High Schools.

Kris Hoglund (‘12) and Cory Valenti (‘11) lead the offense for the Vikings with 29 and 24 goals on the season respectively. other key contributors include Zachary Spain (‘11) and John Brunett (’11), who lead the team in assists with 13 each. on the defensive front, first year goalie Josh Chin (‘11) has proven himself to be a stalwart net-minder with a 67.7% save percentage.

Key match-ups in the ensuing weeks include games against Gunn High School and Corona Del Mar High School, which is currently ranked second in the state of California.

by Will Glazier, Sam Maliska, Jack Smale & Gracie Marshall

Zach Spain (‘11)

Photo by Allie Shorin

Anna Glaves (‘11)

The Palo Alto High School’s girl’s varsity swim team kicked off the season undefeated in their first two league meets. The Lady Vikes hope to take first in league and place in the top five teams of CCS. After beating both Los Gatos and Monta Vista, the team has high hopes of finally winning CCS after falling close in second during the 2009 season.

The team is led by standout underclassmen including, Jasmine Tosky (’12) swimming the 200 freestyle, Margaret Wenzlau (‘12) swimming the100-yard butterfly, and Molley Zebker (’13) also competing in the 100-yard butterfly.

Most recently, the team lost to Gunn due to a rigorous week of practice and the loss of key swimmers, Tosky and Sarah Liang (’11). The team still plans to dominate leagues and win CCS.

by Sam Greene, Lauren Hammerson & Sana Bakshi

Photo by Allie Shorin

The Palo Alto High School boys’ swim team started off its season with an even 1-1 record in the highly competitive De Anza division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, first with an impressive win over Los Gatos on March 19, followed by a disappointing loss against Monta Vista.

The team graduated standout swimmers Mark Higgins (’09), Tim Wenzlau (’09), and Jamie Nakamura (’09), who powered the team to a 5th consecutive league championship last spring.

Despite the loss of school record holders Higgins and Wenzlau, the team has been performing well behind the leadership of underclassmen Byron Sanborn (’12) and Rollin Lau (’12). “our young talent has really stepped up,” Wattana said. “Everyone is working really hard to pick up the slack.”

The team is looking to claim its sixth consecutive league championship and continue the strong tradition of Palo Alto swimming.

The Vikings face off against Lynbrook High School April 8.

Cole Plambeck (‘13)

by Allie Shorin, Malaika Drebin & Sana Bakshi

Photo by Christine Chang

Aaron Lee (‘10)

Section

“Story Title”

The Vikings jump-started their season strong with a victory over Mountain View. Paly won 205-230 in its 2nd league match of the season.

Aaron Lee (’10) led the team with an even par 36 for the course.

The following week, the Vikings lost a key match against the Menlo Knights.

Later in the month, the squad defeated Mountain View once again and also took down Los Altos in league play. Paly shot a combined 190, with Los Altos trailing with 202 and Mountain View with 204.

Continuing the win, lose pattern, Paly golf fell to Los Altos in league play by a score of 194-201.

To finish off the month, the team placed third out of eight teams in at tournament at the Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course, shooting a combined score of 387.

The Vikings have hopes for a first place league finish, which look to hinge on a match against Gunn High School April 22 at 3:00 p.m at the Palo Alto Hills Country Club.

by Emily Fowler & George Brown

16

Photo by Allie Shorin With six matches left before SCVAL championships, The Palo Alto High School boys’ varsity tennis team holds a record of 8-1.

After placing 11th out of 116 teams at the California High School Classic Tournament in Fresno, the squad now looks towards some of its toughest matches of the season.

The Viking’s only regular season loss was against Monta Vista on March 25th, and was a close match at that, with a final score of 3-4 in favor of the Matadors.

With new talent and new traditions, the team’s chemistry has greatly improved.

“I really like dressing up before away games,” Jason Willick (’11) said. “I think it’s really helped with team bonding.”

The team now looks to the rest of the season with high hopes. “our one league loss was kind a fluke,” number two singles player Drew Pearson (’10) said. “I’m confident that we can go on to win the rest of our matches this season.”

by Hana Kajimura, Sana Bakshi & Spencer Sims

Drew Pearson (‘10)

Photo by Allie Shorin

Section

“Story Title”

The Palo Alto High School boys’ varsity track and field team started off the season strong with a close loss to its biggest competition this season, Mountain View High School, in the first meet of the season, 66-61, and by dominating Lynbrook High School with a score of 79-43.

So far this season, Philip MacQuitty (’10) has broken two school records. He ran four minutes, 13.92 seconds in the mile at the Stanford Invitational on Mar. 27, and 1:52.37 in the 800-meter race at the St. Francis invitational on Mar. 20. He hopes to break the 3200m record of 8:59.51 later this season.

“I’m happy with how the team is shaping up and we have a good shot at a league championship,” MacQuitty said. other notable athletes to watch are Daniel Jones (’10) in the 100m and 200m and Bennie Williams (’10) in the high jump.

In the throwing events, look for Haris Sultani (’10) in the discuss and Kevin Anderson (’11) in the shot put.

Grant Shorin (‘13)

16

by Erin Kiekhaefer & Kylie Sloan

Photo by Allie Shorin

The Palo Alto High School girls’ varsity track team is off to a rocky start as it heads into its third meet of the season. Having lost their its two meets, 87-39 against Mountain View and 71-55 against Lynbrook, the Lady Vikes are yet to prove that they can seriously compete against another track team.

Their strong points are Erika Hoglund (’10) and Emily yeates (’10) for sprinting and Katerina Peterson (‘11) for throwing.

Susan Heinselman is also a stand out performer in long distance. However, the problem with the team is not how good the best girls are, but how many quality girls there are. Even with a few girls placing in a few races, we do not have enough girls to displace the other team. As the season goes on, hopefully the team will bring more quality girls up from JV, or else the Paly team will continue to come up short.

by Brandon Dukovic & Varun Kohli

Lauren Wong (‘12)

16

by Dustin Nizamian, Michael Cullen & Sana Bakshi

The Palo Alto Varsity Badminton team (1-1) has already matched its win total from last year after 2 matches this season. After several successive years of struggle, the team dropped from the De Anza League to the El Camino League this year.

Coach Kara Prentice has expressed the team’s goal this year to win league and return to the upper league.

“We’re hoping that it’ll be a season in which we can actually win…and then build off of that so we can compete next year in the upper division,” Prentice said.

With such expectations, results so far have been relatively encouraging. With key performances by seniors Ivan Zhou (’10), Harrison yu (’10), and Joseph yao (’10), the team started off with a sound pounding of Santa Clara 28-2 in its first match. In its second match, the team lost a close-fought battle with Mountain View 14-16.

Dennis Chen (‘11)

Photo by Brandon Dukovic

Section “Story Title”

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2 (3:30)

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at Los Gatos (6:00) at Paly vs. Wilcox (4:00) at Los Gatos (3:30) at Paly SCVAL Championship(1:00)

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at Paly vs. Fremont (4:00) at Paly vs. Monta Vista (3:30) at Paly vs. Leland (3:30)

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CCS 1st Round

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MAY

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at Paly SCVAL Champion- at Paly SCVAL Championships (4:00) ship (11:00) SCVAL Qualifier

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at Paly vs. Homestead(noon)

CCS Round Two (3:00)

at Gunn League Finals (3:30) at Wilcox (noon) at Paly League Tounrnament (3:30)

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at Los Altos (3:30) at Paly vs. Gunn (7:00) at Paly League Tounrnament (3:30) at Paly League Finals

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Swimming Track and Field Golf

at Paly vs. Scotts Valley at Paly Section Challenge (7:00) (3:30) at Paly vs. Pioneer (4:00) at Monta Vista (3:30)

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Baseball Softball Boys’ Tennis

at Paly vs. Mountain at Paly vs. Los Gatos View (3:30) (4:00) at Paly vs. Mountain View at Paly vs. Los Gatos CCS Round One (3:00) (7:00) at Homestead (3:30) at Los Altos (3:15)

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at Palo Alto Hills vs. Gunn (3:00)

at Santa Clara (3:30) at Paly vs. Leland (7:00) at Los Gatos (4:00) at Saratoga (3:30) at Gunn (3:15)

at Paly vs. Lost Gatos at Milpitas (4:00) at Paly SCVAL Semi Final at Homestead (3:30) CCS Quarter Finals (3:00) (3:30) at Paly SCVAL Semi Finals Playoffs (4:00) (4:00) at Paly League Tounrnament (3:30)

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at Paly vs. Homestead at Paly vs. Fremont at Los Altos (4:00) (4:00) at Paly League Tounrna- at St. Francis (4:30) CCS Round One (3:00) ment (3:30) at Gunn League Prelims at Paly League Finals

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at Castellija (4:00)

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at Menlo (4:00) at Gunn (3:30) at Saratoga (3:30) at Los Gatos (3:30)

at Paly vs. Mountain at Woodside (7:00) at Paly SCVAL ChampionView (4:00) at San Juan Oaks SCVAL ship(1:00) Championship (12:00) at San Juan Oaks SCVAL Championship (12:00)

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at Paly vs. Everygreen Valley (4:00) at San Ramon (all day)

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April/MAy 2010 April/M Badminton Boys’ Lacrosse Girls’ Lacrosse

COLOR KEY

CUT AND PASTE PALY FANS! ______________________________________________________________________________

Last Word

“The Lax Word”

The Lax Word What you Gotta Know...To Be a Laxbro

T

en years ago I didn’t know the difference between a lacrosse stick and a Swiffer. To me lacrosse was as obscure and unfamiliar as quidditch, but with quidditch I knew that the game was won by catching the Golden Snitch. Lacrosse, however, was a different story. Little did I know that in seventh grade I

By MICHAEL CuLLEN would be throwing on a pair of PHoTo WITH PERMISSIoN gloves, grasping a defender’s FRoM LINDA CuLLEN stick, and of course, wearing a cup, as I stepped onto the field alongside my friends. Lacrosse is rocking the West coast ladies and gentlemen, and California is the epicenter.

The roots of Lacrosse trace back to the Native Americans, who played a game similar to lacrosse. The Eastern Cherokee word for the game is da-nah-wah’uwsdi, which translates to “little war”. Tribes competed against one another in a contest

In a game I was reffing last month, an under-eight attack man on my brother’s team executed eight spin moves through a confused and awestruck defense in what looked like an uncoordinated salsa dance, before ripping a shot into the back of the net.

It’s hard for me to call penalties on the little guys most of the time, because I spend quite a bit of time in the penalty box during our games. I would be hypocritical if I sent a kid to the box for throwing an errant stick check that accidentally struck an opponents’ helmet. Unlike the pups, I can’t earn the ref’s sympathies by giving him the puppy eyes, especially with eye black covering my face.

Spectators at Paly lacrosse games may notice the eye-black that adorns each players’ face. Eye-black is a testament to a multitude of cultures, past and present. Native Americans ceremoniously smeared war paint across their faces before going to battle. Lifeguards, cousins of the laxbro, smear zinc oxide across their noses before lounging in the sun. The eye-black we spread across our faces before every game, therefore, reminds us of the imminent battle ahead, while also paying homage to lacrosse’s culture. Every player on the team has his own unique design.

For example, Cory Valenti (‘11) rocks the backwards Sev-

Lacrosse is rocking the West coast ladies and gentlemen, and California is the epicenter. in which boys became men, blood was drawn, and religion was ironically intertwined with gambling.

The game, of course, has evolved over time with advancements in technology and reform of the rules. Modern sticks, or crosses, for both men’s and women’s lacrosse are typically made of a gnarly metal like platinum alloy or titanium. The balls are made of hard rubber, and leave welts the size of oranges on any extremity that takes a hit. If you’re unfortunate enough to be in front of a shot unleashed from the stick of my boy Kris Hoglund (‘12), the bruise will be the size of a cantaloupe.

The Native American game also involved ceremonial sacrifices, and I don’t think the administration, my coach, or PETA(People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), for that matter, would be too stoked if we slaughtered a pig on the upper field. My Saturday mornings are spent amidst war of little dudes, when I ref the Tomahawks under-seven, eight, and nine year old games.

Youth games are comical. The helmets are a little too big for the noggins of the younglings, and the young pups utilize the new techniques that they learn in practice rather repetitively.

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ens on gameday, while goalie Josh Chin (‘11), aka “Chairman Meow” has a kitty cat nose and whiskers.

Every time we line up and face our opponents before the opening whistle, I get a kick out of the puzzled expressions that light up the faces of the opposition when they see “The Chairman” for the first time.

Laxbros have been sighted from San Diego to Yreka, and their presence means more than an increase in flip-flop sales throughout California. Kids are picking up sticks and helmets at younger ages, giving them the chance to familiarize with the sport and learn the basics. Lacrosse is becoming a mainstream sport at an exponential rate, and this is becoming much more evident in our community.

If you haven’t seen a game, I invite you to venture out to your local lax field and watch the action. You don’t have to be a bro to enjoy the evolution and expansion of a sport that has quickly exploded from regional competition on the East Coast to a national phenomenon that has bulldozed its way into California, upside down visors and all. <<<

iAS SuPPorTS The STudeNTS oF PAlo AlTo hiGh SChool ANd STANdS WiTh You!

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