Viking Volume 5 Issue 3

December 2011 Volume V Issue 3

Don’t Stop Believing

Back-to-Back Champs Volleyball claims its second State Championship title

by Mira Ahmad, Sam Borsos and Alan Lamarque

>>>p. 20

Tiger Parents:

When do parents cross the line in sports?

by Charlotte Biffar

>>>p. 36

Extraordinary Gifts Town & Country Village (near The Cheese House)

69

Staff List Editors-in-Chief Emy Kelty Nathan Norimoto

Managing Editors Mira Ahmad Sam Borsos John Dickerson Alan Lamarque Photo Editor Paige Borsos

Copy Editors Anne Hildebrand Hilda Huang Columnists Peter Dennis Brennan Miller Shannon Scheel

Business Managers Kevin Kannappan Jacob Lauing

Staff Scotty Bara Emma Beckstrom Charlotte Biffar Spencer Drazovich Kevin Dukovic Marina Foley Michelle Friedlander Sapir Frozenfar Jonny Glazier Nina Kelty Austin Poore Rohit Ramkumar Nora Rosati Alana Schwartz Grant Shorin Nikolai Solgaard Sammy Solomon Michael Strong Annie Susco

Adviser Ellen Austin

The Viking Palo Alto High School 50 Embarcadero Road Palo Alto, CA 94301 650-329-3701 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 email at vikingeds@ gmail.com or call 650-329-3701 for more information.

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

Staff View:Tiger Parents When the line between support and over-involvement is crossed At Palo Alto High School, we have a number of extremely talented athletes who have helped many of our sports teams find success. With all the victories we have enjoyed, like the recent volleyball state championship [see cover story, page 20] more and more people are getting excited about and involved in Paly sports, including the parents of the athletes.

There are more “tiger parents” in the Palo Alto sports world than people would care to admit [see page 36 for more on “tiger parents”]. Everyone has seen them. These are the parents complaining to coaches that their kids are not getting enough playing time, shouting instructions to their children that directly contradict the coaching staff, or confronting coaches when they feel that their kids are being treated unfairly. With the recent firing of the boys’ water polo coaching staff, The Viking thought it was an appropriate time to address the appropriate role of parents in high school sports.

Here at The Viking we believe that parents have their place, but that it is less of a lead role and more of a supporting one. Parents should be there for their kids if they are having problems on the field or with a coach, but it is not their job to step in and try to fix everything. By the time an athlete enters high school, it becomes his/her responsibility to talk to the coach about any issues that come up.

While it is fine for parents to discuss these issues with their children and brainstorm possible solutions, it should be up to the athlete to implement them.

The Viking also believes that parents should function as a safety net for their kids. They should only intervene as a last resort, in a case where the problem becomes a long running issue and their child has already tried to talk to the coach.

This does not refer to issues like playing time, but something more serious where the athlete has exhausted all other options.

It is natural for parents to want to help their kids however they can, but in this case, letting their kids solve their own problems is more beneficial in the long run. Children will not always have their parents by their side to take care of their problems, and they need to be prepared to deal with their own issues.

In the high school sports venue, parents should take a back seat, letting coaches do the coaching and allowing their kids to work out any issues.

letter to the editor:

[this letter has been shortened due to length] The Vol. V issue 2 of Viking has one of the most impressive articles that I have ever read on Racism. Kevin Dukovic, Jacob Lauing, Nora Rosati, Mira Ahmad, Nathan Norimoto, and Emy Kelty did very comprehensive research to include multiple perspectives. The combination of examples from campus, student and district perspectives is outstanding. The graphics by Emy Kelty on page 25 is exceptional illustration of a complex and universal topic. Very, very impressive writing, research, and layout from a high school staff. I strongly encourage them to submit this article to every possible contest for consideration. Everything about this article is exceptional...

-Margo Wixom

3

The Viking

The Lineup December 2011

KICK OFF

COVER

3 | STAFF VIEW

20 | VOLLEYBALL

Volume V, Issue 3

After another State Championship title, the volleyball team is now ranked first in the nation.

by Mira Ahmad, Sam Borsos and Alan Lamarque

6 | INTRODUCTION 8 | 10 QUESTIONS WITH NICK ORTIZ

36 | TIGER PARENTS

An inside look into the pressure put on high school athletes by their parents.

by Charlotte Biffar

12 | PREVIEWS 15 | FOOTBALL WRAP-UP

p.12 PREVIEWS

How our Paly teams are doing so far this season.

design by Grant Shorin and Nikolai Solgaard

p.20 VOLLEYBALL After another State Championship title, the Paly volleyball team is now ranked first in the nation

by Maxpreps

by Mira Ahmad, Sam Borsos and Alan Lamarque

Pictures (clockwise from top left) by Scotty Bara, Scotty Bara, Paige Borsos

p.16 FRESHMAN IN FRONT

A look into the freshman cross-country runner and soccer player’s success.

by Nora Rosati

Pictures (clockwise from top) by Grant Shorin, Alex Kershner, Spencer Drazovich

p.36 TIGER PARENTS An inside look into the pressure put on high school athletes by their parents.

by Charlotte Biffar

p.34

p.26 GET RIPPED OR DIE TRYING

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

How weight room training can help athletes improve.

An examination of the different aspects of sportsmanship

by Spencer Drazovich

by Austin Poore

PROFILES 16 | FRESHMAN IN FRONT

A look into the freshman cross-country runner and soccer player Katie Foug’s (‘15) success.

by Nora Rosati

18 | FACING ALL ODDS

On Justin Grey’s (‘12) notable resurgence on the football team and resilient character.

by Kevin Dukovic

COLUMNS 46 | SHANNON SAYS

Shannon showcases why Christiano Ronaldo is the most attractive off and on the field.

by Shannon Scheel

Cover photos and design by Paige Borsos

FEATURES 26 | GET RIPPED OR DIE TRYING

How weight room training can help athletes improve.

by Spencer Drazovich

28 | EXTREME SPORTS

A glimpse into the life of Paly skiiers.

by Sammy Solomon

30 | QUALITY VERSUS QUANTITY

A closer look into how lengthy practices affect Paly athletes physically and mentally.

by Rohit Ramkumar

32 | ROAD TO RECOVERY

The story of three Paly athletes, Ben Macias (‘12), Kris Hoglund (‘12) and Mira Ahmad’s (‘12) road to recovery after major injuries.

by Nina Kelty

34 | THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

An examination of the different aspects of sportsmanship and its varying effects, including personal anecdotes from Paly athletes.

by Austin Poore

44 | NO “A,” NO PLAY

The true meaning and reason for grade checks for high school athletes, from the point of view of both players and coaches.

by Michael Strong

Intro

POP CULTURE GRID Sarah Miller (Cheer ‘12) Favorite snow activity Andrew Luck is...

Best holiday gift

Maddie Kuppe (‘12) is...

Drinking hot chocolate Raw

A sweater

Emily Brown (Soccer ‘12)

Sophie Parker (Cheer ‘13)

J.P. Flather (Lacrosse ‘14)

Suzanna Ackroyd (Soccer ‘12)

Skiing

Ice skating

Snowboarding

Sledding

Smoking hot

A beast

Next Heisman Trophy winner Fuzzy socks

Fuzzy socks

An amazing person

Awesome

Hilarious

HOT or NOT NBA Lockout The lockout is now over and the free-agency frenzy officially has begun. Superstars like Chris Paul and Dwight Howard are ready to move on and pursue championships, and the season starts on Christmas day. What more could you ask for?

I don’t know

A really good volleyball player

A football player Food

Awesome

College Applications Who has time to enjoy being a senior when every spare moment is spent on college applications? Holiday breaks are only merry for those who have been accepted, and family takes second place to essays.

Freezing

Scorching

Underclassmen in the Weight Room As fall sports come to an end, underclassmen begin to flood the weight room. We admire their attitude, but wish they would learn how to actually lift weights.

Twice is Nice State Champions for the second year in a row -- is there anything the girls volleyball team can’t do? >>> Cover story on p. 20

Power Outages No one likes driving for an hour all the way to a game in Scott’s Valley in traffic, but what’s even worse is driving there and then turning around without playing because of a power outage in the gym. The girls’ basketball team’s game was postponed, so they have to drive back again and hope for better luck.

6

online exclusives

>>> To read the following stories, visit www.vikingsportsmag.com.

Finding the Zone by Hilda Huang

What is so magical about the ‘zone’ of peak performance and why to athletes strive to experience it?

Winter Athlete Sideline Swag by Emma Beckstrom

The Viking asked Paly athletes how they keep cozy on the bench during those chilly winter games.

Where are They Now? by Michelle Friedlander A look into the athletic careers of 2011 Paly graduates.

Boys’ water polo lost its entire coaching staff after the 2011 fall season. With many rumors swirling around, the team looks to rebound in time for the 2012 season.

Boys’ Water Polo Loses Coaches

by Emma Beckstrom and Jonny Glazier

T. J. Braff (‘11) now plays Division I baseball for Santa Clara University after playing varsity for three years at Paly. He chose Santa Clara because of its great facilities and the close to home location.

The Viking clarifies the release of boys’ water polo head coach Giovanni Napolitano and the departure of the remaining coaching staff.

Private vs. Public

by Jonny Glazier

A look into why athletes choose club sports instead of school sports.

Want real-time Paly sports updates? Visit us on the web or follow us on Facebook and Twitter at:

Our sports website, www.vikingsportsmag.com

Our Facebook page, “The Viking Magazine” 7

Our twitter feed, www.twitter.com/thevikingmag The Viking

10 Questions

10 Questions

with

Nick Ortiz

WHO KNOWS SENIOR WRESTLER NICK ORTIZ BETTER? FRIEND/TEAMMATE CHRISTIAN LONSKY (‘12), GAL PAL ANNA SEESTONE (‘12), AS TOLD TO ALANA SCHWARTZ photography by Alana Schwartz

Christian Lonsky

Anna Seestone

Gushers

Candy

A Happy Meal

Favorite Holiday Tradition

B.P.

B.P.

Sleeping

Best Holiday Tradition

Thanksgiving with Kalen Gans’ (‘12) Family

Wrestling Practice Over Winter Break

Nick Ortiz Candy B.P. Left Overs Kool Aid Hut Baseball Hat

Favorite Stocking Stuffer

Favorite Winter Hang Out Spot Can’t Live Without...

The Kool Aid Hut His Giants Hat

Anywhere But School Oliver Marcus

David Duran

Left Overs In-N-Out His Hat

Anything Food Related

Best Holiday Gift

Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen

Top Played iTunes Song

Breathe by Taylor Swift

Anything Playing in the Weight Room

‘Lonsky Dude’

Overused Phrase

Kk

C’mon Dude

Hella

Jordan Smith (‘13)

Funniest Teammate

Trent Marshall (‘13)

Trent Marshall (‘13)

Christian Lonsky (‘12)

Commissioner Ortiz

Hidden Talent

Getting the Ladies

Bookie

Karaoke

Images taken from

A Kiss from Oliver

40% Correct

White Singlet

30% Correct

State Medal Born This Way

by Lady Gaga

20% Correct

Get Paly scores by e-mail every morning in Sign up for Express, the daily e-mail news digest from Palo Alto Online and the Palo Alto Weekly, and find out how Paly teams fared, with links to stories and stats. Plus an update on local news and upcoming community events.

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Join 13,000 others and sign up for Express by going to PaloAltoOnline.com and clicking on the link at the top of the page.

Or, visit PASportsOnline.com and find stories, photos, schedules and other updates on all high school and Stanford teams.

24/7 online

Fridays in print

Weekday mornings via e-mail

WWW.PaloAltoOnline.com

Holiday Wish List

The Viking’s

Holiday

It’s that time of year Paly! With Winter Break just around the corner, it’s inevitable that students are thinking about their holiday wish lists. This season, The Viking put together a list of holiday gift ideas from cheap stocking stuffers to the big presents you’ve always wanted. Enjoy!

Swag

Fuzzy Socks With the weather getting colder and colder, these fuzzy socks will keep your toes nice and cozy. Not only are they practical, but their bright colors are fun and fashionable. Surprise your friends with your stylish feet or put them on your personal wish list.

Trinkets

Gift Cards

If you’re shopping for a picky gift reciever this holiday, then a gift card is always the best way to go. Rather than risk the heartache of getting someone a bad present, give the gift of choosing this year and avoid those holiday tears.

Entertainment Fiesta Bowl Tickets Sometimes the best gift can be an experience! With two great teams like Oklahoma State University (OSU) and our local Stanford cardinals playing in the upcoming Fiesta Bowl, this game is one you won’t want to miss.

10

Photo taken from creative commons

Wish List

by Annie Susco design by Sam Borsos

photography by Scotty Bara

Oakley Snowboard Goggles Do you like to ski and be fashionable at the same?

If so, then put these goggles at the top of your list.

Oakley Snow Goggles are worn by snowsports’ elite including Shaun White and Eero Ettala, and will protect you from the harsh winters in your favorite skiing destination.

Bottlecap Necklaces You’ve probably seen students sporting bottle cap necklaces around school and have secretly always wanted one. This holiday season, grab a necklace for you or a friend because these jewelry items are eye-catching and a great conversation starter. Your friends wont be disappointed by these beauties.

Madden NFL 12 For those athletes that perform best in the virtual world, check out the new Madden NFL 12 video game. Not only will you feel like a complete stud, but you don’t have to do any actual physical work to do it (except exercising those thumbs!). Available for Xbox 360 and PS3!

11

The Viking

Zoom: Coming off

a State Championship, the football team was fired up to defend it’s title on a warm August afternoon. Flash-foward three months to a chilly November night under the San Jose City College lights, their attitude remains the same with a newly found work ethic and passion for the game. Just like last year, they looked to win league and Central Coast Section, achieving the first and falling short in the latter.

photos by Scotty Bara

Football Wrap up

by Scotty Bara

photos by: Scotty Bara

Lineman Tory Prati (‘12) stares at the Bellarmine crowd at the CCS Open Division playoff game.

W

ith a loss to Bellarmine College Preparatory (12-1) two weeks ago, the football season came to a close with a record of 10 wins and three losses.

Although the Vikings did not meet their ultimate goal of capturing the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division One State Championship game, they still had a very strong season.

“I am very proud of these guys,” head coach Earl Hansen said. “We had a lot of new, young kids in August and now they are not so young; they have grown up.”

The starting quarterback, Keller Chryst (‘14) led the offense to many victories with passes to wide receivers B.J. Boyd (‘12) and Jayshawn GatesMouton (‘13), handoffs to Dre Hill (‘12), Morris Gates-Mouton (‘12) and Justin Gates-Mouton (‘13). Chryst threw 27

touchdown passes total and had 2,165 passing yards overall.

Boyd had 1108 recieving yards total and brought in six kickoff returns.

One of these kickoff returns was in the Central Coast Section (CCS) Open Division playoff game against Bellarmine in which took the lead 7-6. Boyd scored 17 receiving touchdowns by the end of the season.

On the defensive side, linebacker M. Gates-Mouton had 83 tackles for the season and Lineman Tory Prati (‘12) had seven sacks.

Safety’s Malcom

13

Davis (‘14) and Matt Tolbert (‘13) each snagged three interceptions for the season.

While unable to repeat as state champs, the Viking football team displayed admirable toughness and fire to finish a great season overall. <<<

The Viking

Winter Previews

2011 Winter Previews photo by Scotty Bara

The Lady Vikes to improve last year’s losing record of 5-11-3.

Boys’ Soccer The boys’ soccer team has seen the vast majority of it’s key players leave them to play for various club teams across the Bay Area. The departures of Peter Laminette (‘13), Grant Shorin (‘13) and last year’s captain, Gerrit Van Zyll (‘12), will leave another hole in the Vikings’ squad. To make matters worse, after breaking his leg, goalie Kris Hoglund (‘12) has decided to focus on lacrosse rather than soccer. The Vikings now may be faced with the possibility of relegation from the De Anza Divison of SCVAL. The Vikings now rest their hopes on the shoulders of underclass-

For updated sports coverage visit vikingsportsmag.com

Girls’ Soccer

The 2011-2012 varsity girls’ soccer team looks to rebound after a disappointing 5-11-3 overall record last year. Last year was the first time in 11 years that the Lady Vikes were unable to qualify for the Central Coast Section (CCS) tournament.

“We have a really strong group of underclassmen this year, and they bring a new energy to the field that we haven’t had in a while,” Emily Brown (‘12) said.

In addition to a young group of varsity players, the team also brings in a new coach Kurt Devlin. Over the past 20 years, Devlin has coached both the boys’ and now currently the girls’ soccer team

Coach: Kurt Devlin Assistant Coach: Eric Seedman

at Cañada College. He has also spent time coaching some high school teams.

“Practices are much more intense, but we are all learning so much,” Brown said. “We’re still trying to have all of our talented players be able to work as one strong team, but that’s totally expected in the beginning.”

Brown says Devlin is being somewhat strict on the team, but she hopes that all the tough work will pay off and turn into a much better season than last year.

The team is off to a good start, making it to the finals of the Paly Winter Classic tournament before falling to Los Altos in penalty kicks. photo by Ali Kershner

Coach: Donald Briggs Assistant Coach: Manny Henriques men and former junior varsity players, such as Paul Stefanski (‘13).

While one would expect the key underclassmen of last years’ varsity team to fill the role of key graduated players such as Mark Raftrey (‘11), John Richardson (‘11) and Austin Shiau (‘11), these underclassmen such as Josh Totte (‘14) are leaving the team as well.

Despite the grim outlook by some, players like Stefanski still have faith in the team around them.

“Honestly, I think we’re a team with a lot of potential,” Stefanski said. “One year from now, two years from now, we’ll be good.”

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Michael Sullivan (‘13) is one of few returning players for the Vikings.

Girls’ Basketball Coming off a 22-5 record last year (12-0 in league), the girls’ varsity basketball team will look to repeat as CCS champions this year.

The team will also look to return to the state playoffs, after a first-round loss to Lincoln High School last year.

The team lost key veterans in Katerina Peterson (‘11) and Sydney Davis (‘11) last year, but will replace them with Stephanie Allen (‘13) and Josie Butler (‘13), who were also integral parts of the CCS run last year.

Coach Scott Peters will depend on

Coach: Scott Peters Assistant Coach: Chris Morris

seniors Emilee Osagiede (‘12) and Lindsay Black (‘12) to replace the leadership that Peterson and Davis brought.

The team also has a number of underclassmen such as Danielle Palmer (‘14) and Charlotte Alipate (‘14) who may play key roles in the Lady Vikings’ defense of their CCS crown.

The Lady Vikes will look to continue their dominance over crosstown rival Gunn High School, as they beat the Titans twice during the regular season and once more during the CCS championship last year.

Boys’ Basketball photo by Alana Schwartz

Isreal Hakim (‘13) plays defese. The Vikings are 5-1 in preseason.

Wrestling

Coach: Adam Sax Assistant Coach: Erik Olah

Coming off a 19-7 overall record (11-1 in league), the 2011-2012 boys’ basketball team looks to rebound from last season’s CCS semi-final loss to Archbishop Mitty. The Vikes are without several key players from last year’s squad including Davante Adams (‘11), Max Schmarzo (‘11), Bill Grey (‘11) and Charlie Jones (‘11).

Even after losing significant players, the team is well equipped with an array of talented players. Led by point guard Alec Wong (‘12) and E.J. Floreal (‘13), the team hopes to improve upon last

Coach: Dave Duran Assistant Coach: Tony Brewer

The varsity wrestling team looks to improve this upcoming 2011-2012 season.

The team finished the 2010-2011 season placing seventh in the Central Coast Section finals, with Kalen Gans (‘12), Joey Christopherson (‘12), Ryan Oshima (‘12), and Nick Ortiz (‘12) leading the team.

These seniors have returned for the 2011-2012 season expecting sucess.

“I expect us to do really well and hopefully place in CCS, win leagues and hopefully send a good amount of people to states,” Christopherson said.

According to fellow returning varsity wrestler, Gary Hohbach (‘13), given the amount of strong returning seniors and juniors, several wrestlers have high hopes for the season.

“I think we’re going to have one of the best seasons yet,” Hohbach said.

15

photo by Scotty Bara

Josie Butler (‘13) takes a jumpshot during practice. The team has a current record of 2-1

year’s promising season and win CCS. Other key players include Israel Hakim (‘12), Aubrey Dawkins (‘13), Mathias Schmutz (‘13), Kenny Jones (‘13) and Aldis Petriceks (‘13).

Coach Adam Sax preaches a fast tempo that requires constant effort from his players. This depth gives him confidence to rest his starters and keep his players fresh throughout the long season.

The team hopes that this depth, can correlate in to wins and ultimately a CCS title. “[Our goal this season] is to win CCS and beat Mitty along the way,” Jones said. photo by Emy Kelty

Christian Lonsky (‘12) holds his opponent in a collar-tie.

The Viking

photo by Scotty Bara

Profiles

Freshman in front

by Nora Rosati

Katie Foug (‘15) was the only cross-country runner to qualify for the State meet this season.

S

he wears her brother’s hole-infest ed old running shoes and heavy knee-high soccer socks to every practice. She joined the cross-country team for a prep period. And she shows up almost every day to practice for just under an hour before she races off to her soccer practices.

This is Katie Foug (‘15), a varsity cross-country runner and the only runner on the team to qualify for the 2011 State’s meet. How did this featherweight freshman become such a standout athlete? Was it grueling multi-mile training weeks, night-and-day dedication to the sport, or a private coach?

The secret behind Foug’s success this year is a combination of three things: A heavy-duty soccer schedule, positive attitude, and competitive drive.

This fall, Foug joined the team as one of many newcomers. She had no expectations, no reputation to fulfill, and no hype surrounding her every move.

She was first noticed by her teammates during a practice in early September for her performance in a hill workout.

“We were at the dish, and I saw her coming [up the hill] so I started pushing it, and she just ran off,” varsity runner and teammate Chika Kasahara (‘13) recalls. “We all said, ‘okay, she’ll get tired after this,’ but she kept running really fast, and we all kept thinking, ‘what? Who is this freshman?’”

Shortly thereafter, Foug again surprised her teammates in her first competition.

“At the first meet, when I found out she beat me, I was [shocked,]” Kasahara said.

As the season progressed, Foug quickly became the team’s first runner, a position she maintained for the entire season.

Her immediate success in the sport may give the impression that Foug is a hard-core cross-country runner, but her time devoted to the sport suggests otherwise.

“She would come to cross-country about half the time and stay for about ten minutes until she had to go to soccer,” teammate Sophia Robinson (‘15)

16

said of Foug’s unusual practice style.

As a soccer player for seven years, Foug scheduled her time around her soccer practices and tournaments.

“I don’t go to cross-country on Mondays, on Tuesday I have to leave [practice] early, but Wednesdays and Fridays I can go to [all of it],” Foug said.

At times, Foug would arrive only minutes before a race. At the Stanford Invitational meet, Foug arrived roughly 15 minutes prior to the race.

“She had a tournament right before the race, and it wasn’t until right before the race that we finally found her,” Kasahara recalled. “She had all her soccer stuff on so we were all panicked.

Then [the race started and] she took off as if she had no soccer before it.”

Despite her seemingly shaky commitment, cross-country coach Paul Jones accepts the routine. “[Double practices] worked okay,” Jones said. Unlike previous experiences with double-sport athletes, “it seemed to work for Katie.”

Her teammates make light of her

Photo by Anne Hildrebrand

double-sport pursuits by joking about her illegitimacy as a cross-country runner. As a congratulatory gift for her state meet qualification, Foug received a pair of running socks to finally replace her soccer socks.

“As a team we’re kind of transforming her into a runner: She always wears soccer socks so we bought her a nice pair of running socks,” Kasahara explained. “She’s so low maintenance.”

Her shortened cross-country practices were not without consequence, however. Going from a condensed hill workout to a three hour long soccer practice is not an easy feat.

Foug attributes much of her success in cross-country to her fitness level provided by soccer.

“In soccer we do a lot of running, maybe not long distance, but I’ve built up a lot of stamina, so it helps,” Foug said.

Foug has also been raised in an active environment.

“She has played several sports growing up. With two athletic brothers... she’s always [tried] hard to keep up with them,” Jim Foug, her father, said.

Foug’s success matched with her less frequent practice appearances did not sabotage her chances of having close team relationships. Her charming personality overruled any negative sentiments a teammate might feel.

“It was so hard to get frustrated with her; she was too sweet,”Kasahara said.

“She inadvertently pushes all of us to try our hardest because we all want to try and be like her,” DeBruine said.

“But she’s not there in a [condescending] way. [Foug] is the most modest person on the team by far, even though she’s the fastest.”

The secret to Foug’s success, despite

In addition to her impact on the team in a competitive aspect, Foug provided a source of inspiration to several of the teammates. “[Being such] an amazing runner, she makes me want to run better and harder,” Robinson said. “She always compliments you on how well you’ve done on the race, even if you’ve done really crappy... she’s a really good teammate.”

Varsity runner Audrey DeBruine (‘14) credits much of Foug’s positive influence on the team to her unrelenting modesty.

her minimal and seemingly nonexistent training, appears to be her competitive drive.

“She’s got this competitive edge to her that we see every now and then, and you don’t really expect it,” Stephen Foug, a Paly history teacher and Foug’s uncle, said.

Her father offers another quality as well.

“Her best attribute is her determination,” Jim Foug said. “She is very mentally tough... She’s always been a hard worker...and I think this work ethic is a main reason why she’s had some success.”

As a budding varsity soccer player and a future track and field runner, Foug has many more seasons of Paly sports ahead of her.

“I think seeing her name up on the record board is a very likely possibility for her,” Jones said.

He is not alone in his hopes for Foug’s future.

“She has so much potential,” Kasahara said. “She’s only a freshman and she already made it to states. I look forward to the track season with her, seeing where she’ll go.”

Her achievements in her first season of Paly athletics came without a private coach, fancy shoes, or even much training. Foug became the athlete she is now with two simple qualities: A positive attitude and a determined mindset. <<<

“She inadvertently pushes all of us to try our hardest because we all want to try and be like her,” DeBruine said.

Katie Foug (‘15) races at the Crystal Springs Course this season.

17

The Viking

photo by Scotty Bara

Profiles

Facing All

Odds

Justin Grey’s remarkable

return to the spotlight

by Kevin Dukovic

L

ife is full of opportunities, and for varsity football and baseball player Justin Grey (‘12), one arose in a football game against Milpitas last year. Three quarters into the contest, Paly held a 28-0 advantage and the game was all but over. With the outcome already decided, the starters were removed and the second-stringers came in, including Grey, a backup strong safety at the time.

The blowout provided a great opportunity for him and the rest of his fellow reserves. It was a moment any backup player longs for: A chance to finally prove himself.

“It is very important [to take advantage of an opportunity],” Grey said. “It’s important because that opportunity may not arise in the future so it’s best to capitalize on it while you still can.”

After waiting the whole game, Grey finally entered at strong safety. Just a few plays in, he went to make a tackle and the once promising moment took a turn for the worse. Chris Ramirez (‘12), his varsity teammate at the time, recalls watching the incident from the sideline. “[Grey] came up to make a tackle on a player that was running down our sideline,” he said. “[Grey] then laid a pretty big hit on the opposing player and everyone on the sideline cheered.

[However], he then [walked] off the field [in pain] with his head down. The trainers ran over to assist him, and he

was then rushed to the hospital.”

Although he is not completely sure, Grey surmises that while making the tackle, the opposing player jammed his hand through Grey’s face-mask, broke his orbital bone, the socket of the skull that holds the eye, and knocked him, along with his hopes of earning a starting role on the team, out for the remainder of the season.

Grey was forced to enjoy the rest of Paly’s magical season that concluded with a state title from the sidelines, wondering whether or not he would play in a Viking uniform ever again.

“I was a little worried about getting hurt more seriously than that,” Grey said. “Getting hurt again [and quitting] was definitely on my mind.”

It was also a tough time for Grey’s family, which has dealt with a history of sports-related injuries. Grey’s father Eric Grey, who also played football at Paly and consequently missed his junior year after he broke his arm in a preseason game, explained in an email interview.

“Justin has been in the emergency room three times for football alone,” he wrote. “It wasn’t easy for the family.

Justin’s eye socket fracture was stressful because of the prospect of having to fix it. After getting the doctors’ advice we decided not to have surgery, and to keep him off the field for the rest of the year.”

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Despite the daunting injury, Grey decided that after a long and uncertain off-season, he would continue playing football for Paly. His toughness made his parents very proud of their resilient son.

“Justin always had doubts about football, especially in the off-season, but he always strapped on the helmet the first day,” Eric wrote. “I am very proud of him for that.”

This season, Grey was once again healthy, and finally had the chance to prove himself as he aspired to do the night of his injury.

Starting at field goal kicker, defensive back and occasionally punt returner, Grey enjoyed much more success this season. He finished the season averaging nearly three tackles a game, with 25 assisted tackles and two punt returns for touchdowns. Grey’s parents, Eric and Kim, credit this improvement to their son’s robust commitment.

“He has an inner drive and determination − and a little support and prayer from his family,” Eric and Kim wrote.

Grey’s improved play did not go unnoticed by Paly’s head football coach Earl Hansen.

“Justin [did] a great job throughout the year [for us],” Hansen said. “[This season], it seemed like his confidence improved, and he really stepped up.

He’s always been a team player and always played and practiced hard. It just

photo provided by Justin Grey

[showed this season].”

Even though Grey exceeded all expectations this season, he knows that his play did not improve overnight, and credits his newfound success to “hard work and trying really hard [to get better].”

Hansen also attributes Grey’s progress to his uncanny dedication.

“He really stepped up, and [worked] hard at it,” Hansen said. “He [was] out there late every night practicing extra.”

Despite the extreme amount of effort Grey puts into football, it is not the only extra curricular activity he takes part in. On the weekends, Grey trains to be a firefighter as a Palo Alto Fire Explorer.

“We train at the fire station in Palo Alto,” Grey said. “We also take classes on emergency response, and get certified in first response and basic fire fighting standby first aid.”

What sets Grey apart from his peers is that fire fighting is not just something he does on the side; he thoroughly enjoys this off-the-field passion and seriously considers making it a significant part of his future. “[Fire fighting] is definitely something I want to do [in the future],” Grey said. “It is something I’ve wanted to do for a while and I’m definitely pursuing that.”

Most Paly students strive to attend a four-year university where they can further their education. However, while Grey values education, he has other priorities. His genuine love for

assisting others has motivated him to attend a community college where he can solely pursue his passion.

“I plan on studying fire protection technology at Mission College [in Santa Clara], and hope to become a firefighter

ment on the gridiron.

“The physical aspects of [football and fire fighting] complement one another,” he said. “The hard and sometimes painful work experienced in football helps a lot when learn-

in the future,” he said. “I’m doing this because the feeling you get after you help someone is like no other.”

While Grey enjoys fire fighting, it is a vocation that brings along with it a daily risk. For Grey’s parents, however, his passion for the profession far outweighs any risks that might accompany it.

“Everyone in the end chooses their own profession,” Eric wrote. “And every profession in life has some risk. [Kim and I] would never stand in his way of serving the public. We are [as] proud of his accomplishments with the Explorers as we are with his sports.”

Grey’s close friend and varsity baseball teammate Clay Carey (‘12) also respects his friend’s decision to pursue his passion.

“It’s what he wants to do, so you can tell it’s his passion and I’m happy for him,” Carey said. “I hope he can be a firefighter for a town I live in someday.”

Grey acknowledges that his fire fighting background played a major role in both his recovery and improve-

ing about fire fighting and vice versa.

Also, knowing basic anatomy [from Explorer training], I knew what had happened to me and what I needed to do to recover, while most people probably don’t. That knowledge also helped me understand how to avoid future injuries.”

His background with medical aid, the support of his family and friends, and his devotion to improve on the field all contributed to Grey’s resurgence this year. However, as Eric explains, Grey has not abruptly become a star. He has been an extraordinary talent all through high school, and just happened to receive more credit this season.

“He had great success as the freshman quarterback and had an even better year as the sophomore quarterback,” he wrote. “They won league, he was all-league quarter back, and had seven touchdowns against Homestead.

Last year he was hurt so it’s hard to say how he would have done. It was tough playing behind last year’s seniors so I don’t see last year as a lack of success.

However, compared to last year this year [was] awesome for him.”

As the late, great John Wooden once said, “Sports don’t build character, they reveal it.” And Grey’s ability to bounce back from a change in position and a serious, career-threatening injury, speaks volumes about his resilient character. Grey’s father put it best: “His inner drive to succeed overcomes the fear of pain.” <<<

“I hope to become a firefighter... because the feeling you get after you help someone is like no other,” Grey said.

This x-ray of Grey’s skull revealed his fractured orbital bone. The break encircled on the right can be compared to its unbroken counterpart on the left.

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The Viking

Story Title

69

Don’t Stop

Believing Paly girls’ volleyball wins State. Again.

by Mira Ahmad, Sam Borsos and Alan Lamarque design by Emy Kelty photography by Paige Borsos

E

very athlete has experienced the feeling of despair when looking up at a scoreboard only to see a slim chance at victory. After hours of practice, the last thing a player wants is to see their hard work overshadowed by another team’s talent. But at a certain point, being an underdog is not all about athletes suddenly amping up their physical abilities or trying to fix past mistakes. It’s about the team’s belief in one another, in the game they’re playing and the point they’re about to win.

For the Palo Alto High School varsity volleyball team, this moment came in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division I State Championship match against Marymount High School on Dec. 3 at Concordia University in Irvine.

The Lady Vikes were trailing by six points in the fifth set. “[Paly head coach] Dave [Winn] told us [after the game] that if you’re up at game point and winning by six in the fifth set of a match, you should win 99% of the time,” libero Ashley Shin (‘12) said.

There was no longer room for Lady Vike errors.

“When you’re down by that much, at that point you basically have to play flawlessly,” Shin said. “It’s really hard to do because volleyball is a game of mistakes. But, it’s also a chance for redemption.”

With this new pressure, the team also had to cope with the booming Marymount fans, who packed over two-thirds of the local gym just an hour away from their home court.

“It was so hard. They had the stands absolutely packed,” Paly outside hitter Maddie Kuppe (‘12) said. “We were getting absolutely harassed, and they were just thunderous. It was so hard to ignore but we just had to convince ourselves that they were cheering for us.”

And so, with the majority of the gym chanting ‘Let’s go Sailors!’, Kuppe only heard ‘Let’s go Vikings!’.

Earlier, in the first two sets, Paly was on point. To start off her final chapter of Paly volleyball, middle blocker Melanie Wade (‘12) smacked a kill to earn the first point. After Kuppe wrapped up a first set victory for Paly with an ace 25-17, the team was en route to a repeat of last season. In the second set Marymount came out to

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prove they were not a team to be trifled with, forcing Paly players to take on versatile roles.

“Everyone had to be comfortable with the uncomfortable,” Wade said.

Though Marymount put up a fight, the Lady Vikes squeaked by 25-23. But soon, the momentum began to shift.

With tight calls on Whitson’s doubles and a substitution error, Paly found itself struggling in the third and fourth game.

“It was really frustrating,” Whitson said. “It always depends on who the ref is and in this game they were calling it really tight. I made a couple of mistakes but my team backed me up and helped me move on.”

After dropping the third and fourth game to Marymount, Paly had 15 points left of its 2011 season. Before they knew it, Marymount was only two points away from winning, leading 13-7 in the fifth set. But Paly believed and slowly, the points came.

10:10 p.m. Whitson’s reliable hands falter in the eyes of the referee and a double is called off the shaky set.

The Lady Vikes trail 13-7.

Marymount outside hitter Yaasmeen Bedart-Ghani (‘15) tumbles into

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Cover

The team celebrates its second straight State Championship title. Maddie Kuppe (‘12) won the sportsmanship award, and Melanie Wade (‘12) was named MVP of the championship match. the net in an effort to hit the ball over.

The violation puts the score at 13-8, narrowing the gap to five points.

After Kuppe hit a topspin serve short middle that was shakily picked up by Marymount libero Jamie Marvil (‘13), the Sailors did not set up their hitting offense correctly. Marymount middle blocker Ashlie Williams (‘13) hit a deep kill two feet out from Paly’s court. 13-9.

10:11 p.m. On the next play, Bedart-Ghani pounds a shot to Kuppe down the line, which is barely scraped up by Paly libero Shelby Knowles (‘13).

After back-and-forth play, Paly opposite hitter Caroline Martin (‘12) hammers the ball into Bedart-Ghani’s fingers, who attempted to halt the play. With a split-second decision, Martin pulls away her digging platform, and the ball drops only a few inches out of bounds.

13-10. Time out Sailors.

Throughout the match, the Marymount fans didn’t let up their jeers at Paly players and coaches.

“During time outs they would say things like ‘Coach! Take your shirt off’ and ‘Hey, you’re so sexy coach,’” Shin said. “When I went to look for my

warm-up shirt after the game, where the student fans had been standing, it was ripped down the back.”

10:13 p.m. After the timeout, Paly came out with a strong defensive mentality. When Marymount outside hitter Manon Greskovics-Fuller (‘12) attempted a cross-court shot, Martin dug it up, and the Lady Vikes’ game was once again revived. Although BedartGhani tried to shake up Paly’s defense with an attempted hit, Martin and Paly middle blocker Jackie Koenig (‘12) put up a wall on the net to stop it. 13-11.

After already recovering four points, the Lady Vikes continued to climb the ladder to victory.

10:14 p.m. Kuppe’s serve. Walking to the end of the court, the roaring gym was silenced for a moment. While everyone’ nerves were at a peak, Kuppe stayed calm and collected.

“When I realized that I was going to be the next server I panicked, but then I thought about it and I was like ‘You know what? We have been here before,’” Kuppe said. “I would rather have myself back there than someone else in that kind of pressure. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone else but I need to

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deal with it.”

In a déjà vu moment from the 2010 season in which Kuppe served back-toback aces to capture the State title, the ball not only flew in, but was high and short, perfectly placed. With topspin, the ball floated over the net before driving into the floor just beyond the reach of Marvil. 13-12.

The Sailor fans no longer cheered with as much enthusiasm, and the jeers from the Marymount student section began to abate. For Kuppe and everyone else in green and white, despair turned to hope. Winn felt that the game was finally in his teams’ control.

“Maddie under pressure is the best I have seen, ever,” Winn said. “Two years in a row, just a solid stud behind the line. Everyone felt once they saw her back there they were like ‘Oh yeah, this is where we are supposed to be.”

With a shift in the momentum and a revived confidence, Paly began playing with the attitude they had all season, ready to take one point at a time.

10:15 p.m. After Kuppe served yet another ball in, middle blocker Melanie Wade (‘12) hit a short cross-court shot that shanked off of Bedart-Ghani’s

right arm. The score was tied at 13.

Wade and Greskovics-Fuller got kills for their respective teams, the result was another tie at 14.

10:16 p.m. After Marymount gained serving control, the Sailors served straight into the net. 15-14 Paly. Next, Paly’s block by Wade and Whitson falls just out of bounds.

Score tied at 15. Each team needed two more points to win.

10:17 p.m. Wade hits a kill deep right corner shot to put Paly up 16-15. Only one more point to victory. After Martin successfully served the ball to Marymount, Bedart-Ghani hit a cross-court kill wide left to finish the match.

The Lady Vikes had done it. With a score of 17-15 in a nail-biting fifth set, Paly won its second consecutive State title, soaring to number one in the nation on Maxpreps.com.

“It’s all about the day of the competition,” Kuppe said. “I think we did have more heart, at least when it mattered. Although I can’t guarantee that

VOLLEYBALL RANKINGS SINCE 2006 ACCORDING TO MAXPREPS.COM 2006-2007: NO RANK (27-9, 9-3)

we would beat them any other day, it’s just about the day of the competition.”

After the match, Winn was still in shock of the victory, but proud of his team’s mentality throughout the fifth set.

“They believe in each other, and at the end of the day all the things we are talking about strategy-wise don’t mean squat unless you believe,” Winn said.

No one would have known looking at the 2005-2006 Paly volleyball team under former head coach Dave Huan that in just six short years the program would go on to become the best in the country.

After being let go as coach, Huan was replaced by Winn, who had been recently fired from Los Altos High School. At the time Winn debated whether he would continue coaching all together, but soon learned of the available position at Paly. At Los Altos, parents had launched a campaign to oust Winn, after what they believed to be a sub-par season.

“It was a typical sad story where we weren’t winning as much and a couple of parents who were a little gripey, sort of launched a campaign to get me fired,” Winn said.

Although Winn had faced difficulties at his previous school, he gave coaching one last chance and put his faith in the Paly volleyball program.

Hansen had only two expectations of Winn when he hired him: “One: ‘I want the girls to be better than when they started’ and two; ‘I don’t want to hear any complaining from any parents,’” Winn said.

In his first year on the job, Winn improved the team’s record from 1913 overall, 5-7 in league to 27-9 overall and 9-3 in league.

“I set expectations of the girls from the very beginning of what I was looking for in every position,” Winn said.

Under Winn’s guidance and leadership, the team slowly climbed in the rankings. In just four years the Lady Vikes had moved from being 76th in the nation to occupying the first place spot.

“We don’t focus on the ranking at all,” Winn said. “The only ranking that matters is the one at the end of the season: Did you win it all or not.”

Each point of the battle Paly fights has always been key for the team. Kuppe and Wade joined the squad in 2007.

The team had success throughout the

2007-2008: 274 IN THE NATION (27-11, 10-2) 2008-2009: 76 IN THE NATION (33-7, 10-2) 2009-2010: 56 IN THE NATION (36-5, 12-0) 2010-2011: 2 IN THE NATION (41-1-, 11-1) 2011-2012: 1 IN THE NATION, 36-3, 12-0 23

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“They believe in each other, and at the end of the day all of the things we were talking about, strategy-wise, don’t mean squat unless you believe,” Winn said.

season, before falling in three straight sets in the Division II CCS Semifinal match against Archbishop Mitty High School.

“[Kuppe and Wade] came in with the physical gifts of being tall and strong, more so than most freshmen,” Winn said. “They were not intimidated by the speed of play at the varsity level.”

Then, the 2009-2010 season was upon them, and five new sophomores saw their names added to the varsity roster. Whitson, Martin, Koenig, Shin and setter Ally Kron (‘12) strengthened the already talented squad.

“When I’m shown the raw statistics from every season, it’s fascinating because it hasn’t felt like the team has gotten any better,” Kuppe said. “It’s just that I and the other players in my year have just grown up and matured.”

By 2010, the trust they had built and the skills they had honed, paid off.

A nearly perfect season and an unblemished performance in the CCS playoffs and Norcal tournament all capped off the team’s first ever State

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title. The expectations this team had motivated them to move further with each season.

“I always thought we could do it again, but I never really thought we could do it again,” Whitson said. “It was all about believing and that’s what it was last year too.”

This year, Paly faced the difficulties of losing key leadership roles on the team. The 2010 team graduated outside hitter Trina Ohms (’11) and libero Megan Coleman (’11), who went on to play at the University of Pennsylvania and Claremont McKenna College respectively.

In 2011, Paly was now without two of their six State-winning starers. However, the other four, Whitson, Wade, Kuppe and Martin remained confident.

“It was a complete team effort filling in those positions,” Martin said. “We don’t just have one player that you can always count on, we have to trust everyone.”

A year later, the question of a repeat season became inevitable in the Paly community. This season though,

Paly lost three games early on in preseason.

“It opened our eyes to our weaknesses,” Koenig said. “After our loss to Saint Francis, Dave basically said ‘no more losing’, and told us the ‘one-pointat-a-time’ goal. It made us mentally tougher.”

This psychological strength allowed the Lady Vikes to show that they were not the 2010 team and they weren’t invincible.

“We finally weren’t focused on not losing, and instead we could focus on winning,” Kuppe said. “Those are two very different mindsets.”

From then on, Paly entered each game with a new attitude, to believe without becoming overconfident.

This helped them all the way to the final match of the season.

“When we had to do it on the bigger stage, it’s not like it was scary,” Winn said. “We had already been there. I could not have asked for a better way for this season to roll out. It proved that all you have to do is believe.”

“Paly volleyball has been like a second family to me,” Caroline Martin (‘12) said.

This season, the Lady Vikes will graduate eight seniors, half of the State-winning roster.

“Paly volleyball has been like a second family to me, I’m going to miss it incredibly,” Martin said. “ Although the seniors will leave Paly, they won’t soon forget what they accomplished.

They will be able to talk about their high school careers being the most amazing of any public school,” Winn said.

In sports, winning and losing are usually determined by athletic talent.

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The better team is supposed to come out on top. In the Concordia gym, Marymount seemed destined to win. They had made a comeback against Paly’s first two tough sets of the match. With the advantage of playing at a local gym, the Sailors were hungry to win the State title for the seventh time in the school’s history. But in some situations, the team with the most heart can come back from a deficit that most teams would fall to. In ordinary setbacks, believing can turn a loss into a victory.

And that’s exactly what the Lady Vikes have done for the second year in a row.

The Viking

Features

Get Ripped or Die Trying

by Spencer Drazovich design by Michelle Friedlander How weight room training can help both athletes male and female.

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very day after school, dozens of iron-hungry teenage boys flow into the Palo Alto High School weight room. The weight room is a place that harbors transformation. Within those mysterious walls lies a majestic place.

Better yet, in between those walls lies a temple. A temple where lifting is a form of worship and its “Buddha” is none other than Paly’s connoisseur of weight lifting, coach Jason Fung.

Weight training plays a large role in most athletes’ achievements. The ones who succeed are the ones who realize that in order to be successful they need to give themselves a competitive edge

on the competition. The most effective way to gain this edge is through resistance or weight training. College and professional athletic teams have already implemented weight lifting into their weekly and daily routines. Now coaches like Fung are making a push to increase high school athletes use of the weight room.

“Paly has a very good and complete weight room,” Fung said. “The players who lift show great improvement and ability on the field over players who don’t.”

Football is a game of controlled chaos. The only way to win a fight in foot-

ball is to bring more force into the collision than the opponent. In this sense size is a factor, but it is not everything.

Weight lifting and strength building have proven to be key to the success of Paly’s football team.

“Lifting helps you come to the game with more confidence,” left guard Tory Prati (‘12) said. “You have proven to yourself what you can do in the weight room and now it is just a matter of going out on the field and executing.”

However, weight lifting does not only benefit linemen who are trying to get as big as possible as fast as possible. As a matter of fact, according to a study

Erik Anderson (‘13) squats to strengthen his quads and glutes. This will help Anderson become more explosive and faster on the field.

Keller Chryst (‘14) smiles while doing rows to strengthen his back. A stronger back will increase versatility and throwing in football.

The Viking Workout:

photography by Spencer Drazovich

Andrew Frick (‘14) leg presses to rehab the knee injury he obtained in a football game. Lifts like this are recommended to rehabilitate injuries.

26

from weight training. Those who lift can assure themselves that they will be more effective on the field and can help prevent injuries they might sustain during practices or games.

The boys’ basketball team has realized the advantages and has recently begun implementing weight workouts into their weekly routine. Basketball is a sport that requires explosive power instead of brute strength. Players rely on coordination and quickness to propel themselves around the court and to

my time in the weight room.”

Paly trainer Josh Goldstein also endorses weight training as a valuable element to an athletes weekly workout regime. Through years of experience Goldstein has seen the value of resistance training in professional, collegiate and high school sports.

“I recommend lifts and exercises that work more than one muscle group at a time,” Goldstein said. “Strengthening legs by doing crunches while also adding a torso twist to strengthen core

elevate themselves for rebounds.

“Squats and Vertamax are huge for basketball players,” Israel Hakim (‘12) said. “I work my legs to make them stronger and increase their explosiveness. Stronger legs help the height that I can jump and make me a better competitor on the court. Not only am I stronger but my balance and coordination are also both improved because of

works great for preventing injuries.

Core is everything and if it is strong athletes can avoid serious injuries.”

Athletes cannot reach their full potential until they have implemented weight workouts into their training regiment. Stronger muscles allow athletes to move more quickly and be more effective on the field while also avoiding some serious injuries. <<<

Sasha Robinson (‘13) does an abdominal workout in the weight room to train for rowing. Robinson is one of the few girls who uses it regularly.

Gabe Landa (‘12) strengthens his calves. Landa was able to play offense and defense this year because of his strong legs and stamina.

done at the University of Alabama at Birmingham the majority of athletes do not end up achieving mass muscle growth. Athletes can build muscle without ever having to worry about getting an undesirable body type.

For Matt Tolbert (‘13), a defensive back for the Paly football team, body weight is the enemy. When playing a game of seconds and inches, players like Tolbert need to be as quick and light on their feet as possible. For him the game of football is not about moving opponents, but running them down. Despite these limitations he still realizes how crucial weight training is to his game.

“Weight room usage helps me beat more athletic guys,” Tolbert said. “Time spent in the weight room increases my acceleration and agility. When I am going up against a faster guy I can rely on the fact that I am going to have a faster initial burst than him that will allow me to counter his superior speed.”

However, weight lifting is not isolated to football players. Athletes in sports that do not include as much physical contact can also benefit immensely

“You have proven to yourself what you can do in the weight room and now it is just a matter of going out on the field and executing,” Prati said.

Matt Tolbert (‘13) dead lifts to improve his leg strength and acceleration. Lifts like this help Tolbert to keep up and compete with faster players.

When in doubt... Work out!

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The Viking

On the Edge Skiers love to hit the slopes in the winter, but few have the guts to test their limits by going beyond the marked territory.

by Sammy Solomon photo provided by Steve Karp

“I

woke up and I was in a sled going toward the bottom of the mountain,” A.J. Schonenburg (‘12) recalls.

“Apparently I caught an edge and I smacked down and I don’t remember any of it.”

Earlier that day, one thousand feet lay between Schonenburg and the finish line. He waited with the wind howling at his back, and the tips of his newly waxed skis dangling over the edge of the lip. After digging his poles into the snow he slid down the course, whisking past gate after gate. But suddenly everything became a white blur. A concussion.

When athletes decide to participate in sports, they often know the potential dangers within their sports. Basketball players know that a “box out” can get physical, and football players surely know that tackles can lead to concussions and other injuries. Skiing, along with most other sports, can be dangerous. Yet what distinguishes skiing from many other non-extreme sports is that skiers never know what Mother Nature

has in store. In order to experience the best ride, skiers often put themselves in dangerous situations by virtue of their environment.

Abby Bromberg (‘13), a skier since age three, has experienced firsthand the nervous excitement that comes when one stands in between two cliffs, pondering whether or not to advance.

Bromberg mainly participates in noncompetitive backcountry skiing, which involves areas of the mountain that are not groomed or maintained. Besides the thrill of skiing in these areas, Bromberg enjoys the aesthetic appeal of the snow-covered mountains.

“The mountain brings things into clarity for me,” Bromberg said. “I like it a lot better than the smog of the bay area. You feel like you are on the top of the world.”

But these aspects of nature can also pose danger. Backcountry skiers like Bromberg maneuver through cliffs, blizzards, trees and hidden rocks in order to blaze their own trails and discover new terrain. One wrong turn or miscalculated landing can result in severe

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injuries or even death. So what makes it all worth it?

“The adrenaline rush,” Bromberg said. “It’s kind of like a drug to people.

Adrenaline releases a chemical in your brain so people get addicted to it.”

When they get into difficult situations, skiers must instantaneously decide whether or not to follow their gut instincts.

“There’s this one point where you move too far forward and there’s no point going back,” Bromberg said. “That is the best feeling I’ve ever had. You feel yourself going over the tipping point and it’s like nothing else.”

Like Bromberg, Chris Meredith (‘13) began skiing at the age of three. Bromberg and Meredith have been skiing together since they were eight years old.

“The skiing community is closely knit,” Meredith said. “I have a lot of friends that like to [ski] and that’s what makes skiing the most fun. It’s fun to watch what other people can do and to have them watch what you can do.”

Marco Vienna (’13) also began skiing at an early age and participates

mostly in freestyle skiing after he quit racing. Freestyle skiing involves aerials, and requires the skier to have determination and strong will.

“I remember the first time I ever landed a 720 was the best feeling,” Vienna said. “You fail at it so much when you’re trying and then when you finally [land the trick], it’s the ultimate gift.”

Vienna also enjoys backcountry skiing and has had his fair share of dangerous situations. Despite these dangers, Vienna uses fear to his advantage.

“My mentality going into a dangerous situation is all about mitigating my risks but at the same time staying confident because if you hesitate for a split second, you will get hurt,” Vienna said.

Schonenburg agrees with Vienna that skiing is physically demanding, but believes that it has an important mental component as well.

“A lot of it is mental,” Schonenburg said. “At a certain point, once you reach your legs’ physical capacity, it’s how hard you push yourself.”

While skiing can be highly competitive and dangerous, it also provides an es-

cape from athletes’ busy lives.

“When I go out on the slopes I forget all of the homework, tests and stuff at school. It’s also a huge thrill factor,” Meredith said.

This serene escape comes with a downside: Time commitment. With the nearest resorts at least three hours away, Paly skiers are forced to travel long distances to hit the slopes.

“I don’t get any of my weekends during the winter. That’s a big sacrifice,” Schonenberg said. “I don’t have much time to study on the weekends and also we have away races where I have to skip school.”

Skiing might be a huge time commitment, but its participants feel that the long drive is worth it. The rush of adrenaline that comes from hopping a cliff, seeing the world from the perspective of the snow-covered mountains, and the escape from the stresses of everyday life are all factors that draw people to the slopes.

“The laid back nature of the sport as well as the competitiveness define what skiing truly is: The best sport in the world,” Vienna said. <<<

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Marco Vienna (‘13) tests a new run called “Snow White” in Breckinridge, Colorado.

photo By Scotty Bara

Features

Quality vs.

Quantity How athletes are affected by practice

by Rohit Ramkumar

A

ldis Petriceks (‘13) walks into the big gym on a chilly Saturday afternoon. He sits down, ties his shoes, and checks his phone. The clock on his phone reads 12:50 p.m., and he hits the floor with his teammates at exactly 1 p.m.. Petriceks, with his jersey soaked with sweat after a grueling practice, walks back towards his phone, unties his shoes, and checks the time. His phone now reads 4 p.m.

Petriceks just completed a three-hour practice for the varsity basketball team.

Many Paly athletes like Petriceks have encountered practices that have reached lengths of up to three hours. In Petriceks’ case, his practice happened to be on the weekend, but athletes throughout many sports at Paly have been subject to extensive workouts during the school week as well. Whether it’s the football team running drills well into the foggy evening or the basketball team working out in the gym, it is now commonplace to see Paly teams practicing for upwards of three hours a

day. The athletes who play these sports sit down start their homework at 9 p.m. and wonder if playing their sport is really worth it.

This raises an important question: How much is too much?

The main issue for athletes has been not so much the intensity of practices but the duration of them, and how they begin to influence life outside of school. Although intensity does play a role, the length of practices is what tends to rub athletes the wrong way.

Many athletes believe that practices drag on for hours on end, and they believe shorter, more efficient practices are ideal for athletes and coaches alike.

“Practices are just flat out too long,” Mark said, whose name has been changed upon request. “I feel like I am going to three hours of hell rather than three hours of something that should be enjoyable.”

Athletes have not only expressed concern over how long practices are, but also over how these practices affect academics and life outside of school.

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One of these athletes, Eilon Tzur (‘13), found it difficult to juggle both sports and academics this year. Tzur recently had to quit the varsity basketball team as a result of the long practices and the time commitment that comes with being a varsity athlete.

“I had to quit basketball this year because practices were very long, and I was having trouble balancing sports and school,” Tzur said.

Tzur understood the commitment that it took to play on the team, but was weary of the effect it had on his academics.

“We would have three hour practices on the weekends, and they would take so much out of you that you wouldn’t have the energy to do anything the rest of the day, including schoolwork,” Tzur said.

However, Tzur is aware of the extreme time commitment required to play varsity sports.

“I do think practices need to be toned down a bit, but I do understand that’s what it takes at the varsity level,” he said.

Many athletes believe that practices should be shorter, but they understand that with shortening practice time, intensity of drills and scrimmages might pick up.

“I can deal with shorter but more intense practices but I hate the slow, long practices,” Mark said. “I don’t think the players like being out there for that long. I don’t even think coaches like being out there for that long. It would just help both sides to shorten practices.”

When asked about how long coaches are advised to have practice, Principal Phil Winston responded in an e-mail interview that there are no specific rules that are in place.

“We give coaches guidelines, but no rules,” Winston said. “Folks are profes-

sionals and understand the needs of our student-athletes.”

However the Central Coast Section (CCS) rule book states in Article V, Section 3 that “Any single practice session shall be no longer than three hours in length.” It further goes on to say that “Penalties are also outlined for violations of this bylaw.”

“We’ve had a couple practices on the weekends that have gone over three hours,” Petriceks said.

However, not all Paly athletes are subject to long practices. Kalen Gans (‘12) wrestles on the Paly varsity team and does not endure the same length of practices that other Paly athletes do.

“Practices are around two and a half hours, and for wrestling they are perfect in terms of length,” Gans said.

“They aren’t too long, but we do get a solid workout in.”

The National Center for Sports Safety released a study on how long workouts affect the athletes themselves, and their respective teams. The study cited many side affects of over-training, but focused on three main effects that are possibly influential in a team setting.

These potential side affects were: Lack of motivation to practice, getting tired easily, and irritability and unwillingness to cooperate with teammates.

And, according to the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, more than half of all sports injuries occur at practice. According to these studies, by training for longer period of time, coaches may be in fact hurting their team rather than helping it.

AP Psychology teacher Chris Farina offered his professional opinion on how long practices affect athletes mentally.

“The most common psychological effect of extended participation (and/ or specialization) in a competitive sport is burnout,” Farina said in an e-

mail interview.

Tzur echoed Farina’s opinion on the fact that athletes can burn themselves out.

“Practices take up a lot of time, and they take so much out of you physically and mentally, [that] it is hard to get work done after a grueling three hour practice,” Tzur said. Shorter practices might ease the mental and physical toll on athletes.”

Farina went on to include some negative effects of over-training.

“Negative effects include fear of failure, stress, poor grades, lack of socialization outside the sport,” he said.

Tzur once again reiterated Farina’s conclusions.

”The most common psychological effect of extended participation [and specialization] in a competitive sport is burnout,” psychology teacher Chris Farina.

“The amount of time I put into sports does not outweigh the importance of school and other things going on in my life,” Tzur said. “I can’t say that I have lost the passion for the sport but I can say I have lost some interest, which directly affects the way I play.”

Gans agrees with Farina how practice affects athletes outside of school.

“Outside of school, practice affects me because I feel so tired and it’s hard to get homework done, or anything done for that matter,” Gans said.

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Paly athletic trainer Josh Goldstein cites rest as a factor of why athletes are “burned out” by the end of the week.

“Rest is a big component, and when you are practicing for upwards of three hours a day, every day, you lose that ability to rest,” Goldstein said.

Tzur agrees with Goldstein on the fact that rest is pivotal for athletes, and he believes that lack of proper rest can increase stress.

“By the end of the week, my body was pretty much drained, and throwing games in there, it’s hard to find time to rest your body,” Tzur said.

“Some people may handle the stress better than others but in my case it was just too much.”

Varsity football player Alec Furrier (’13) feels that Paly’s success with athletics has contributed to the drastic increase in practice time.

“Paly sports [teams] are out there competing and beating many private schools out there so I think coaches want to try to elevate their teams potential to try to emulate how the private schools work, ” Furrier said.

However, Furrier does not agree with the way coaches try to elevate their team’s performance.

“I understand that coaches have to get a certain amount of things done every practice but sometimes I think they need to look at it from the athlete’s perspective,” Furrier said.

The consensus among athletes at Paly is that practices have been extended because of the success Paly has seen in athletics. Multiple CCS and state championships in various sports have caused coaches to try to elevate the standards and expectations of their teams. However, coaches may be doing this at a risk, putting their player’s bodies, well-being, and enjoyment on the line. <<<

The Viking

From left: Kris Hoglund (‘12), Mira Ahmad (‘12) Ben Macias (‘12)

Features

Photos by Grant Shorin

Road to Recovery

by Nina Kelty

Athletes share their redemption stories after injuries.

B

en Macias (‘12) walked up in the back field, preparing to stop any ball carrier coming his direction.

After the ball snapped and the play began, his knee smashed into his opponent, forcing him to fall to the ground.

The weight of his 200-pound opponent collapsed on top of him. Macias’ foot stayed rooted to the turf while his knee continued to twist, tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, more commonly known as the ACL. “It was the most painful [thing I’ve ever felt],” Macias said.

This injury alone would have cost Macias nine months, forcing him to sit out for the rest of his sophomore season. However, the injury time was extended when his doctor found that Macias’ ligament had reattached incorrectly and had gradually re-torn on its own.

Once again, Macias needed reconstruction surgery. He missed his junior year football season, a crucial time for college recruiting. After sitting out for a total of a year and a half, Macias finally

got permission to play. In the spring of his junior year, he tried out for the lacrosse team. However, during tryouts, a lacrosse ball hit Macias, making him lose his balance. His knee gave out, and he tore his ACL for the third time.

After three ACL reconstruction surgeries, Macias had to sit out nearly two years.

Career ending injuries in sports are common across the country. According to Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford 3.5 million children throughout the country are injured participating in organized sports each year.

Stanford trained psychiatrist Zaakir Yoonas has found a connection to these sports injuries with depression, which he expressed in his blog. “[The] structure, organization and discipline in playing competitive sports; it provides one with a sense of purpose and belonging,” Yoonas wrote.

“For someone who comes to be the sport and knows little outside of it, the sudden lack of structure can be deflat-

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ing.”

Lacrosse and soccer player Kris Hoglund (‘12) also faced a severe injury that prevented him from participating in what he loved most: Sports. He was primarily a lacrosse player and a member of the soccer team for fun. Hoglund was the goalie, although he had no previous experience at the position.

On Jan. 6, 2011, Hoglund broke his shin bone while playing goalie in a soccer game.

“He went down to get a ball and another player came in to his knee, right through his shin guard, and cracked his tibia completely in half,” Hoglund’s mom Ellen Kritzberg said.

After the painful break, Hoglund was expected to sit out the rest of the soccer season and the first half of the lacrosse season for a total recovery time of nine months. However, three and a half months into his recovery time, Hoglund’s shin appeared to have set incorrectly. His doctors had to forcibly re-break his shin and perform surgery for it to heal correctly.

member being in the hospital. Ahmad suffered constant ringing in her ears and endless headaches for weeks following her concussions. She struggled to concentrate in class for long periods of time, making school much more challenging.

Despite the physical aspects of an injury, pains, what Ahmad dreaded most was the transition to a soccerfree life.

“It’s very confusing [and upsetting] when something that’s been such a big

An x-ray of Kris Hoglund’s (‘12) broken tibia. part of your life is suddenly taken away from you,” Ahmad said.

As a senior Ahmad has been practicing with the girls’ varsity soccer team, but her doctors and parents are preventing her from ever competing on the field again.

“All of it has been [hard], but playing high school soccer knowing I’m not actually playing high school soccer [games, and] being so close to [playing] like he would have imagined as a sophomore radiating potential.

Senior starting running back Dre Hill (‘12) understands the affect of losing Macias.

“He played with all of his heart [and] when we lost him we needed to find someone to fill his shoes,” Hill said.

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photo provided by Kris Hoglund

After leading his lacrosse team to a league championship the year prior with 58 goals and 35 assists, Hoglund struggled to watch his teammates throughout the 2011 season from the sidelines.

“I had to watch my team lose a few really close one-goal games and just not being there on the field and able to help them was really hard,” Hoglund said.

Hoglund no longer had a schedule packed with lacrosse and soccer practices everyday of the week. Instead, he went home everyday knowing he would have nothing to do but study.

Being immobile with hours to work on his homework every night, Hoglund found it challenging to concentrate.

“I just had to work harder on my academics [because] I didn’t have that effort to put in athletics anymore,” Hoglund said.

The injury changed his life completely.

“As I went through the recovery process I realized how awful and hard it was to [be injured for so long],” Hoglund said “[Being injured] made the really simple things you don’t think about really difficult.”

Varsity soccer player Mira Ahmad (‘12) suffered three severe concussions, forcing her to be sidelined on and off for the last year and a half. Her third concussion ended her soccer career completely.

Ahmad’s first concussion left her unconscious for thirty seconds. She was shoved in the back of her head while taking a shot, and her head was slammed to the ground. After a six month rest, Ahmad came back to soccer only to suffer an even more severe concussion, leaving her unconscious for two minutes and was immediately hospitalized.

Due to short-term memory loss from her concussions she does not re-

“But, we couldn’t really find anybody [because] he was such a great player.”

As a senior he is not a captain, starter, or leader of the team as he had hoped before his injury. “[Before my injury] I thought football was going to take me somewhere, but now it can’t because the coaches don’t give me a chance,” Macias said. “[And now I] do a lot more [troubling] stuff that I shouldn’t be doing.”

Due to his injury Macias feels that his chances to play Division I football right after high school have evaporated.

“Now I’m a senior and it’s already too late,” he said.

Although Macias no longer plays for the Palo Alto Football team anymore, he plans to continue to play in the future. Next year Macias will play in Junior College in hope to be recruited to Division I football schools from there.

“If I’m gonna risk tearing my leg again it’s going to be actually playing football, and not being a practice dummy,” Macias said.

Unfortunately, Ahmad played in her last soccer game almost a year ago and she has now given up hope to ever play soccer at a competitive level again.

Rebuilding a tough mentality can often be the hardest transition back into a competitive athletic environment.

“The mental aspect is the hardest part,” Paly trainer Josh Goldstein said.

“There’s still that mental block that says ‘wait, I got hurt doing this so I’m going to protect myself.’ You’ve got to get over that in order to perform your sport to its highest level.”

Although sports can be everything for high school athletes, tragic injuries like these put them into perspective.

“Breaking my leg has shown me that athletics can be taken away at any time,” Hoglund said. “You have to enjoy where you are even if you don’t have that.” <<<

The Viking

Features

SPORTSMANSHIP

The Paly softball team shakes hands with the Homestead Mustangs following a game.

photo by Alex Kershner

Good sportsmanship, bad sportsmanship, and everything in between.

by Austin Poore

I

magine that your football team was beaten 26-0. You are bruised, battered, and in a horrible mood after being shut out and humiliated during the loss. You wearily line up and shake hands with the other team. Suddenly, however, after shaking hands with one of your opponents, you feel a sharp pain shooting through your hand and look down to find a fresh puncture wound on your palm. Adding insult to the injury of the loss, you realize that the player has a tack under his glove, and is now heading down the line stabbing your teammates one by one.

Sound like an unpleasant hypothetical situation? Absolutely. Unfortunately, this event actually happened this fall at a high school football game in Ohio on Sept. 30. When McClain High School met Washington High School in Greenfield, Ohio, Washington came away with a win. After the game, a Washington player who did not even play went through the handshake line with a tack in his glove. He managed to injure 28 McClain players before they realized what was going on, forcing each victim to go get a tetanus shot afterward.

The player has since admitted his guilt and been sentenced to 28 days in a juvenile detention center.

Paly football player Alec Furrier (‘13) would be disturbed to hear of anybody doing that, regardless of who they were.

“I feel like that was very immature,” Furrier said. “I would obviously be very angered and upset about that, even if it was a teammate.”

Events of that severity are not common, but nevertheless bring up the touchy issue of sportsmanship.

Unfortunately, sportsmanship tends to only become an issue in the negative sense, with stories of bad sportsmanship popping up much more frequently than stories of good sportsmanship.

That is the nature of the beast, since basic displays of sportsmanship, like postgame handshakes, have become so common and widespread that they are frequently taken for granted. This shows a promising step, but despite kids being taught good sportsmanship at a young age, bad sportsmanship remains a problem.

As good athletes learn, poor sportsmanship is deplorable for many reasons, including disrespect, ruined reputations and potential harm not just to the poor sport, but to teammates and opponents as well.

Naturally, different sports have sportsmanship rituals as diverse as the games themselves, ranging from high school basketball players shaking hands with opposing coaches before games to professional soccer players exchanging jerseys after. Under the surface, however, common themes emerge in many of these displays.

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The consensus among Paly athletes seems to be that above all, good sportsmanship keeps athletic competitions from developing into anything too serious.

Varsity volleyball player Becca Raffel (‘14) offers an explanation of her view of bad sportsmanship.

“A bad sport is someone who behaves disrespectfully towards other players, coaches, teammates, fans or referees,” Raffel said. “I think they behave like this because it is human nature to look for someone to blame when something goes wrong.”

She remembers seeing some of this frustration from Marymount fans after the recent State Championship volleyball game when the Lady Vikes triumphed.

“After we won, the whole group of [Marymount fans] behind the bench ripped one of our warm-up shirts in half,” she said.

Although it may be human nature for athletes and spectators to get frustrated when things do not go their way, Clay Carey (‘12) emphasizes the importance of good sportsmanship regardless.

“Sportsmanship is important because it keeps the game fun,” Carey said. “It keeps the game pure.”

Carey has played baseball at Paly for the last three years, and has seen opposing teams show a lack of sports-

manship. He recalls one game from his freshman year when another team lost badly and then retaliated off the field.

“It was at Paly and we ended up beating them about 19-1,” Carey said. “We could tell they were getting frustrated, and then when we came out to practice [the next day], the bat racks smelled like [urine].”

While this did not cause physical harm to any Paly players, it still serves as a prime example of the kind of poor sportsmanship that often exists.

“It’s kind of an unwritten rule that you don’t do anything to the other team based on what’s happening on the field,” Carey said.

As a varsity basketball player, Mathias Schmutz (‘13) has also seen what can happen when players lose control of their emotions and act out. Often, their actions can make the game much more dangerous for all involved. Schmutz recalls one story from last season.

“Last year against Menlo, Israel [Hakim (‘12)] was going up for a layup and some guy [on the other team] grabbed his jersey and pulled him down,” Schmutz said. “The only explanation is that we were up by 20 and he was [frustrated].”

Although Hakim avoided serious injuries, this sort of play is a reminder of what can happen when a frustrated player acts out recklessly.

“Being emotional is a terrible excuse for being a bad sport and trying to hurt people,” Schmutz said.

Sometimes, on the other hand, acts that may seem reckless on the field are actually established traditions designed to prevent events from getting out of hand. In professional baseball, for example, it is fairly common for pitchers to protect their teammates who get hit by a pitch. They often risk ejection by hitting someone on the other team in the next inning. While a casual observer might believe that it is an unnecessary act of retaliation, the act is understood and accepted by players, and keeps events under control.

Paly athletes are by no means immune to sportsmanship controversies, as the football team found out during a recent trip to Milpitas High School.

When players get injured in some

sports, teams sometimes choose to kneel while the player is down.

“This guy injured his leg [during the game], and [while trainers tended to him] everyone took a knee on the other team. We didn’t, and some woman yelled at us, [saying] that we were being disrespectful,” Furrier said.

Paly football coach Earl Hansen believes it was just a misinterpretation, however, relating it to a recent professional game. “[Taking a knee] has nothing to do with sportsmanship,” Hansen said.

“Did you see the [San Francisco] 49ers game? They had a major injury...guy had a broken arm. There was no one taking a knee. None of them. They were going up to him saying, ‘You good?’ that type of stuff. But taking a knee has nothing to do with sportsmanship or disrespect.”

While this bit of perceived bad sportsmanship in fact turned out to be

ever, with no regard for the score, a pair of Central Washington players teamed up and carried Tucholsky around the bases, allowing her home run to stand.

Postgame handshakes may not be quite as spectacular, but Raffel says that in volleyball, like many other sports, they remain important.

“It’s nice to be able to congratulate or console a friend after a match well played,” Raffel said.

Many of the most common displays of sportsmanship besides shaking hands come when players are injured. These include making sure the injured player is okay and helping them up.

Athletes put their bodies on the line for their team’s success, and with that sacrifice, sometimes they get hurt.

Teammates and opponents can show their respect for selfless play by offering assistance or making sure the player is okay. Pitchers in baseball do a similar thing when they accidentally hit

“It’s kind of an unwritten rule that you don’t do anything to the other team based on what’s happening on the field,” -- Clay Carey (‘12)

just a result of differing interpretations on the part of the team and the Milpitas fans, it remains true that most sportsmanship stories are negative. Stories that relate to bad sportsmanship pop up far more frequently than stories of good sportsmanship.

So why do instances of bad sportsmanship overshadow the good?

To put it simply, routine. Good sportsmanship has become commonplace with most athletes, so it is not as notable. Postgame handshakes only become a story if something goes wrong.

Of course, there are occasional stories of sportsmanship so good that they cannot go unnoticed. When Central Washington played Western Oregon in a softball game in April 2008. Sara Tucholsky, a Western Oregon player, hurt herself running the bases after hitting a home run, which would require a pinch runner to enter at first base and cause the hit to count as a single. How-

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an opposing batter with a pitch.

“Most of the time, I see pitchers making sure the batter is okay,” Carey said.

“If I don’t see them doing that, it’s just selfish.”

Although selfishness and disrespect are common threads, it is tough to weave all bad sportsmanship together with a single definition. It is easier to come at the issue from the other side and describe good sportsmanship instead.

Raffel puts it all together with a definition of good sportsmanship.

“Good sportsmanship is when someone can take all the curve balls and adversity thrown at them and appreciate it as a part of the game, and also be respectful of the opponent at all times,” she said.

These terms make sportsmanship sound as simple as it should be, as long as players keep one thing in mind: Respect. <<<

The Viking

Tiger Parents Cover Story

by Charlotte Biffar design by Emy Kelty photography by Grant Shorin

S

trike three. Two words a baseball player hears time and time again.

Even Barry Bonds, the home run king, struck out 1539 times in his 22-year career. Even the most successful athletes fail. But for one parent, strike three was intolerable.

“When his son walked back to the dugout, his dad just started breaking him down,” recalls a Palo Alto High School junior.

Not only did this player burst in to tears, but his performance on the field worsened. This dad’s reaction to failure ultimately played a role in the fact that this athlete went on to quit baseball altogether.

In Palo Alto, the dangers and risks of academic pressures are discussed widely across campuses. Many are now familiar with the label “Tiger Mom,” a term introduced by author Amy Chua, (see sidebar) to describe a parent who puts intense demands on their child to succeed academically.

But beyond the classroom, Tiger Parents can be found in the bleachers, on the sidelines, pool decks and rinks across Palo Alto. The behavior of “Tiger Sports Parents,” who place enormous pressures on their children to excel in sports, can

36

affect the community, including umpires, coaches, other parents, teammates and most of all, the kids themselves.

In light of recent parental influence on the administration’s decision to dismiss the entire water polo staff last month [see online story], The Viking decided to investigate the concept of Tiger Sports Parenting in our community.

Through the years, Paly has built a reputation for having outstanding athletes with three state championships in the past two years and 43 members of the 2011 graduating class continuing on to compete at the collegiate level. Parents can play an important part in their students’ success.

When asked what the sports parent role should be, many Paly athletes indicated that the most important job was to support their kid in a positive way.

What is considered support to a parent, however, can be seen as pressure from a child.

“I think it is for me impossible not to even inadvertently place pressure on kids…” Bob Wenzlau, a parent of three Paly athletes, two who have competed at Princeton University and Kenyon College, said. “There’s no way to avoid it.”

To be sure, not all pressure is negative, according to Paly soccer and lacrosse player Kris Hoglund (‘12).

When it’s not just a game: tiger parenting in sports

“Some players, if their parents are pushing them really hard, they can respond well to the pressure, and they can really succeed and do well,” Hoglund said.

Many students pointed out that their parents push them to reach their full potential, and they find this encouragement helpful.

Paly assistant football coach, Steve Foug, agrees that parents can play a beneficial role.

“We have a great community of parents here,” Foug said.

“It’s a competitive environment in this city, that sometimes lends itself to some pressures, but by and large we have real positive interactions with parents.”

One expert in the field of youth sports, Jim Thompson, offers a model for successful, positive sports parenting.

Thompson is a Stanford professor, author, founder and executive director of the non-profit Positive Coaching Alliance (see sidebar).

According to Thompson, “the ideal is that kids feel unconditional support and caring from their parents, this huge support for whatever you want to do in your life.” He added, “The opposite of that is when parents, either explicitly or subtly, indicate to their kid that how well they do in an activ-

37

ity, such as sports, colors how they feel about them.”

While there are countless Palo Alto parents who play a positive and vital role in their kids’ sports experience, there are exceptions. Examples of how Tiger Sports Parenting cross a line from supportive to over-involved and even abusive, can take many forms. Tiger Parent behavior can range from yelling at their kid, referees or other teammates, pressuring the coach, bribing their athlete or punishing them, to other more serious forms of emotional and even physical abuse.

Aggressive parent involvement is not confined to just one sport. Wenzlau has encountered this behavior in his time around the pool.

“A parent as a spectator of a sport will start hollering from the deck at the student in the pool, either coaching them or making gestures indicative of failure,” Wenzlau said.

These verbal outbursts can cause the athlete’s performance to deteriorate.

“I had a good friend whose dad was the coach of the team and he was a very good player... Most of the time he was doing pretty well so he would be happy and his dad would be happy,” Hoglund said. If things did not go well, however,

The Viking

Cover Story “rather than just making one mistake, his dad yelling at him would lead to two and three mistakes.”

Some parents recognize the temptation to be hard on their athletes.

“I think I need to watch myself when I start being critical,” Susan, a Paly mother whose name has been changed upon request, said. “But I’m known to do it. I’ve chewed my kids up.”

A sports parent’s behavior goes beyond just putting pressure on their own kids. It may include harassing a coach.

This presents a difficult balancing act for a coach.

“Sports have discretion where a coach chooses which athlete to play or positions...” Wenzlau said.

“I think it can make a complicated environment for the coach to not only be managing players but essentially to be managing the parents.”

Several parents do not hesitate to communicate

their displeasure over the treatment of their kid to a coach, official, or even the school administration. The recent dismissal of the boys’ water polo coaching staff due to parent complaints has led some players to feel the parents meddling was unwarranted.

“I feel overall that parents played too large a role in dealing with their kids in this instance, because part of dealing with coaches and dealing with people in your life needs to be done by yourself,” captain Aaron Zelinger (‘12) said.

Referees get their share of insults from parents, which have not gone unnoticed by Paly students.

“Even in high school sports, the parents get too involved and will go off on an ump or a ref and get in their face,” Paly lacrosse midfielder Walker Mees (‘13) said.

Some athletes see the tendency for parents to attempt to coach their kids as one of the worst examples of over-involvement. Students claim that it is rarely the case that the parent is more experienced than the coaching staff or the athletes playing.

“You can definitely see parents over-coaching their kids especially if they’re not really related to the program,” Mees said. “...we definitely have parents... yelling stuff from the sidelines and talking to other players.

It gets kind of frustrating too because they don’t know what they’re talking about even though they think they do.”

Paly ice skater Sara Billman (‘13), a representative of the U.S. Figure Skating Association in international competitions for the past four years, agrees that parents often do not have much knowledge of the sport, but continue to obsess over an athlete’s performance.

“There are certain groups of parents that are always standing at the glass windows video-taping their children and yelling at them for everything they are doing wrong...”

Billman said.

The pressure that parents place on athletes can extend to micro-managing their physical condition as well. Wenzlau feels that parents should consider the impact.

“I think parents need to recognize that a rested and relaxed athlete is actually a better athlete than an over-stressed athlete,” Wen-

POSITIVE COACHING ALLIANCE Jim Thompson is the author of eight books and founder Positive Coaching Alliance. PCA is a national nonprofit with the mission to provide all youth athletes a positive, character-building sports experience.

PCA reaches youth and high school sports leaders, coaches, athletes, parents, and officials through live workshops, online courses, published books, articles, and a series

of alliances with nationally-recognized coaches, athletes, academicians, businesses and national youth sports organizations.

Paly parents can find tools on the PCA website at www.positivecoach.org.

zlau said.

Eating disorders, over-training, and playing through injuries and illness are often symptoms of a hard-driving parent.

“There’s always the pressure in skating to become lighter or become skinnier,” Billman said. “There was this case where this girl developed anorexia over time because her mom was like ‘oh you’re too big,’ and things like that.”

There are also times when parents publicly cross a line into verbally abusive behavior. Susan recalls a horrific incident at a girls’ lacrosse game at Menlo Atherton high school.

It occurred a few years ago, in the context of the tragic series of student suicides on the local train tracks.

“A parent from the other team who was very vocal shouted something to the effect of ‘go back to where the train tracks are!’” Susan said. “He was shouting it towards the Paly girls who were out there playing lacrosse. It was shocking, absolutely shocking.”

Beneath both radical and subtle behavior lies the motivation behind a Tiger Sports Parent. College is often a driving force behind parent’s over-ambition.

“We talk to our kids about the college recruiting process and recognize that athletics is a great tool for getting admittance,” Wenzlau said.

From a student’s perspective, however, the parent’s goal to have their kid play in college places additional pressure on the athlete’s high school experience. For some parents, sports are perceived as a ticket to a good school.

“[Paly parents are] sending their kids out on travel teams, putting their kids on club teams, pretty much going year round, spending all kinds of money, thinking that it’s automatic that they’re going to be D-1 athletes somewhere and get a free education,” Athletic Director and football coach Earl Hansen said.

The data shows, however, that the chances of a high school athlete going on to play college sports, let alone professionally, are very low.

“We were a state team last year and we had one full scholarship off of that team,” Hansen said.

One explanation for obsessive parenting at Paly is due to the high number of over-achiever parents in this community.

“Don’t assume because you happen to be a hard-charging attorney, or a doctor, or a research scientist, or a business entrepreneur that that same thing is going to be what sparks your kid,” Thompson said.

He adds that misplaced parental pride often plays a role as well.

“The pressure that a parent can put on a kid to perform well for them, ‘do it for me,’ means ‘make me look good as a parent by playing well.’”

From the perspective of parents, however, having certain expectations or making demands of their kid seem only fair, given the sacrifice parents make in terms of time and money in support of their athlete.

“One of my kids had an absolutely terrible game and I was so mad,” Susan said.

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Julie Foudy, captain of the Women’s World Cup-winning U.S. National Women’s Soccer Team, is one of many that supports the PCA.

The Viking

Cover Story

“Ultimately it’s not Mom or Dad running She felt it was fair to expect them to push themselves hard.

“If they were going to go out there and try their best, I was in,” Susan said. “But if they were not going to go out there and try their best, I’m done.”

Parental pressures are not only fueled by high expectations. Students report a sense that often parents attempt to live through their children in areas where parents either excelled or might have fallen short.

“If that parent was really involved in high school or even played professional sports, they’ll pressure their kid way too much...even if it’s not what the kid really wants,” Hoglund said.

Palo Alto does have its share of overly-ambitious parents, but this does not completely explain Tiger Sport parenting, according to Thompson.

“There are other places where there are highly educated, high achievement-oriented parents, but the reality is that our whole society is win-at-all-costs,” Thompson said.

Student athletics may carry much more significance for the parent than for the child, which can drive parents to push their kids to excel in sports.

The “symbolic power in youth sports,” Thompson said, means “ that we contribute more to it than really what is there. How well your team does is really pretty inconsequential to what kind of successful, fulfilled life you’re going to have... The economic insecurity means the parent thinks, ‘oh my god my kid’s got to do well in this or he’s going to be a loser the rest of his life,’’ Thompson said.

The costs of these pressures on athletes are enormous and the consequences can be severe. Paly students repeatedly told of examples where friends quit a sport in response to parent pressure.

“[Parents] should always remember that you play sports to have fun, you don’t play sports to win every game,” lacrosse midfielder Jonathan Glazier (‘13) said.

What leads to the decision to quit is often the fact that athletics stop being enjoyable for the student.

“...If you lose the passion, the joy of something, then it’s hard to stick with it through the hard times, and there are always hard times, no matter how talented you are...” Thompson said.

A more serious and tragic consequence of Tiger Sports Parent pressure is the negative impact on the parents’ rela-

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tionship with their children.

“I think the biggest casualty of parents losing sight of the real purpose of sports is that the relationship gets off kilter and sometimes it never gets back on again,” Thompson said.

Glazier also agrees that an overwhelming amount of parental involvement causes athletes to “get turned off from the sport and from you [a parent] also.”

Given these various motives driving Tiger Sports Parent pressures, and the serious consequences for families, communities and the athletes themselves, organizations like Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) are trying to provide solutions. The PCA offers steps kids, parents and communities can take. It is essential for the athlete to have an honest discussion with his or her parents about these issues.

“It is hard and can involve a lot of frustration for the parent and annoyance for the kid,” Thompson said, but it is significant and helpful, “If a child can say, ‘Here is how you can help me be the best athlete I can be.’”

For parents, the first and most important step is to be willing to honestly recognize whether they fall in to a category of Tiger Sports Parent. How does a parent know when they have crossed a line from supportive to counter-productive pressuring of their athlete?

“It’s a fine line, isn’t it?” Susan said.

For others interviewed, the difference between constructive parenting and Tiger Parenting is easily recognizable.

“Being supportive is when you give your kid help when they ask for it,” Hoglund said.

up and down the field,” Susan said.

While it may be tough for parents not to delve too deep in to trials and tribulations of their children’s athletic career, Thompson agrees that a parent is embracing Tiger Sport Parent behavior, “If it hurts the parent more when a child loses, than it hurts the child...”

Asking the question “whose activity is this, who owns this activity?” helps a parent determine his or her role, according to Thompson.

Susan observed that drive and passion needs to come from the athlete.

“It can’t come from an intense parent, a typical tiger mom or tiger dad because ultimately it’s not mom or dad running up and down the field, doing a ton of sit-ups, and weight training,” Susan said.

The parent’s job, regardless of their own athletic ambitions for their kid, is to help him or her explore and discover

something that excites them.

As lacrosse attacker Kimmie Flather (‘12) put it, “Be there for a kid when they make a certain decision but let them choose their own path because they are going to find more about themselves.”

She added, “If the parent is always there to tell them what to do and push them in certain directions they are not going to really figure out who they are.”

Finally, it is vitally important for the parent to understand how much there is to be gained by focusing on the bigger picture for their athlete, according to Thompson. For example, the opportunity to develop resilience will play a crucial role in determining a child’s later success in life.

“There is no one in the world who hasn’t failed a lot,” Thompson said. “ Resilience may be the number one attribute for successful people. A lot of brilliant people don’t ac-

Sports Parents

Tiger Sports Parents,” who place enormous pressures on their children to excel in sports, can affect the community, including umpires, coaches, other parents, teammates and most of all, the kids themselves.

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The Viking

Cover Story complish much because they can’t pick themselves up after they fail.”

In order for young athletes to grow, parents need to let their children experience disappointment and even failure in sports.

“Being an athlete is part of a process of growing up and learning to deal with the real world,” Zelinger said.

Thompson wants parents to remember that “setbacks are just as much teachable moments as victories are.”

This means parents should not lose sight of the big picture and get agitated over the outcome of a game, about playing time, or about why some other kid was picked for most valuable player.

This kind of reaction on the part of the parent resembles Tiger Parent behavior. Chua expresses in her book the concept that a Tiger Mom will not tolerate anything but greatness. Driving your child to be “great” transforms into pushing them to be perfect, instead of pushing them to be their best.

“Perfectionism is a stifling, negative, toxic environment for any person to be in, because if you have to be perfect, if you have to be great every time and there are negative consequences for not being great, then what typically happens is you begin avoiding situations where you can fail,” Thompson said.

So rather than asking how a son or daughter can be better at sports, Thompson urges parents to ask, “How can sports help my child become a better person?”

Sports have the potential to help people figure out who they are, who they want to be, and how they want to fit in to the world.

“All of us at every age are trying to find our important place in the world…we all want to do something to contribute, be an important part of the world, not just passing through,” Thompson said.

While growing up can be challenging, kids often seek their parents’ guidance, but more importantly, encouragement. Win or lose, many look to the sidelines hoping their parents are cheering them on.

“A lot of parents do love their kids unconditionally but they need to be really explicit about that,” Thomspon said.

“Before a game say something like, ‘I’m proud of you, win or lose, no matter how you play today I love you...’”

This would be the opposite approach compared to Tiger Parenting, where only the best is good enough.

Ultimately, loving parents want their children to be happy, and to feel their lives have meaning and purpose. Sports can help contribute to this sense of value, but Thompson emphasizes that, “They really need to be learning how to become great people, as well as great athletes.” <<<

A year ago the term “Tiger Mom” hit the media with the publication of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, by Amy Chua.

Chua includes accounts of forcing her daughter to practice the piano for hours “right through dinner into the night.”

Her rules included no sleepover, no playdates, no school plays, no

TV or computer games, no grades below an A, no choice in extracurriculars, no choice in instruments to play, and the demand to be the number one student in every class except for PE and Drama.

“[Parents] don’t know what they’re talking about even though they think they do,” Walker Mees (‘13) said.

AMY CHUA’S TIGER MOM

Many were horrified by Chua’s strict and demanding approach to parenting depicted in her novel, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.

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ZOOM

Melanie Wade (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;12) serves against Marymount during the Division I State Championship game at Concordia University in Irvine. Wade was named MVP and finished with 27 kills en route to a second title in two years. photo by Paige Borsos

No “A”, No Play When sports override the importance of education

photo by Scotty Bara

Features

by Michael Strong

I

n the phrase ‘student-athlete’, student always comes first. The problem begins when school falls second to sports for both players and coaches. Coaches are beginning to keep a tighter leash on their star players in order to keep them eligible to play. This begs the question of whether or not coaches actually care about their players or if they simply are trying to protect their team’s chances of winning.

E.J... Floreal (‘13) has played basketball since he first learned to walk.

When he arrived at Paly, coach Drew Slayton (no longer a Paly coach) was excited to have him on the squad. In his sophomore season, Floreal averaged 14.5 points per game to go along with his 8.7 rebounds per game. Floreal is worried that some coaches and players forget about how important education is when they are pressured to win.

“A lot of athletes get pressure from everyone: coaches, friends, teachers, etc.,” Floreal said. “But sometimes if they don’t have the right person in their ear telling them what’s really important they get lost and the whole focus for them is winning and becoming

great instead of thinking about grades and school.”

To win in sports, coaches need their players, especially their better ones, on the field. If the star players don’t make grades, then they cannot help the team win.

Coach Hansen has given grade checks for years. But with the change in expectations from the Palo Alto community after last year’s state titles, Hansen has had to make sure that bad grades don’t hold him or his team back from winning.

“Lets put it this way,” Hansen said.

“Winning is going to come with guys who come dedicated to take care of business on and off the field. Those guys, if you look over the years, are far more consistent and dependable on the field as well as off. Some need a little more urging and watching than other guys do.”

Hansen is also the athletic director for Paly, and ten years ago he hired a man named Tom Schmutz as a basketball coach. Schmutz has coached for three years as a varsity assistant, two years as head coach for the junior var-

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sity team, and the last five years coaching the frosh/soph team at Paly.

Coach Schmutz likes to win just like any other coach, but he does not think that grade checks increase his chances of winning.

“I do not give grade checks to players,” Schmutz said. “I don’t think grade checks are necessary at a school like Paly. Maybe at other schools, but because academics are so important to the majority of kids at Paly, grade checks don’t serve a great purpose.”

Floreal is the kind of player coaches nationwide are trying to make sure stay eligible. But the question is, are coaches giving these players grade checks to increase their chance of winning or because they truly care about the player/ student?

“I think grade checks are a way for a coach to act like they’re interested when they truly care about winning,” Floreal said. “But, some of them might actually care and try to get you help so you pass your classes.”

Last year, Hansen hired a new head coach for the boy’s varsity basketball team named Adam Sax. In Sax’s first

they care depends on the coach,” Pinsker said. “If a bad coach does grade checks it’s probably because he wants to keep his job. If a good coach does it it’s probably because he cares.”

Another new face to the Paly student body this year is David Drew (‘12).

Drew played basketball at Oakland Tech High School before moving to Palo Alto. Drew says that they gave the players at Oakland Tech grade checks but the system was somewhat different.

“They made us do grade checks,” Drew said. “But, we didn’t really have to get a signed signature from our teachers. If there was a problem, our teacher and coach would work it out.”

Sports are a great way for kids to escape the pressures of high school, but when sports become their priority, students and coaches must find a new way to balance winning on and off the field.

“There isn’t a strong emphasis of school to the ‘superstars’,” Floreal said.

“They think that all they have to do is play sports and do great in them and they’ll go somewhere which rarely happens.”

Pinsker however does not agree with what Floreal says about superstars in high school sports.

“Don’t really think superstars are

photo provided by Marcelo Clerici-Arias

year as head coach, he led the boys’ to a solid 19-7 record only to lose by a score of 61-39 in the Central Coast Section (CCS) semi-finals to Archbishop Mitty.

Sax has surprised some of his players in his short one-year stint as head coach for the Vikings with his grade check policy.

“I’m not used to grade checks but I don’t mind them,” Floreal said. “Coach Sax gives them to us because he cares about us on the court but also academically.”

Floreal went on to say that he does also think there is another motivation for Sax to be giving his players grade checks.

“I think that he (Sax) wants to keep his job and he doesn’t want to get in trouble,” Floreal said. “If he wants that, his players are going to have to be eligible.”

Bret Pinsker (‘13) was another freshman who found his way onto a varsity team at Paly. Pinsker has played water polo since the fifth grade, where he quickly realized he had potential to be very good. Pinsker thinks grade checks can be both helpful and sometimes silly depending on the coach.

“Whether or not the coaches give grade checks for themselves or because

given a ton of extra treatment,” Pinsker said. “Generally, superstars have to work very hard to get to where they are.”

Not every player is going to play in college, or even in professional sports.

A league championship for a high school team means nothing when the kids who won it don’t have a strong education for their futures.

Sam Newell (‘14), a soccer player, recently missed an opportunity to play for her team because of grades.

“I didn’t make grades and it definitely was disappointing and a reality check,” Newell said. “You put all this time and effort into trying to make the team and in the end you do make the team, but the next thing you know they’re telling you that you can’t play until you get your grades up.”

Newell hates grade checks for holding her back from playing, but understands grades are more important than being successful in sports.

“I think grade checks are incredibly annoying,” Newell said. “But, they do keep players in check and their morals straight. Grades come first and playing a sport is a privilege.”

Newell does not hold anything against her coach from not letting her play. She thinks that it is simply the coaches’ responsibility to keep his/her players in line.

“I think that coaches do care about their players,” Newell said. “It would be crazy if coaches tried to cheat the grade system because it should be all about the players in the first place. The coaches should give the players their grade checks and try to help them anyway they can to raise their grades so the team can win.” <<<

Sam Newell (‘14) has been unable to play this year on varsity due to some academic difficulties.

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The Viking

photo Illustration by Shannon Scheel

Columns

HALA MADRID more like lemme “hala” at you, Cristiano! He even laughs at my jokes...

S

o, readers, it’s that splendid season again: Winter. Holiday decor is more plentiful than petite freshmen wandering around campus, the air is crisp, and everyone is in good spirits. Do you know what else winter means, Paly? That excellent time of the year known as soccer season. Now I am not going to go off on a tangent about how my secret (and slightly embarrassing) fantasy of becoming a soccer star because, let’s face it: Nature would never allow that. Instead, I am going to focus on an already prominent figure in the world of futbol: Cristiano Ronaldo.

That’s right, 600 or so words about his stunning physique. Happy holidays, ladies: This is my gift to you.

There’s no denying: Cristiano is God’s gift to soccer. I’m pretty sure I speak for all beings with two X-chromosomes when I say I am captivated by his slightly sweaty six pack and glowing natural tan. Then there’s the hair, the sexy Portuguese accent...and that million-dollar smile each time his strong, toned legs send the ball sailing into the net? It makes my heart melt.

No more beating around the bush. Cristiano, you are so. Hot. No wonder you are spotted with a new international celebrity every few months in some romantic tropical getaway...sigh. (I even

Shannon Says...

Cristiano is Confidence

follow him on Twitter...talk about dedication to your man!)

His drop-dead gorgeous looks aside, Mr. Ronaldo is an athletic machine, living soccer from his first day.

He started playing on Sporting Portugal in his mid-teens. At age 18, he was signed to Manchester United for 12 million British pounds, a record sum for a player his age. Too much money?

Maybe. But my man Cristiano does not know the meaning of the word “disappointment:” He scored three of Manchester’s goals in the 2004 Football Association cup championship victory.

And that’s just the beginning. In 2008 he scored a franchise record with 42 goals in a single season and earned FIFA World of the Year honors. If THAT isn’t enough to convince you...well, Real Madrid signed him for 131 million Euros. This man is desired, not only by smitten teenage girls such as myself, but the big guns.

Reader, if you don’t comprehend that my love for Mr. Ronaldo abounds by now...I guess it’s a lost cause. But believe it or not, there is a more important takeaway from this lil’ column than that. Obviously, he is a total hottie, but look closer: The thing that makes him so attractive is his composure. I remember one Sunday when the Scheel clan was out to lunch, the Manchester v. Real Madrid game was on. I was mid-bite into my salad when my fork dropped with a CLANG to the ground: it was the first time I had seen him score.

Calm, cool, and collected, he OWNED that field. (Granted, he’s gotten into his various squabbles with other men in the futbol world, but for the most part

46

he has kept his composure. In the heat of the moment, got to cut the guy some slack.) To him, it was effortless.

In an interview in 2009, Ronaldo told reporters that “[Joining Real Madrid] means a new challenge and is going to help me be the best footballer.”

Well, the man was right. His confidence on the field is foolproof, and it shows.

It’s the swag, good looks, classy behavior combo. It is an irresistible formula.

So, yes. Athletes are attractive physically. But there are people like Matt Leinart who are kind of cute, but then you see their behavior on and off the field and it is a TURN OFF. Essentially, those who are the most successful exude confidence without being obnoxious. Like I said, cool, calm, collected. I know it seems so obvious, but you would be surprised, reader, how few people actually practice this. Especially all you high school boys: Struggling on the lady front, boys? Maybe you can take a page out of Cristiano’s book. Say what you may about the guy, but clearly he’s got this whole thing figured out.

Until next time...Scheel is out. <<<

Cristiano’s Corner

Facts and tidbits about the man behind the madness Birthday: February 5, 1985 (Aquarius) Height: 6’1” Weight: 165 lbs Twitter: @Cristiano Team(s): Manchester United, Real Madrid First goal: against Portsmouth on a free kick in November 2003 Jersey Number: 7 Status: In a relationship with Irina Shayk, Russian model (when he’s not with me...just kidding!)

Quote: “I’m living a dream I never want to wake up from.”

ALL OUT Santa Clara

Mervynâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Plaza 2118A El Camino Real Santa Clara, CA 95050 Phone: (408) 261 2255 - Fax : (408) 261 2254 Hours: Mon-Fri 10-5:30 Sat 11-5 Closed Sun

The edge on your athletic performance is not about losing your sanity.

Grab your own Sanity!

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