Volume 4 Issue 5 - Putting Sports in Perspective

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Athletes find that different obligations can conflict with sports. Choosing where to prioritize commitments can be a daily struggle.

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by Mariah Philips and Paige Borsos >>>p. 44

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Volume IV, Issue 5 April 2011

Staff List Editors-in-Chief Mary Albertolle George Brown Will Glazier

Business Managers Sam Maliska Talia Moyal Jack Smale

Managing Editors Gracie Marshall Mariah Philips Mark Raftrey Alistair Thompson

Staff Mira Ahmad Paige Borsos Sam Borsos John Dickerson Skylar Dorosin Marina Foley Kevin Kannappan Charlie Kelsey Emy Kelty Matt Lam Alan Lamarque Brennan Miller Nathan Norimoto Shannon Scheel Alana Schwartz

Design Editors Cooper Levitan Ben Sneider Photo Editors Brandon Dukovic Alex Kershner Copy Editors Peter Dennis Sam Greene Anne Hildebrand Columnists Michael Cullen Dustin Nizamian Adviser Ellen Austin

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

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

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

The Lineup April 2011

Volume IV, Issue 5 INTRO 06 | STAFF VIEW

Team captains show leadership in different ways. The VIking ponders what it means to be a captain and what they stand for.

Athletic scholarships have seen scrutiny for professionalizing certain college sports. The Viking defends granting unprivileged players the right to play.

07 | NEWS UPDATES Read about Paly’s newest sport and why it hasn’t had any competitions yet this year.

by Will Glazier Paly has a new requirement starting next year: a whopping cough vaccination.

by Mark Raftrey

08 | ZOOM

p.18 PREVIEWS

Get the scoop about how spring sports have been doing and where their seasons are heading.

p.33 LIFE IN THE FAST LANE

Check out this profile on Paly’s under appreciated track sprinters.

Both the boys and the girls are featured in this inside guide to the track team’s fastest runners.

by Shannon Scheel

4

Pictures (clockwise from top left) by Alex Kershner, Dustin Nizamian, Anne Hildebrand

10 | HOT/NOT METER, SAY WHAT, POP CULTURE GRID AND

BY THE NUMBERS 13 | ZOOM 14 | 10 QUESTIONS WITH SOFTBALL CATCHER ANNA GALE 15 | INSIDE THE MIND OF HANNAH BUNDY 16 | ZOOM 30 | ZOOM 45 | ZOOM 50 | ZOOM

p.28 THE VIKING TRIES LARP The Viking wields foam swords and shields t o conquer the world of LARP.

by Dustin Nizamian

Pictures (clockwise from top) by Alex Kershner, Anne Hildebrand, Alex Kershner

p.44 PUTTING SPORTS IN PERSPECTIVE A story of Paly athletes that make life choices.

Understand the struggles of student life in prioritizing health, school, religion and family in attempt to balance them all with sports .

by Paige Borsos and Mariah Philips

p.36 LIFE ON THE LINE

Learn about the emotional side effects of collegiate showcases on athletes.

by Kevin Kannappan

COLUMNS

25 | BASEBALL TO LAX

An athlete’s take on his transition from baseball to lacrosse in one season in addition to the struggles accompanied with learning the strategies of both sports.

by Nathan Norimoto

26 | ALAN INVITES YOU TO THE BIG DANCE Alan Lamarque gives you “slam dunk” and “air ball” tips to predicting first round upsets and reflects on this year’s men’s basketball National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament.

by Alan Lamarque

27 | ONE AND DONE

p.51 BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO BACKPACKING Read for some tips about equipment, trails and food go for wannabe backpackers.

by Anne Hildebrand

PREVIEWS

18 | SPRING SPORT PREVIEWS

PROFILES

33 | LIFE IN THE FAST LANE

FEATURES

36 | LIFE ON THE LINE 40 | THE MENTALITY OF QUALITY TRAINING The Viking explores the method of quality training in swimming, track and field and cross-country to prepare athletes for top performance as compared to quantity training.

by Skylar Dorosin

With more and more collegiate basketball stars leaving early for the NBA, the game of college basketball has taken a new shape. As players look to earn money quicker, Europe has also opened up as an alternative to college ball.

by John Dickerson

44 | PUTTING SPORTS IN PERSPECTIVE 51 | BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO BACKPACKING

28 | VIKING TRIES LARP 55 | LAST WORD

Cover photo by Alex Kershner.

Cover design by Mary Albertolle

Although second semester senior year seems like a tempting pool in the middle of a dry desert, you can get dragged into it and the return from that deep hole is a long way out.

by Michael Cullen

To see these stories and others online go to vikingsportsmag.com

April 2011

5

Kickoff

Staff Views

Staff Views Team captains command respect on and off the field

E

very group revolves around a leader. The leader leads with a commanding tone and charisma.

Beneath the hardened hide, a leader’s interests are for the collective group as a whole. In the sports world, this person has a special name: a captain.

While there may not be a swearing in ceremony or rushing celebration in which these leaders pledge allegiance to their teammates, The Viking believes that in order for a team to be successful, the team needs this special person, a leader that can carry the team to victory. With this passion, The Viking feels that the captain can capture the attention of a squad well before a symbolic armband can.

Those teams that do not have a special leader cannot have as much success as a team that does. Teams that dislike captains claim that their chemistry can get them by without one. The Viking, however, be-

lieves those teams only miss out on a special person who teammates can look to for encouragement, leadership and dependability.

Captains play a critical role in harnessing a team’s energy and directing it effectively toward a common goal. They manage positions, read situations, command respect and above all, do it willingly. They drive themselves to do their best while at the same time driving their teammates to do their best day after day.

Captains are a necessary part of sports; without them, teams would lose their focus. Without them, a team can lose motivation and have no way of getting back on track. Whether appointed by a coach or chosen by the team, captains are an integral part of teams, something The Viking believes is vital to team chemistry and success. <<<

R

sports is no easy feat, and requires hours up hours of hard work and training.

Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader recently called for the abolishment of athletic scholarships, claiming that financial aid should be need based only. The Viking disagrees, because athletic scholarships allow some people to get good educations, who otherwise would not be able to attend college.

Scholarships are opportunities for people, and should go to those who are willing to work the hardest. Receiving a scholarship is a honor, and The Viking believes that the most talented and most dedicated athletes should be offered scholarships, as a reward for all of their hard work and dedication. <<<

The necessity of scholarships in college athletics

eceiving an athletic scholarship to play at a Division I university is a common dream among athletes, but where should it fit into their lives? Athletic scholarships were created to provide academic funding to those who otherwise could not afford to attend school.

Scholarships pay for athletes to go to school, but what if someone who is financially secure receives a scholarship? Should he or she turn it down so that someone more needy will receive the money, or should they accept the scholarship any ways?

The Viking believes that scholarships should go to those athletes who are talented enough to play at the next level, and passionate enough to dedicate their lives to this goal. Playing Division 1

6

News Briefs Palo Alto Gymnastics: It Takes Two to Tango in its second year

by Will Glazier

T

he Palo Alto High School girls’ gymnastics team enters the 2011 season as a relatively unknown squad on Paly’s campus. The Lady Vikes enter their second year of competition with four duel meets scheduled against Burlingame, Los Altos, Lowell and Mercy High Schools.

The Lady Vikes varsity squad this year consists of only two members, Sophie Jorasch (’12) and Sarah Miller (’12).

These two will be competing in all four of the events that are typically held at a gymnastics meet, vault, bars, beam and floor. With only two members on the varsity team, the Lady Vikes will be unable to receive team scores, as the minimum requirement is five team members.

“We are just doing it for ourselves and helping the J.V. so hopefully they will do well as a team,” Jorasch said.

The J.V. team has 15 members who are all also cheerleaders during the fall and winter seasons. The skills learned during cheerleading carry over for many of the girls in their gymnastics pursuits.

“They aren’t really anything at all like cheer competitions, but cheer carries over because of the tumbling and dancing so a lot of the cheerleaders do it,” Jorasch said.

With only two members on the team, Jorasch and Miller will strive to improve their individual scores with the goal of placing highly in important late season meets.

The Northern Santa Clara Valley Athletic League championship will be held on Friday, May 13th at Twisters Sports Center in Mountain View, and the Central Coast Section championships will take place on Thursday, May 19th at Gymtowne in San Francisco.

“My goal is to just improve throughout the season,” Jorasch said. “Most of the awards are individual so I just want to place well and get good scores and then we want the J.V. to do well as a team. <<<

Whooping Cough Vaccination Required for PAUSD 2011-2012 Photo by Brandon Dukovic

If you plan on playing sports next year, or going to school at all, you will have to prove that you have had a whooping cough shot since your seventh birthday. According to a new immunization law, students entering grades 7-12 will have to send proof of the “Tdap booster shot” to the Central Attendance office (25 Churchill Ave.) or fax it to (650) 321-4525 by May 20.

Sarah Miller (‘12)

April 2011

7

ZOOM Torie Nielson (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;12) flies through the air in long jump in a dual meet against Lynbrook on Thursday, March 31. The girlsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; varsity track and field team won the meet 68-53, giving it its first SCVAL league meet win this year.

Photo by Anne Hildebrand PhotoIllustrationbyBrandonDukovic

Kickoff

Intro Section

GO FIGURE 30

Number of days Haris Sultani (‘10) fasted during the 2008 football season.

4 .370 53

Amount of protection provided by Sam Maliska’s metal-plated LARP armor.

Current combined batting average of the Paly baseball team.

Number of days left in the school year after spring break.

Want real-time Paly sports updates, pictures, videos and game recaps?

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www.twitter.com/thevikingmag

10

OR

H OTN OT

“Even if we are playing for a bone, a dirty stinky bone with ants all over it, I will still play my hardest.”

-Ernesto Cruz Girls’ Soccer

Creative Prom Asking From creating websites to serenading potential dates on the quad, the display of prom askings has been quite the spectacle this year. Keep up the good work fellas!

“You’re meandering around like a batch of geese!”

-Earl Hansen Football “In the words of the wise Rebecca Black-it’s Friday, Friday... gotta get down on Friday... fun, fun, fun, fun.”

-Craig Conover Boys’ Lacrosse

“That bruise is going to last longer than a hickey.”

-Tim Anderson Softball

Swimming The swimming teams are continuing what seems to be a trend this year in Paly athletics with a perfect 5-0 start to the season. The Vikings hope to sink their remaining enemies’ ships.

Holi Festival Stanford’s annual Holi festival was a great success once again. A handful of Paly students participated in covering fellow festival goers in colored powder and getting down to Bhangra music.

Charlie Sheen’s Twitter Even though his life may be going down the drain, Charlie Sheen has been providing all of the bi-losers of the world with something to laugh about via his Twitter.

Freshmen Dates Prom is a privilege not a right. Freshmen, it is advised that you sit this year out and wait your turn, especially if you don’t even know your date.

Stanford Women’s Basketball

Four straight trips to the Final Four without a national championship? Come on ladies, Uconn lost, this was the year to win it. Fifth time’s the charm?

Dodgers Fans One unlucky Giants fan couldn’t dodge the punches of a gaggle of overheated Dodgers fans. I guess it’s the price you have to pay for winning the World Series.

Charlie Sheen

He may be a rockstar from Mars who bangs seven gram rocks, but Mr. Sheen was kicked out of the spotlight by a thirteen-yearold girl who sings exclusively through her nose. Tough luck Charlie.

POP CULTURE GRID Josh Chin (‘11) Boys’ Lacrosse

Emily Swanson (‘12) Softball

Nina Kelty (‘13) Girls’ Lacrosse

Lucas Brooks (‘12) Track and Field

Swaggiest Paly athlete

Davante Adams

Mariah Philips

Obviously Ali Kershner (‘11)

Max Schmarzo (‘11)

Favorite movie quote

“You have to call me night hawk”

“Totes McGotes”

“I simply remember my “I’m kinda a big deal” favorite things”

I want ____ to sing to me

Justin Bieber

Enrique Iglesias

Christian Lonsky (‘12)... a lulllaby in opera

Lindsay Black (‘12)

Fishing or golf?

Golf

Fishing

Golf, fishing kills animals

Fishing

Charlie Sheen is...

Winning

Bi-winning

Weird

Badass

April 2011

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ZOOM

Second baseman Jack Witte (12) tags the runner out at second while starting a double play against Mountain View in Palyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 13-0 thrashing of the Spartans. The play was completed at first base by T.J. Braff as the Vikingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s defense held the shutout through all seven innings.

Photo by Ali Kershner

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ZOOM Andrew Watson (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;14) jumps out to a commanding lead in one of his many events in the meet against Homestead. The Vikings stampeded over the Mustangs 134-48, giving Paly its fifth consecutive league victory.

Photo by Ali Kershner

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10 Questions

with

Anna Gale

WHO KNOWS SENIOR SOFTBALL CATCHER ANNA GALE BETTER? FATHER TERRY GALE, BEST FRIEND KRISTINA GUZMAN or COACH TIM ANDERSON? as told to Gracie Marshall

Photos with permission by subjects

Anna Gale Orange I love a good meow but dogs are so darn loyal Why [Gracie Marshall] of course

Terry Gale

Kristina Guzman

Tim Anderson

Favorite Color

Orange

Orange

Purple

Cats or Dogs

Dogs

Both because she loves kitty (oreo R.I.P) and she loves Ike

Dogs

Gracie Marshall

Grace Stafford

Gracie Marshall

Funniest Teammate

Mexico

Dream Senior Trip Vacation

Greece

Belly button

Favorite type of body piercing

Ears

Belly button

Ears

Rock Your Body

Señorita or Sexyback

Sexyback

Best game-day snack

Carrots

Carrots and ranch

Protein bars

Long or short prom dress

Long

Short

Short

Anything choclolate

Guilty Pleasure

Chocolate

Sherry’s Almond Rocca

Chocolate

I can say this now that he is gone but I had a huge crush on Mr. Proctor

Paly teacher crush

Coach Halas

Mr. Yonkers

Chill Phil [Winston]

60% Correct

35% Correct

30% correct

I love all his jams but Favorite Justin Rock Your Body is my Timberlake song fav Terry Gale’s premade sandwiches in individual baggies with watermelon

Long

Images taken from

Puerto Vallarta with Anywhere with Mike [Hanabusa] Fwiends

Inside the Mind

“

ON SOFTBALL: Softball’s like my main sport. I’ve been playing it since I was eight years old so I’ve been playing it for a while and I enjoy it a lot. I’ve been on multiple teams and stuff where I travel and stuff like that. Paly softball is going pretty well. I mean we have a really good team, it’s just like we can’t really do some things we have the potential to be good at.

ON MOVING TO CALI: So, when I found out I was moving I was kinda sad about it because I had lived in Pennsylvania for eight years and I didn’t think I was gonna move from there because [my family and I] had moved every two years before that. So I was pretty upset about moving to [Palo Alto] but after I’ve been here for a while it’s been a lot of fun and I’ve met a lot of good people.

ON GOING TO PROM: Umm, yeah I’m going to Prom. I don’t really know the Park twins [Danny and Jason (’11)] too well but Noa Dagan (’11) and Ricky Minno (’11) set it up for us so, like I don’t think they would set us up with the wrong people. I think it should be fun like meeting them two. I’ve never been to Prom before because I’m a freshman so it should be fun to have this as a new experience.

ON BEING A FRESHMAN ON VARSITY: It’s fun. I mean I have to pick up and do all that kind of stuff but you get to hang out and meet a lot of upperclassmen and they’re a lot nicer to you [than you would expect].

Hannah Bundy by

Jack Smale

ON TRYING WATER POLO: Trying water polo was really hard at the beginning and like Hell Week was super hard.

So, like I couldn’t swim with the ball at the beginning [of the season] and it was really hard for me. I’m sure like a lot of people were wondering why I was playing and stuff but it was fun having a new experience and considering I just moved here I got to meet some of my close friends through water polo.

ON ‘THE FLOCK’ AND ‘THE SWANS’: Well, The Flock is like a name for our guy group and last year, I guess, like a couple girls made up the name “Flock” for one of the kids who like…I don’t know how all that started but they started calling that guy group “The Flock.” So, then like this year, a couple other girls decided that since “The Flock” is always together, there should be a name for the girls too and so, like since swans always fly in flocks, they decided to call us “The Swans”.

ON NICKNAMES: My nicknames…Ok, so for softball we have Honey Buns and Gracie [Marshall (’11)] and Mariah [Philips (’11)] made that up and so it kind of just stuck. And then Fundy, I kind of came up with that and it was kind of on accident and that was through softball. And then we just have like, Bundy, which is just my last name that people call me. And Bundy Butt, I guess or stuff like that, just talking about my butt.

“

Hannah Bundy (‘14), a varsity athlete and arguably most well-known freshman, was kind enough to talk to the The Viking about what goes on in her mind.

of

ON BEING A SOFTBALL SLUGGER: For hitting? Umm, I’ve been known for, like getting to hit. I’ve been working on my hitting for a while and work out with a really good hitting coach and stuff through softball.

ZOOM

In the Mission City Invitational, pitcher Julia Saul (‘13) helped her team defeat Santa Clara 9-8 with six strikeouts in five and a third innings. With the game in a tiebreaker, the Lady Vikes fought back from two runs down to tie it up after a Gracie Marshall (‘11) triple.

Grace Stafford (‘11) had the winning hit that brought Marshall home for the victory.

Photo by Alex Kershner

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2

ZOOM Lucas Fodor (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11) slams home a forehand against Los Altos on April 4, 2011. The Vikings lost 0-7 against the Eagles. Fodor is a doubles player for the Vikings, switching between the two, three and four doubles spots.

Photo by Paige Borsos

SPRING UPDATES A look at the current progress of Paly’s spring sports teams as they look to further the success of 2010-2011 athletics. Look to vikingsportsmag.com for up to date sports coverage.

BASEBALL Though it lost three of its first four games, the Paly baseball team (10-4) has picked it up, since winning nine of its past ten games.

Its loss to Los Gatos on April 1 broke a ninegame win streak and snapped the team’s perfect 7-0 league record. At 7-2, the Vikings have fallen to both Los Gatos and Wilcox High Schools standing in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League Its success has been a continuation of last years commanding record despite losing key members from last year’s CCS runner-up team, including major leaguer Joc Pederson (‘10).

This year, Paly is hitting .370 and is paced by newcomers B.J. Boyd (.571)

and Austin Braff (.562) who are recent transfers. Braff’s brother, T.J. Braff., leads the team in hitting with 19 hits and two home runs.

The team has also seen strong batting from Christoph Bono (.356), Will Glazier (.457), Christian Lonsky (.353) and Cory Tenanes (.355).

Ben Sneider (‘12) and Santa Clara bound Drake Sweezy (‘11) anchor the pitching staff. Sneider has a 5-1 record and a 0.35 earned run average.

Sweezy has a 2.10 earned run average and has a 2-1 record. They are joined

by Kevin Kannappan (‘12) who is 3-1 and has a 2.80 earned run average. Sam Maliska (‘11) has also stepped up as a reliving pitcher to secure wins for the

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Photo by Alex Kershner

R i si ng star Jack Wi tte (‘12)

Drake Sweezy (‘11)

BOYS’ LAX The boys’ lacrosse team (3-2 SCVAL) ended its three-game skid with a big win over Menlo High School, beating the Knights 10-8 after falling behind 7-5 at the half. Other key victories this season include wins against University High School, 11-9, and Los Gatos, 12-9.

The team moved up from the El Camino Division to the De Anza Division this year after winning the SCVAL championship last year. In its second season, the team has added to its strong defense with the addition of James Harrison (’14).

“James plays really smart and

it’s nice knowing that there is someone on defense who is going to be in the right spot at the right time,” captain Cooper Levitan (’11) said.

This year the Vikings are without key Midfielder Kris Hoglund (’12). Hoglund is sidelined due to a broken leg he sustained late in his soccer season.

“I’m really disappointed that I can’t play this year but I trust that my team can step it up without me,” Hoglund said.

The Vikings’ next home game is against Saratoga on April 20 at 7:00 p.m..

Photo by Sam Greene

R i si ng star Wal ke r Me es (‘13)

Kevin Proceviat (‘11)

GIRLS’ LAX The Palo Alto girls’ varsity lacrosse team has found success in its league season, remaining 5-0 in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, clinching the first place ranking. However the Lady Vikes have struggled outside SCVAL against some of the top teams in the state including Saint Ignatius, Amador Valley, and Clevelend Heights Ohio High Schools.

Important wins for the Lady Vikes include a 7-6 win over St. Fancis and 13-10 victory against Los Gatos. Both of these teams have also had successful seasons.

The team has had to step up to replace the 11 seniors who graduated last year. The Vikings also lost their

head coach, Jen Gray, who moved to the East Coast.

This year the team is relying on solid defense and athleticism from standout upperclassmen Emy Kelty (‘12) and Gracie Cain (‘11), as well as the stick-skills and shooting of Charlotte Biffar (‘13), Nina Kelty (‘13) and Kimmie Flather (‘12) who carry the attack.

The Vikings expect to continue to remain undefeated in league for the rest of the season. They also have high expectations for winning the SCVAL tournament for the second year in a row.

The Lady Vikes will take on crosstown rival Gunn High School on April 19 at Gunn at 7:30 p.m.

Photo by Brandon Dukovic

R is ing s t a r J orda n S mit h (‘13)

Jordan Smith (‘13)

April 2011

19

BOYS’ T&F Boys’ track and field started off the season strong, beating rivals Los Altos High school, 78-49 and Lynnbrook High School, 79-43. Between victories, the Vikings lost to Mountain View, High School, 71-56.

Paly will face the best athletes from Mountain View, Lynnbrook and Los Altos High schools in addition to other schools in the Vikings’ league in the De Anza Trials on May 3 and 5, 2011 at rival Gunn High School. From there some athletes will continue onto the SCVAL Qualifier at Santa Clara High School on May 13 and the CCS semi-finals and finals at Gilroy High School on May 21

and 27.

After the loss of many competitive seniors who graduated last year, the team looks to people of all grades to score points. Hurdler Grant Sauer (’11), sprinter EJ Floreal (’13), sprinter Tremaine Kirkman (’12), sprinter Morris GatesMouton (’12), jumper Victor Du (’13), long distance runner Matan Geller (’13) and thrower Tory Prati (‘12) all place regularly in meets.

“We’ll be competitors in league and we have lots of good athletes in different events so we should be sending some people to CCS,” Prati said.

Photo by Anne Hildebrand

Rising star Grant Shorin (‘13)

William Hall (‘12)

GIRLS’ T&F

The Paly girls’ track and field team is off to a difficult start to the season with a record of 2-2.

The Lady Vikes lost their first two meets to Los Altos and Mountain View with scores of 84-38 and 8938 respectively.

However the Lady Vikes a high note when the Lady Vikes beat out Lynbrook on Thursday, March 31, by a score of 68-53.

Newcomer, Pippa Raffel (‘14) has been a dominant force for the Lady Vikes, winning the 100, long jump, high jump and running the first leg in the winning 4x100 relay against Lynbrook. Raffel runs a 13.29 100 meter, jumps 15’9” in the long jump and

jumps 4’6” in high jump.

Susan Heinselman (‘11) has been leading the distance team with a mile time of 5:29.46.

For hurdles, AnaCena Zander (‘12) has been the lead scorer, sweeping hurdles in the Lynbrook meetin 17.87 seconds in the 100 m hurdles, and a time of 55.84 in the 300m hurdles.

Even with promising stars such as Raffel and Zander, The Lady Vikes are going to have to step up their performance if they want to contend for a league title this season.

The Vikings will face cross-town rival Gunn High School, at the Paly track on April 28th at 3:15 pm.

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Nora Rosati (‘13), right.

Photo by Anne Hildebrand

Rising star Pippa Raffel (‘14)

BOYS’ TENNIS The boys’ tennis team has seen both ends of the spectrum this season both in the face of losing and winning.

Despite ending up on the wrong end of several 4-3 matches, the Vikings pulled off a victory in the Boys’ California High School Tennis Classic to be crowned the Division III state champions. “[The state tournament] was a really big win,” number four singles player Chirag Krishna (‘11) said. “It gave us a lot of momentum going forward and it gave our [younger] guys a lot of experience.”

New to the team, Austian Liang (‘14) leads the Vikings as the number one

singles player followed by fellow underclassman number two Blake Smith (‘14) and number three Dar Shavit (‘12).

Krishna remains optimistic about the remainder of the season.

“We haven’t gotten the big win but we’ve been keeping them close, and who knows what will happen going forward,” Krishna said.

Key doubles players include Justin Wang (‘12), Lukas Fodor (‘11) and Andy Hammer (‘11).

The Vikings’ next home game is on April 19th against the Los Gatos Wildcats on the Paly courts at 3:30 p.m.

Photo by Paige Borsos

Rising star Blake Smith (‘14)

Austin Liang (‘14)

SOFTBALL The Paly girls’ softball (2-3 Santa Clara Valley Athletic League 4-8) team has struggled so far this season despite the team’s solid defense.

Without former pitcher Kelly Jenks (’10) who supplied the team with a strong pitching game, the Lady Vikes have turned to Grace Stafford (’11) and Julia Saul (‘14) to fill the void.

The team is still working to rebuild the team this year in the hopes of making it to the Central Coast Section championship.

Scoring has not been a problem, as short-stop Gracie Marshall (‘11) and third baseman Hannah Bundy (‘14) lead the team in hits and batting average with a combined 23 hits and .480

batting percentage. The team has established a strong offensive front, but needs to pick themselves up on the defensive side.

Besides the hotspots, the team has a pitching problem to over come before they will be able to churn out more wins.

The team will look to captains Marshall, Stafford, catcher Anna Gale (’11) and center fielder Mariah Philips (’11) to lead the team throughout the season.

The Lady Vikes’ next game is April 21 against Los Gatos High School at Los Gatos at 4:00 p.m.

Photo by Alex Kershner

Rising star Hannah Bundy (‘14)

Maya Padilla (‘13)

April 2011

21

GOLF

With only one loss in league play to cross-town rival Gunn High School, the Palo Alto High School golf team has had an impressive season thus far.

In Salinas, the team placed second with an accumulated 426 strokes in its first tournament of the season. The Vikings then went on to a four match win streak, breezing by Los Altos, Cupertino, Homestead and Mountain View High Schools.

On a roster stacked with underclassmen, one freshman particularly stands out, Sam Niethammer (‘14). Niethammer has had a running start onto the Paly golf scene, claiming the number one spot on the team and consistently

shooting in the 30’s per nine holes, never far from par.

“There are some really good players and private schools [in the area] that I can compete with,” Niethammer said. “I think I can [beat those opponents].”

The team will compete in four more league matches, preceding the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL) playoffs on May 2 and 3, 2011. With enough attention to detail and concentration, Niethammer expects the team to finish the season successfully.

“I think we should do pretty well,” Niethammer said. “We’ll go pretty far [this season].”

Photo by Brandon Dukovic

Rising star Sam Niethamer (‘14)

BADMINTON

Mathias Schmutz (‘13)

The badminton team is currently

2-3 in league with its two wins against Los Gatos and Santa Clara High Schools.

The team started out slowly after losing its first three matches of the season. Since these initial loses, however, the badminton team has come up with two straight wins.

The team has been led by team captain Kevin Kwan (‘11) and other strong upperclassmen players.

The team also looks to various underclassmen for support. Michael Wang (‘13) has stepped up as a standout in his grade. Wang has yet to be defeated in a match this year.

Jackie Wu (‘13) and Clara Lee (‘13) have also been key contributors to the team as well.

The Vikings are in the process of adjusting to the new coaches.

“I think the coaches have been focusing on the basics, footwork and form [this season],” Mike Lin (‘12) said.

With the new coaching staff, the Vikings believe that they will improve throughout the season.

“I feel like this year we will improve a lot,” Lin said.

The Vikings look to repeat the success they experienced last season of their league crown. They hope to win leagues for the second year in a row. The Vikings also aim to improve their overall record in their coming matches.

The Vikings will play their next match on April 21 at home against Mountain View High School.

22

Photo by Alex Kershner

Rising star Michael Wang (‘13)

Andrew Liu (‘12)

BOYS’ SWIMMING The Palo Alto boys’ swimming team has maintained a perfect league record in its push for a league and Central Coast Section (CCS) championship. The Vikings have gone 5-0 (4-0 in league), and recently defeated Homestead 134-48 in a league meet. Coach Danny Dye maintains high expectations for his team after last year’s failure to place in the CCS Tournament.

“I would say the only difference [from last year’s team] is that we have a little more depth and strong leadership,” Dye said. “I am really happy with our team.”

With strong competitors in all

events, the team has made its case for first in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL).

The team will benefit from strong underclassmen swimmers Andrew Liang (‘14), Willy Lee (‘14) and diver Cole Plambeck (‘13).

The team did not graduate any of its top point earners from last year. The upperclasmen leaders include Byron Sandborn (‘12), Rollin Lau (‘12), Arseny Kotov (‘11) and Corso Rosati (‘12).

The team’s main competition this year will be against Monta Vista, which the Vikings will face on Friday, April 8 at 3:30 at Monta Vista High School.

Photo by Alex Kershner

Rising star Andrew Liang (‘14)

DJ Fotsch (‘11)

GIRLS’ SWIMMING The Palo Alto girls’ swimming team off to a promising start in the season with a 5-0 overall record (4-0 in league). The team enjoyed key league wins against Homestead, Los Gatos and Lynbrook, putting them first place in the SCVAL division, and placing them in position to claim their ninth straight league title.

Their one point victory over Archbishop Mitty in the St. Francis Yamamoto Invitational showcases the depth of the roster this year. Last year the strong Mitty team ended the team’s season in the CCS Championships.

At the St. Francis Invitational Sabrina Lee (‘11), Sarah Liang (‘11), Jayna Wittenbrink (‘14) and Jasmine Tosky

(‘12) won the 400 Freestyle relay completing with a time of 3:31.47.

Junior standout Tosky won the 400 IM (50 meters Butterfly, 50 meter Freestroke, 50 meter Backstroke and 50 meter Breastroke) and the 200 Butterfly with times of 4:15.11 and 2:01.49, respectively.

The team expects to continue its success in the rest of the season.

“We want to win league for the seventh time in a row,” Paige Devine (’11) said.

“It would be really cool if everyone contributed to that win.”

The Lady Vikes’ next meet will be a league match at Monta Vista on April 8 at 3:30.

Photo by Alex Kershner

Rising star Jayna Wittenbrink (‘14)

Girls team lined up on the blocks.

April 2011

23

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Columns From baseball to lacrosse

From Baseball to Lacrosse An inside look at the transition from the baseball diamond to the lacrosse turf

by Nathan Norimoto photography by Paige Borsos First things first, I am not a “lax bro.”

I can not “rip the duck,” execute a spin dodge or even complete a pass left handed. I have never played lacrosse before this year. So, why start now? After watching some videos and reading Wikipedia, I decided lacrosse is a physical sport that requires hand-eye coordination and a reasonable amount of athleticism. After being cut from the baseball team I decided I needed an outlet to channel my pent up energy, and put all the winter workouts to use. Lacrosse was the perfect fit.

For any sport, it takes time to create a solid foundation of skills. Everyone has to start somewhere and for me, it was rock bottom. Can it get any worse? No. The basic concept of catching a ball without letting it fall out of a web of string was perplexing. How can such a ball traveling 20 mph be caught in that small net? Cue baseball.

I played baseball for 12 years. From tee-ball to Babe Ruth, baseball was my life. Baseball was impossible. With only a glove and a cup as protection, focusing on catching, stepping on the base, while protecting myself from a base runner all at the same time takes a lot of ice, practice and repetition.

Contact. Bat-on-ball, ball-on-bat. How hard can it be?

Painfully hard. All of those private lessons and dimpled yellow balls have paid off. But what are the chances of actually hitting the ball? Slim. Striking out is a part of the game, but when it happens excessively, we have a problem.

Catching a ball looks hard. Having the correct hand placement, knowing where the ball is, and finally bending your fingers in at exactly the right moment to snatch the ball out of the air is no easy task. Add on slower reflexes plus no hand-eye coordination and you have a recipe for disaster.

But again practice makes perfect.

Baseball has no time limit, no shot clock, and no penalty box. The longest game ever recorded was eight hours and

six minutes between the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers in 1984. The longest inning in MLB was one hour and eight minutes when the Detroit Tigers played the Texas Rangers in 2004. Playing the game you love, for hours on end. Now, who can say no to that? I can, but it’s been hard.

The first time I heard of lacrosse was in fifth grade. Would I dream about playing lax in five years? Not a chance. Consumed with intense Little League rivalries or going to hitting lessons, lacrosse was basically nonexistent. Occasionally a college lax game came up on the television, but only on ESPN2 (who watches that any ways). Why throw away years of training for a sport that is played with big spoons?

Spoons, spiked shoes, and two minute non-releasable penalties. Are there any instructions for this thing? Yes. Wikipedia. Thanks to the free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project I learned the rules of lacrosse in 15 minutes. Lacrosse is in the spring, so what better sport to try then one that includes hitting people? My baseball career might be over, but thanks to the good men of the Iroquois tribe, I have something to do this spring.

Lacrosse is my new favorite sport. But like baseball, nobody becomes a superstar in a day. The natural instinct to catch and cradle comes with muscle memory. Muscle memory cannot be taught, but practiced.

Hand-eye coordination doesn’t come free, but is earned.

All those ground balls rolling through my legs, endless conditioning, and dropped line drives were bound to pay off sometime. By implementing the quickness of a shortstop and the power of a clean-up hitter, I have learned to adjust to my new sport. The drive and motivation to succeed is necessary in any activity in the journey through life. Not everything has turned out the way I would have liked, but by making the most of my situation I can excel in whatever I do. <<<

April 2011

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Columns Alan Invites you to the Big Dance

ALAN INVITES YOU TO THE BIG DANCE

THE DO’S AND DON’TS OF MARCH MADNESS UPSET SELECTIONS

by Alan Lamarque design by Sam Borsos

Let’s face it, no one wants to hear more reasons for why

we should get rid of the Bowl Championship Series system in college football. Instead, people should realize how much better the college basketball tournament is, and leave the BCS argument to those who still want to make it. You have to admit there is nothing sweeter than seeing the dejected look of failure on your friends’ faces after their brackets get busted by a lowly No. 13 seed, knocking off a No. 4 seed (yeah Morehead State!). These upsets and close games, are why we all watch college basketball and what makes this years Big Dance especially great. In just the first two rounds of the

tournament, a third of the games were decided by five points or less (12 of 36 games). Even though “Cinderella” teams sounds cliche, they’re by far the best part of the tournament.

Call me bandwagon jumper, but we all know VCU should have won. Butler was a similar case for me, because when it comes down to it, everyone wants the underdog to win, not Uconn, the dominating team that always wins (including the women of course). Obviously the year was successful since the Final Four consisted of no No. 1 seeds (called it) and an 11-8 match up in VCU and Butler. Now that the tournament is over, we must prepare for next year. <<< Ph o

to by Pai g

eB

SLAM DUNKS

26

•

Always pick Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)

•

Always pick two of the following upsets: #4 v.s #13 #5 v.s #12 #6 v.s #11

•

The 13’s usually have no luck, but in recent years, they’ve done alright. If you want an upset, the 12’s and 11’s win about two thirds of the time.

AIR BALLS •

Never pick a 16 seed over a one seed. They’re 0-108 since the 1985 expansion, and it won’t be getting much better.

•

Although they have won four of the match-ups, the 15 seeds are not worth betting on. Over the two seeds, they’re still a measly 4-104.

•

The #8 v.s #9 match up is a toss up- either team can win. But interestingly enough the nine seed has a leg up over their higher seed counter parts with a 57-51 match up.

ors

os

ONE AND DON NEE

JOHN DICKERSON PRESENTS

Decades ago, basketball players attended all, if not most of their four years of college. The best knew

they could make it to the NBA, but continued to play for their school out of pride and spirit. College basketball was not a one-year sentence for players like Kareem Abdul-Jabar and Bill Walton, it was a chance to represent their school and make history.

Today, the reasons for playing college have changed. High school kids with NBA level talent often skip college all together, and turn professional. These players often have raw talent, but choose the NBAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s money over college basketballâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lifetime memories and experience.

While some players like Kobe Bryant made the jump from high school to the NBA with ease, others have struggled. Sebastian Telfair, a guard from Lincoln High School in New York City, was predicted to be an NBA star. He committed to Louisville, but instead chose to enter the NBA draft.

Telfair did not turn out to be the player he hoped to be and was even involved in a criminal incident. Had he gone to college, his current situation could be quite different.

College prepares young adult athletes for the pressure they would face in the pros and Telfair was not ready for this.

While he once was considered a superstar of tomorrow, his name is now rarely mentioned on ESPN. The NBA changed its rules on allowing players to enter

the draft directly out of high school; from now on, a player has to be at least 19 years of age to enter. This became a recruiting challenge for NCAA coaches, who now have to deal with star freshmen leaving after just one year. But, with this rule follows a new idea for talented high school basketball players: Europe.

Some players, enticed by the idea of professional basketball and its money, have no urge to attend college. Instead, they are going to play in European countries where the rules are different than those of the NBA. Brandon Jennings (pictured above), currently a guard for the Milwaukee Bucks, originally intended on playing NCAA basketball for the University of Arizona Wildcats. However, he decided to forgo college, and became the first American high school basketball player to play in a European league.

Jennings signed with the Italian club, Lottomatica Roma, and played in Italy for one year.

Jenningsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; jump from high school to Europe gave talented high school players the option of skipping college and earning money immediately.

I understand that seven figure salaries can be hard to pass up, but college is a once in a lifetime experience. From being in a fraternity to hoping to make it to the Final Four, one makes lasting memories in college. College basketball is loved by fans across the nation and watched frequently.

Although players do not get paid, they gain experience playing under the spot light.

This experience cannot be achieved in Europe, where soccer is the dominant sport and fills the headlines. These young players who play in European leagues do not adjust to dealing with the American media on a daily basis, which is a large part of professional sports.

College basketball is soaked in tradition. If players continue to either skip it or leave after only one year, this tradition may struggle to continue. <<<

April 2011

27

Columns

Viking Tries

Tries...

L.A.R.P.

Dustin Nizamian photos by Dustin Nizamian and Will Glazier by

L2PLAY NOOB After learning the basics, Sam Maliska (‘11) spars with a friendly warrior with a short sword at Cesar Chavez park at the Berkeley Marina. (Sorry guys, the dog at top is just a kite, LARP is cool, but not quite giant flying dogs cool...)

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LIGHTNING BOLT! Sorry but you’re dead now, you have to go back to base and count to 100... Ten seconds ago you were on top of the world, your sword whipping about like lightning, slaying lowly warriors hardly fit to walk the same field of battle as you. But then that impudent druid snuck up behind you and it was too late. Everything can change

that quickly in the mystical world of Live Action Role Play.

A bizarre phenomenon of duct tape swords, fake spells and the occasional dragon, “larp”, as it’s commonly known, is preserving the magic of medieval times for the modern day.

Every weekend, all across America, untold numbers of people from all walks of life tape up their foam swords and

KNIGHTS IN TRAINING Knaves tremble in fear at the sight of three ferocious new larpers (left). Will Glazier (‘11) finishes off a kill (right) after being ‘legged’, ( a warrior who has been struck in the leg must fight with that knee on the ground.)

take to the field of battle. Actually, LARP can be much less exciting than the “boffer” games we tried (boffer is the name for the foam weaponry). Games that focus more on the roleplay side of LARP include tabletop card games and vampire societies where disputes are settled with rock-paper-scissors... But we don’t mess around with such riffraff, if we’re going to pretend to be in the middle ages, there had better be a sword fight.

LARP is much more pervasive than most people think.

Just about everywhere that people love magic (in other words, everywhere), a branch of one of the major LARP clans can be found. For us, the clan was Amtgard, a global nonprofit organization which focuses primarily on the live combat aspect of LARP. Along with trusted comrades Sam Maliska, Will Glazier, and Josh Chin (all ‘11), I ventured to Cesar Chavez park in Berkeley to find a group of serious larpers of widely varying ages, both dressing the part and sporting all sorts of hand crafted weapons: swords, bows and arrows (even maces) constructed with nothing but sticks, foam and cloth.

Sadly, the two boffer swords that Sam and I slaved away on the weekend before were hopelessly out of line with Amtgard’s safety standards, and we had to use loaner weapons.

But the clan members were immensely welcoming and wasted no time before beginning to show us the ropes. The rules of LARP are a bit stricter than I expected. Losing two limbs or a shot to the body is a death (you have to yell “DEAD!” once you’re killed), and a strict honor system is the judge of what constitutes a lost arm or a torso shot.

A slightly mouse-like man with graying hair emerged as the informal leader of the group and as he sparred with Sam (who quickly established himself as a natural), we all came to the same conclusion: this dude can ball. Cronk was his

name, LARP was his game, and by the time we started playing our first group battle game called Ditch, he was flying about slaying helpless opponents who looked like they were moving in slow motion.

Meanwhile, the four of us held our own among the more experienced larpers, as we fought battle after battle through the tall grasses of the park’s lower hill. Next, we donned some borrowed armor and took the fight to the forest, as some of our comrades traded swords for bows and foamtipped arrows. From two bases separated by dense trees and elevation, opposing forces employed all sorts of tactics to outflank and outfight the enemy. At lightning pace, the game went on ferociously until the last man was ‘shattered’ (out of lives).

After the excitement, we stuck around to converse with our new friends. Their conversation was extremely cryptic to us four, all of us were hopelessly out of the loop. But what was made exceedingly clear was that LARP constitutes far more than a weekend hobby for these people, it’s probably closer to a way of life...

All the fighting, chasing and strategy make LARP a uniquely fun experience that everyone had really ought to try... at least once. But to me, it seems the real appeal of these role-playing games is that they provide a golden opportunity to make pretend, and anyone who ever imagined their bed was a fort when they were little knows that doing so is always more fun with good company. The people you’ll find on Sunday afternoons at Cesar Chavez Park might at first seem insane, but I think they’re more like eccentric geniuses—and friendly ones at that. Truth is, reality often sucks. And in this crazy world, pretending that you’re a bard or a druid for a few hours every week might just be the most brilliant way ever invented to keep your sanity. <<<

April 2011

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ZOOM Mathias Schmutz (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;13) tees off at the Palo Alto Municipal golf course during a practice.

Schmutz was also on the varsity basketball team this year as a sophomore. In the Salinas tournament, the team placed second with an accumulated 426 of the year and then went onto a four match win streak.

Photo by Brandon Dukovic

ZOOM Sprinter Miles Anderson (‘11) powers his way through the finish line in a recent meet against Lynnbrook. Anderson’s 11.73 time in the 100 meter dash was good enough for second behind Paly teammate Tremaine Kirkman (‘12) who ran it in 11.51.

Photo by Anne Hildebrand

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Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re all in Education Features LifePartners in the fast lane

Photo by Anne Hildebrand

At Paly, PiE funds:

Career and College Counseling

Including 100% of the Teacher Advisory Program

Student Guidance

Including Link Crew for freshman orientation

Career/Technology Electives Including Biotechnology and a Java class at Foothill

Go to www.papie.org to donate today.

32

Life in the Fast lane Paly Sprinters push forward through

obstacles to uphold a Paly legacy

by Shannon Scheel

P

icture a hurdle. A barrier. A blockade between the impossible and possible; an object separating the domains of failure and success, of champion and second best. Conquering a hurdle requires complete fearlessness, a burst of speed, and a solid jump. Mastering these components is a challenge in itself, but each is critical to clearing the hurdle and progressing forward toward greatness.

The Palo Alto High School track team will never encounter these hurdles in an actual race. Yet the different challenges they face throughout the course of the season are seen as hurdles in their eyes. Each workout, race, and meet are small challenges that once overcome, will pave the way to achieving the goals for their season.

The general understanding on the Paly track is that the sprinters are the fastest, and the fastest win the big races. Fast also never hesitates when faced with an obstacle, no matter its magnitude. Fast has become an integral part of the mind set of these athletes. Driven by the need for speed and constant perseverance, Paly track has not only Photo by Anne Hildebrand

adopted fast as a mentality, but also as a lifestyle. Most people shy away from a fast-paced life. But the sprint teams understand and embrace its importance. Head coach Jason Fung invests a great amount of faith in his sprinters, depending on their wide range of talent and speed to win crucial meets. “[The sprinters] are a majority of the team so it helps with depth,” Fung said.

“You score in big meets with more depth.”

The Paly track team has already faced its fair share of adversity this season. Last year, speed became synonymous with the Vikings, especially with runners Philip Macquitty (’10), Daniel Jones (’10), Emily Yeates (’10) and Erika Hoglund (’10) at the helm.

With the class of 2010 now gone, Paly’s current sprinters are faced with the task of maintaining their level of speed. Fung recognizes the loss of such a gifted class of runners and their contributions to the Paly track program, especially Macquitty.

“Philip was a big asset,” Fung said.

“Losing him was a big blow to the distance team.”

Though newer distance runners are

April 2011

33

photo by Anne Hildebrand

Features Life in the fast lane

DASH The varsity boys’ sprint team races toward the finish of the 100 meter dash. Tremaine Kirkman (‘12) placed first and Miles Anderson (‘1 beginning to show promise in their races, the team is lacking in overall depth, according to Fung. The boys’ team is also currently missing sprinters Miles Anderson (’11) due to illness, and Maurice Williams’ (’11) credits remain questionable. Despite these setbacks, Fung is now turning his attention towards his remaining sprinters, who have now stepped into the track spotlight.

Using their diverse talent in a range of sprinting events, the boy sprinters lead the team as best they can, both in individual and relay events. Fung acknowledges their efforts, but also takes into account that the task of replacing Macquitty and Jones is not an easy one.

“You can only step up so much,” Fung said. “We have a good solid team overall, and [runners like] Tremaine Kirkman (‘12) have held their own.”

The girls’ team spans a full spectrum of experience level on the track: Runners are new to the sport, new to Paly or new to both. Basketball converts Sydney Davis (‘11) and Stephanie Allen (‘11) and newcomer Helen Butler (‘11) are looking to fill in the gaping hole left by Yeates and Hoglund. Pippa Raffel (‘14) has also proven herself to be a valuable asset to the team, according to veteran sprinter Lydia Guo (‘12).

She remains confident that her newest

34

teammates are fully capable of stepping up into their newest roles, and that team cohesiveness will come in time. “[We] are all really fast,” Guo said.

“Once we are able to pull together our relays and work on technique we’ll be able to form a really strong team.”

Fung sees potential in his girls’ sprint team and believes that their diverse talents will be put to good use throughout the course of the season. He also hopes that their races will make up for the lack of consistency in other events.

“The girls are very solid in the sprints,” Fung said. “It’s filling in all of the other holes when we start moving up in distances [where it gets to be a problem].”

Yet to an outsider, the magnitude of these athletes’ races seem inconsequential. At a school such as Paly, with two state championships and three Central Coast Section championships in the last five months, a first place finish in a league track meet seems somewhat miniscule. For this reason, the accomplishments of those who push their endurance to the limit while their spikes

click rhythmically on the red clay are often overlooked. For the most part, the sprinters understand their lack of recognition, as the nature of their sport does not appeal to everyone.

“It’s not really a spectator sport,” Guo said. “In general I feel

“We all show up and we’re body is super cocky; everyone Kirkman (‘12) like we do get overlooked because it’s not as interesting to watch.”

Guo’s teammate Torie Nielsen (‘12) notes that track and field is not the only sport overlooked at Paly, since she feels that the school’s focus is usually oriented only towards mainstream sports. When asked if this affects her motivation to run, Nielsen simply shrugged her shoulders.

“What can you do?” Nielsen said. “We deal with it. Other sports don’t get as much coverage either.”

What frustrates serious members of the Paly sprint teams most is not the

on (‘11) second in a recent meet against Lynbrook. lack of recognition, but the fact that members of the sports community don’t take their sport seriously. As a no cut sport, track has gained a reputation for being a team full of students who care only about getting out of P.E. While the varsity sprinters spend hours perfecting their technique and

ready to work everyday. Nois a part of the team.” -Tre speed with various drills during practice, many “athletes” put no effort at all into these workouts, according to both Guo and Nielsen. Nielsen believes that this is the main reason why track has been labeled “easy” by less informed members of the athletic community.

Kirkman is also frustrated with this trend and asserts that members of the team who slack off during workouts undermine the intensity of track and sometimes prevent it from being valued as a serious sport. “[Track is] not [respected] at all,” Kirkman said. “For every se-

est decision on game day apparel.

“We match our swag: we’re working on a speed suit [and] haircut combo right now,” he said.

For both Nielsen and Kirkman, however, the most rewarding aspect of track is the attitude and concentrated, devoted work ethic of their teammates. Kirkman especially appreciates the modesty of his fellow sprinters.

“We all show up and we’re ready to work everyday,” Kirkman said. “Nobody is super cocky; everyone is a part of the team.”

Nielsen admires these qualities in her own teammates, in addition to their ability to fully enjoy themselves out on the track. She smiles as she openly praises her teammates for their genuine effort and sportsmanship.

“I admire our hard work and ability to have fun with it,” she said.

The Paly sprinters are fully aware that this season will be full of hurdles, but instead of giving up, they embrace the challenge. They are determined to embrace the fast mind set and continue its legacy. Each day after school, they dedicate mind and body to conquer the challenges required of them. With a tradition to uphold and a team to lead, the Paly sprinters are faced with a hurdle nearly too tall to jump over. But they sweat, work lots and complain little.

They remain motivated, encouraging each as teammates and fellow athletes.

They stay true to their goals and do what they do best: run like the wind. <<<

photo by Alex Kershner

rious athlete, there are people who are just doing it for a prep.”

But there are still those who care.

Each day, suiting up for grueling pyramid sets and weight room routines, the passionate track athletes are not affected by the torpid nature of their teammates. They appreciate their sport for the rewards it brings on a more personal level. Kirkman notes that he does not do track to seek attention, but for personal accomplishment and enjoyment.

“I’m not looking for a spotlight, that’s more [for] football and basketball,” Kirkman said. “It’s [just] fun to do.”

Though Guo also is largely unaffected by her sport’s lack of recognition, she never complains at the sight of an enthusiastic crowd, especially during bigger meets.

“It’s really great when people come and watch during leagues and CCS because it’s an intense sport and is worth the attention.”

For the most part, however, only a few fans sparsely populate the stands.

But the sprinters do not need a fan base to remain motivated: they have each other.

Through their grueling routines and exhausting pyramid sprint sets, the sprinters have each other to lean on and often become closer as teammates during the toughest of the workouts.

These relationships further develop off the track and greatly increase the track team’s overall cohesiveness.

Nielsen notes that the relay teams become especially close throughout the season, as each member of the team is working towards a common goal. “[Our relay team is] really close,” Nielsen said. “Once we get a handoff right, it’s really gratifying and we’re brought closer together because of our victories and our failures.”

Camaraderie is also prominent on the boys’ team. Kirkman laughs as he recalls the 4x100 team’s lat-

SPRINT Kirkman’s hard work during practice got him on the varsity squad.

April 2011

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36

Life on the Line The showcase experience can make or break an athlete

by Kevin Kannappan design by Ben Sneider

A

s I walked through the gate at Sunken Diamond, I had no idea what to expect. The only thing running through my mind was the field in front of me—the field of my dreams. The grass was cut to perfection almost as if a barber had come through the outfield with measuring tape and scissors.

The dirt was evenly watered and raked, leaving a dark mahogany color. Lastly, the pitcher’s mound looked as if it was designed for gods—no holes, a pearly white rubber and a rosin bag just in case my fingers got too sweaty. Growing up, I always dreamed about playing on sunken diamond and suddenly this dream was a reality.

Though everything was perfect on the outside, emotions ran wild on the inside. Every single nerve in my body was firing. Will I get an offer? Will I be able to play in college? Will I stand out? Will I be able to throw a strike?

Regardless of the different composite bats, the rainbow of Oakleys, and the brand new Rawlings gloves, we all had the same feeling: butterflies. The ones to shine in the camp would be the ones most capable of handling their nerves.

But what happened to all of the other players, the ones who did not shine?

Those players watched their dreams fade away as they played.

As players roasted themselves going all out in the heat, coaches sat in the bleachers like kings overlooking their kingdoms. Coaches have the power to

grace a player with another four years of playing America’s past time. Accompanying these kings are their loyal squires: radar guns, their rewards: scholarships, and lastly their scorn: the simple “check” or “x” next to a name.

All it took was one little mark on the clipboard and it was over.

Though the same recruiting procedure takes place at all showcases, the environment changes depending on the focus of the school hosting the showcase. Typically, the Ivy League camps have a reputation for attracting stronger students. At one of these camps, whether or not the kid does well at the camp is of a lesser importance, as the schools are forced to care about the academic ability of the kid over their athletic ability due to the extremely selective admission office of their respective schools. Meanwhile, camps for less academic schools are for players who are stronger baseball player than they are students. These colleges just become bus-stops for the big leagues.

Just getting into one of these camps is a challenge alone, a strain on parents’ wallets for travel and admission.

However, the challenge for the players on the field is much more difficult.

The environment is similar to that of a gladiator arena: the greatest player left standing gets the spoils from the kinglike coaches.

These players come from all over the

country, and sometimes from overseas to test their abilities against the best.

Looking out on the field, one can see a range from 6’8” 180 lb space needle pitchers to 5’4” 220 lb roly-poly catchers. These players mesh into a blend of enormous talent. Some of the talent will be shown on the field, while some of it will be left behind in the dugout.

Some of these players have already established themselves as the best.

These players find themselves at the AFLAC All-American game, while others just try to enter themselves in the toughest competition they can get into.

Tyger Pederson (‘08), one of those players that entered into showcases with tough competition, is an ex-Paly short stop who has made it to the next level: Division I baseball at the University of the Pacific.

Pederson was not the biggest guy in high school, nor the fastest, nor the strongest. But he had the work ethic and passion to succeed in all levels of the game, and pursued his dream of playing baseball in college. That involved getting into showcases and proving that he could perform. Everything since his childhood revolved around his ultimate goal: the big leagues.

“Baseball has been my love and passion since I was 5,” Pederson said. “I grew up at the baseball fields watching my dad play [along with] with my mom and brothers. Baseball is what I live for and everything in my life revolves

April 2011

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his career because of the lack of live at-bats, Pederson took the challenge.

Now he plays like a professional day in and day out; everything in his life revolves around baseball. Pederson is on his way to achieving his dream.

A scout’s clipboard would show Drake Swezey (‘11) as a tall righthanded pitcher with medium build from Palo Alto, California. He has good movement on his fastball, good velocity at a consistent mid 80’s speed, touching 86. His arsenal of pitches overwhelms any hitter that he faces. His curveball has a hard break, his change-up is deceptive and his unhittable splitter has a sharp and late break. Swezey should dominate with an increase in strength and velocity.

Swezey does dominate. On march 25th Swezey’s pitching performance with the Vikes resulted in a two-hit shutout against Homestead. Because of his stellar performance at showcases over the summer, Swezey received an offer from University of Santa Clara.

But before that, he was just like everyone. He had hoped for a chance to play for the next four years, the only way he

Photo by Alex Kershner

around baseball. My dream is to play professional baseball and I have been working towards that for about 16 years since I started hitting off the tee in my backyard at [age] 5.”

Pederson began the college process at showcases. He accepted invitations from showcases and centered his focus around trying to earn a Division I athletic scholarship. Just as many other players have come to find out, Pederson was not at the top of the lists for these premier Division I programs.

“The best players are going to go to the best schools, bottom line,” Pederson said. “If you’re out there they will find you.”

Pederson was found, but not after an additional year of hard work and sacrifice. He began his freshman season playing Division III at the University of Redlands where he developed a strong name for himself. Dedicated to play at the highest level possible, he transferred to a Division I West Coast Conference powerhouse, the University of the Pacific. Due to NCAA regulations, he had to sit out his freshman year. Though this could have damaged

TEAM PLAYER Out fielder Jeff Cohen (‘11) does anything he can for the Paly squad by bunting for a base hit against Monterey High School on March 2, 2011.

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knew how to get there was through the brutal showcase environment.

“Coming into the showcases, you are miserable at first because you are tired from the early morning start times,” Swezey said. “You just spend your time hoping you aren’t a name to be crossed off the list, and because of that you feel all of the pressure that you have to do well to get an offer ” Showcases are make or break. There is immense risk entering.

“The showcases give you a chance to show what you got, but if you have a bad day your performance can be detrimental, but at the same time it can be helpful if you do really well,” Swezey said. “I was really excited when I got my offer, I was smiling like a little kid; Santa Clara was one of the places I really wanted to go to and I realized the showcases were over, the work had paid off, and I was going to be able to play at the next level.”

A scout’s clipboard would have Jeff Cohen (‘11) as a short outfielder with medium build, attending Palo Alto Senior High School in Palo Alto, CA. He has a good bat path, good power for his size, good speed on the bases and good range in the outfield. He flat out knows the game of baseball. Unfortunately, he has had trouble with arm injuries.

Cohen encountered a difficult environment during his junior year at a showcase at Harvard University. Because of his young age, he wasn’t looking for an offer or a miracle, he just wanted to get seen. Cohen was seen, but only after walking off the field after suffering a shoulder injury.

“I went [to Harvard] and did really well, but I made a diving catch on my throwing shoulder and banged it up pretty bad, injuring it,” Cohen said. “If I hadn’t injured my shoulder I thought I was going to be one of the top players coming into the Ivy League or at Division III. At that level of baseball I thought I would have been really good.

But once I hurt my shoulder, I didn’t go

“The showcases

Photo by Alex Kershner

WING-SPAN Drake Swezey (‘11) uses his humongous frame to dominate the hitters he faces against Monterey on March 2,2011. to the second day, and it really hurt my chances of being taken seriously by the coaches.”

Cohen became forever affected by the outcome of the showcase at Harvard, both physically in terms of his arm, and mentally in terms of his hope of making it to the next level.

“I came out of it knowing if I was healthy I would be able to play at the next level, but if I wasn’t healthy I would be done in terms of the coaches minds, and I am not healthy right now,” Cohen said.

Risking everything in the showcase, Cohen lost with an injured throwing shoulder. Because of his injury, Cohen figured that coaches believed his chances at playing at the next level were next to none, so he applied to schools with Division I baseball programs in hopes of walking on.

Clay Carey (‘12) is a tall and lanky pitcher from Palo Alto, CA. He throws from a ¾ arm slot with a fastball topping out at 79. His curveball is slow with a big break. He has the potential to be good at the next level with increased strength, but there remains a

problem: velocity.

“My form enhances the movement on my pitches but it doesn’t allow me to throw very fast,” Carey said.

Carey’s last showcase resulted in a two-inning slug fest for the hitters he faced on the Sunken Diamond.

Because of the narrow scope used by college coaches, players’ dreams are shot down, out of the sky, and they are forced to lick their wounds and find a new focus.

In Carey’s case, he decided to focus more on academics. With what started as a chance to get used to the recruiting process by attending showcases, it ended in a player morphed in mindset, no longer with a strong desire to pursue a baseball career.

“Coming out, it depends on how you played,” Carey said. “Your confidence can be shot: you could have had a poor outing that kills your chances, or you could have done really well and it makes you shine.”

While Carey had an initial stint of stardom at a showcase at UC Davis, his dreams faded away as the competition increased.

“At other showcases I went to [besides UC Davis], the other talent was higher than I had ever seen...I had never played the kind of baseball that these players were playing: the kids had a big advantage over me,” Carey said. “I felt defeated. It was hard for me to understand that even though some people were better than me, [it] didn’t mean that I couldn’t play at the next level. Before the showcases, I was sure I was going to be able to play it was just a matter of where. But after the showcases, it made me question my life after high school and whether or not I actually stood a chance with baseball in college.”

Though Carey has played baseball all of his life and always had the dream of playing in college or professionally, the showcase experience left him confused. It created doubts and left an overall feeling of uncertainty.

“The showcases made me question my future,” Carey said.

All it took was one day, a few pitches, and an at-bat. After one long day, Carey’s future in baseball had changed forever. <<<

made me question my future,” Clay Carey said.

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Features The Mentality of Quality Training

The Mentality of Qua

A look inside the importance of quality training in order to improve performance in athletics

Photo by Anne Hildebrand

by Skylar Dorosin

RACE Miles Anderson (‘11) sprints in a race at a meet against Lynbrook High School.

T

here is no textbook for training nor specific set of instructions for coaches on how to condition their athletes for top performance. Coaches usually divide up their athletes into long and short distance competitors and create quality or quantity based training programs depending on the athlete’s purpose. In many coaches’ minds, quality training means high in-

40

tensity on shorter, race-like distances to prepare the body for competition, and quantity training means high yardage or miles to get athletes in shape. In reality, quality training is for short distance and long distance athletes alike.

The high school season is too short for debate between the two methods, it is simply all about working hard the whole time.

High school track and swimming seasons have, on average, about fifteen weeks to train and prepare so that the athletes can peak at the end of the season. With this short season, quality training takes on a much bigger role.

Quality training is much more than high intensity on shorter distances, it is a worth ethic. It is putting in one hundred percent in everything and constantly working hard to stimulate an athlete’s muscles and prepare them for top performance.

The misconception of quantity comes up with one of the fundamentals for quality training: building a base.

Regardless of being a long or short distance athlete, a firm foundation is needed to prepare the body for vigorous, high intensity training.

At the beginning of the season, sprinters and distance athletes alike, put in the quantity yardage and mileage to work on their stamina and build a base for the season.

“For varsity, you actually do more quality based training compared to JV,” track and field sprinter Tremaine Kirkman (’12) said. “ This is because a lot of people on JV haven’t done track before, and need to get into track shape. Varsity already has that base.”

Sprinter Miles Anderson (’11) built a foundation during the winter season to prepare for track. He worked with track coach Jason Fung to build muscle in the weight room and get into running shape on the track.

The track team runs farther towards the beginning of the season, and then tapers down to shorter lengths.

Longer training runs help strengthen ligaments and tendons in the legs to reduce the risk of injury throughout the rest of the season.

“We got acclimated to running by going slow through normal track workouts, then tapering down to a more

refined sprint workout once we built a base,” Kirkman said.

When creating their foundation and stamina for the season, athletes build up their aerobic capacity, the human body’s ability to take oxygen into the blood stream and distribute it to the muscles. With a higher aerobic capacity, the lungs become more efficient, are able to take more oxygen into the bloodstream with each breath and more capillaries develop on the muscle.

Capillaries allow oxygen to go into the muscles produce energy, and remove wastes like lactate.

After building the initial base, two different types of athlete emerge within track and field and swimming: short distance and long distance. No matter the yardage, however, the main point is to prepare the body for competition.

“If you are a distance runner, you got to put in the miles,” Fung said. “Your body has to get acclimated to running the long miles. An average long distance runner, puts in forty miles plus a week.”

Long distance runners like Susan Heinselman(’11) puts in the same level of intensity as sprinters when on the track, but in 4 or 6 lap increments as

opposed to 1 or 2. They can do work just as hard and go father because long distance runners build their endurance up when they work out off the track, building distance on harder terrain such as the Stanford Dish.

“On off days I’ll run more miles, but on workout days [on the track] you are going for the speed, so you are going fast,” long distance runner Susan Heinselman (’11) said.

In contrast, Fung feels that it is counter productive for the track sprinters to rack up the long distance miles during normal season. Short distance athletes train their muscles extremely hard for a short amount of time to grow accustomed to going all out in a short race.

“You are not putting in the miles you are putting in more speed, short burst work, and endurance work on the track, which may consist of 500 meters down to 300 meters,” Fung said.

For Anderson, endurance sprinting, where he runs longer than his race’s distance but at the same intensity, makes up a large part of his training.

“We usually do interval training. Say for a one hundred meter race we will train 150 [meters], maybe eight 150s at a certain time to build up our speed

Photo by Anne Hildebrand

uality Training LONG DISTANCE Susan Heinselman (‘11) pushes herself in the track and field meet against Lynbrook on March 31. Heinselman placed 3rd in the mile with a time of 5:35.3.

and endurance,” Anderson said.

This method allows for the athletes’ bodies to get used to the immediate, high intensity required by short distance races. The repetition adds the element of stamina distance runners build up for their lengthier races through longer runs.

Paly swim coach Danny Dye trains both his distance and sprinter ath-

“In a high school season where you are swimming [hard] along the way, you have to push through even when the body is hurting, the muscles filled with toxins and all the stuff that happens when you are training hard,” Dye said. “[It’s] part of the process of the body learning how to swim tired.”

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Features “The Mentality of Quality Training” letes with high quantity workouts. He expects them to put in the hard work no matter the distance. Dye’s belief is that all athletes, no matter the distance, have to be able to train hard enough to get the muscles tired and accustomed to lactic acid, so that when they taper, the muscles are stronger and more fresh. This will ultimately lead to the swimmer’s peak performance.

“In a high school season where you are swimming [hard] along the way, you have to push through even when the body is hurting, the muscles filled

yards.

“There is no slow anything, you go as fast as you can,” Batis said.

“We mix in short kicking, short speed assessment with fins,” Batis said.

They are always doing something in a continuous motion that makes them work as hard as they can for the time frame they are in the water. Once we get in we get right at it.”

Dye trains the sprinters and the long distance swimmers at the same yardage, but in smaller sets, such as 10 reps

to put in the yardage and the intense race-like effort to be ready for the meet at the end of the year.”

But everything that goes up must come down. Whether an athlete is focused on long distance or short distance, at the end of the season athletes shorten their yardage and focus on mechanics and fine tuning for races.

When training, muscles break down, and tapering, when coaches decrease the amount of yardage before competition, allows them to develop and refresh.

Photo by Paige Borsos

DIVE Corso Rosati (‘12) dives in decisive 134-48 win against Monta Vista . Rosati placed first in the 500 freestyle for the Vikings.

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with toxins and all the stuff that happens when you are training hard,” Dye said. [It’s] part of the process of the body learning how to swim tired.”

Many Paly swimmers swim with coach Tony Batis at Palo Alto Stanford Aquatics (PASA) during the off season.

Batis builds up his swimmers’ endurance throughout the year, and runs a much more quality based program for the swimmers who choose to train with him instead of their respective high schools during the spring. Unlike high school, he does not have to put in high intensity work while building the base simultaneously. Batis keeps workouts focused on high intensity and moderate volume around 5,000 and 6000

of two laps instead of one rep of twenty laps. Dye’s method represents that quality does not mean working strictly on sprint sets in practice, but having a focus that simulates to a racing situation and giving it 100%. The quantity of swimming allows Dye’s swimmers to be in top physical shape for racing.

In such a short season he has his swimmers build a base and work on race mentality at the same time.

Swimmer Paige Devine (’11) is involved with both Dye’s and Batis’s programs.

“In club the coach [Batis] has more time to space everything out,” Devine said. “In high school season there is less time so you simultaneously have

A high school season is a fifteen week season. The key for athletes and coaches is to determine what works best in this time to optimize an athletes’ individual performance based on their goals on the track or in the pool. In this short, creating a system of building a base then putting in hard work and going 100% when training will create a top athlete. Activity does not equal productivity. As long as someone is working hard, putting in their best, they will perform to the best of their ability at the end of the season. Quality training does not mean short distance, it means working hard. Creating race situations, whether the distance be long or sho rt. <<<

ZOOM Vivienne La (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11) makes a pass in the Lady Vikesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; match up against Los Gatos High School on March 29, 2011. The Lady Vikes beat the Wildcats 13-10 and are 5-1 in league, with one loss to St. Francis (Mountain View).

Photo by Brandon Dukovic

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Putting Sports in Perspective

Putting Sports in Perspective

by Paige Borsos and Mariah Philips

P

design by Mary Albertolle

icture the explosion of cheers after a buzzer beater, and the disbelief when the scoreboard reads in your favor. Now, picture that one second later, that joyous disbelief slips into horror, as you watch the gameâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hero, your teammate, your brother, collapse on the hardwood. Put yourself in the sorrow saturated hospital hours later where that once lively athlete, who roped in the win, is pronounced dead.

This is Mitchell Leonardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reality.

Photo by Alex Kershner

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Photo by Allie Shorin

On March 9, 2011 when tragedy cruelly struck in the small town of Bloomingdale Michigan, a herculean display of courage and strength followed.

Wes Leonard (‘12), Mitchell’s younger brother and basketball teammate, collapsed on the court and died of an enlarged heart moments after he scored the game-winning basket to secure his team’s perfect season. Fast forward to one week later, and his teammates found themselves back on the court.

They were missing not only a key player, but a teammate and a friend. Wes’ older brother Mitchell not only supported his team, Fenville, in a big win against Bangor High School to maintain a perfect record and secure a spot in the district championship, but he did it the day after Wes’ funeral. Mitchell sat on the bench throughout the tournament, went to the practices, and spent time with the team at school and in the locker room despite his devastating loss. The display of strength wasn’t in the athletic victory after a tumultuous week of tragedy; it was in Mitchell’s ability to keep his commitment to the team through mourning the loss of his brother less than a week earlier.

Mitchell faced an inner struggle, a moral dilemma of sorts. He demonstrated an athlete’s choice between the importance of sports versus other aspects of life. Athletes find that sports consume massive amounts of time, dedication, and commitment, and with this comes difficult decisions. Immanuel Kant theorized that human morality is based on a standard of rationality labeled the Cognitive Imperative, which drives our decisions based on reason. But questions of morality are often complicated and the line between the rational and the irrational choice blurs sometimes to the point of invisibility. When morality and ide-

als come into conflict with sports there is a friction created and the decision becomes harder to make.

Mitchell’s story is an extreme case. In his life, sports became a therapeutic part of his tragedy because his family and his sports were interconnected. They eventually conflicted, forcing him to decide which was more important: missing his game to take time for himself, or being there to support his teammates.

However, Mitchell represents not only the extreme spectrum of dilemmas, but also how all athletes are sometimes confronted with choice. Several athletes at Palo Alto High School have found themselves faced with a decision to choose between DETERMINATION Haris Sultani (‘10) struggled to balathletics and other obance his athletic and moral obligations during his junior ligations. football season. He could not eat or drink during dayLet’s flashback to light hours during the month of Ramadan despite par2008, the junior year ti cipati ng in grueling 3+ hour football practices. of Shaikh Haris Sultani (‘10). Sultani, a Paly alumnus and former football and track athlete, was forced to son. The holiday requires fasting from make a compromise between moral in- sunrise to sunset, which left Sultani untegrity and athletic obligation. At times, able to drink water and eat throughout he struggled to balance the sports in his the entire day. This became a 30-day life along with other commitments. Sul- challenge in which Sultani’s faith was tani, a devout Muslim, was celebrating truly put to the test “I guess I wanted to keep [fasting],” Ramadan during the Paly football sea-

“I guess I wanted to keep [fasting]. I didn’t want to let myself down. If I drank water, I would let myself down.” - Haris Sultani (‘10) April 2011

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Putting Sports in Perspective Sultani said. “I didn’t want to let myself down. If I drank water, I would let myself down.”

While some, when faced with a similar challenge, would choose just one path, Sultani found a way to satisfy both

of his commitments. Sultani would wake up early to eat breakfast and hydrate in preparation for a long day of self discipline. Although there was a legitimate health risk involved in playing without a day’s worth of water or food, he decided to keep both his moral beliefs and his athletic role prominent in his lifestyle.

“I try to do both of whatever I have,”

pletely, just to assure enough sustainable nourishment, Sultani had to resist the temptation of the alluring water cooler throughout football practices in the mid-afternoon heat.

“At practice they had cold water so I would just spray myself with water to keep myself cool because it was hot,” Sultani said. “My mouth would get dry a lot. It’s best not to put water in your mouth [even if you spit it back out], but I did as long as I didn’t swallow it.

That’s all I did.”

Sultani’s family respected his decision, but put no pressure on him to strictly follow his religion. They trusted him to be as devout as possible while maintaining the other facets of his life. “[My parents] said if I wanted to I could just not fast, and make it up some other time,” Sultani said. “They said it was up to me, because in the end, it’s going to be me who’s making choices.

In a few years, I’m going to be by myself. So why would they start now by telling me what to do if later on I’m going to be by myself?”

Sultani was trusted to make the right decision, and because he would be independent once off to college, his parents granted him the freedom to choose. In Sultani’s life, he struggled between sports and religion. But Sultani did put his health at risk. By choosing to play without any water or food, Sultani was left vulnerable and could

pionship game, something went awry.

While going up to catch a touchdown, Adams was tackled in mid air, landing on his ankle. For anyone who viewed the instant replay, which showed several times on live broadcast of the game, it did not seem like a minor injury. Adams later jokingly commented on how it was painful enough the first time.

It looked like his ankle snapped in half. In fact, had the grass not been wet, it probably would have. But Adams was lucky, only sustaining a high ankle sprain. Thanks to a little rainfall, and a determination to compete, Adams was able to re-enter the game, and help bring home Paly’s first ever football sate championship.

“I knew that I had to get back in there for myself, my career, and just for the team,” Adams said. “I felt it would be really selfish for me to take it off just because of an injury if I was able to play, which I could. In football it’s just too important to me to let it go for an injury.”

Knowing how important the game was, Adams mustered up the strength to continue despite the pain and further health implications down the road.

“It’s a once in a lifetime thing,” Adams said. You can hurt your ankle a bunch of times but I figured I’d rest when we got back to the hotel.”

In addition to prioritizing the team over health in the state game, Adams, who would later go on to lead the var-

Sultani said. “I look at the pros and cons of each and which is more important for me in the long run. Like for football, I knew I wasn’t a starter so it wasn’t as bad if I did miss it, even though I didn’t want to miss it. I just weigh the options.”

On top of planning out his day com-

have even fainted. This, however, isn’t the first time that Paly has seen an athlete prioritize a sport over health.

Meet Davante Adams (‘11), one of Paly’s wide receivers and a key leader on the CIF state championship-winning football team. But during the cham-

sity boys’ basketball team to a league championship during the winter season, also knew that his loyalties were stronger towards the sport of football than to basketball, another rationale for his continuation of play.

“I always knew since the end of junior

Sandy Koufax, a pitcher for the 1960’s Dodgers, faced a conflict when Yom Kippur fell on the same day as the opening game of the 1965 World Series. Yom Kippur is a Jewish holiday consisting of an entire day of fasting, prayer and synagogue services. Although Koufax was criticized after his team lost game one, he returned to the team to pitch in three games in the series.

The Dodgers went on to with series in seven games.

“There were times when I had an obligation out of town like a wedding or funeral and had to miss sports events, but my family is pretty good about making sports events.” - Lacrosse attack Cory Valenti (‘11)

46

year that I was more serious about football [than basketball] because I was getting more recognition from colleges and things like that,” Adams said. “That was the biggest game of my high school career and would be in any person’s life. To fight through it would be the best thing for me and the team.”

Adams compromised his health because he knew the magnitude of the honor that a state championship title could bring. In his perspective, playing in the game was more important than his injury. Moreover, he chose to put his basketball career on hold as he played through his football injury. In Adams’ case, health played a serious role in his decision to place sports above other factors of his life. Although others might not have been as risky, Adams took the risk and won the title. But health is not the only factor in important sportsrelated decisions. Sports spills out into other areas of peoples lives, including academics. But smaller scale decision that athletes have to make take place

regularly and don’t always involve dramatic health decisions or championship games. Sometimes, the choice is a daily occurrence, a struggle of prioritization.

There is a common saying in the sports community, “school then sports,” meant to outline the hierarchy of priorities athletes should have. But often, these two commitments conflict, and the true importance of obligations is tested.

In the life of Paly student Sara Billman (‘13), a nationally ranked competitive ice skater, there is virtually no time for breaks. Billman, who has been skating for 13 years, wakes up at 3:30 a.m., laces up her skates at 4:00, then heads to school after her practice ends at 7:00.

After a six-hour school day, she gets her homework done just in time for another round of skating in the afternoon, or on other days palates.

“There’s not as much socializing,” Billman said. “I really have to get to work.

But I love it and I know it’s worth it.”

In Billman’s life, she encounters a struggled balance between school and

sports every day. She skates for the Peninsula Figure Skating Club at Ice Oasis in Redwood City. In addition to her rigorous daily skating routine, her talent has allowed her to travel for competition, from locations such as Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, to Belgium, and recently Luxembourg. Sometimes she places her skating competitions before school when she misses class to compete out of state.

“Skating has been such a big part of my life,” Billman said. “But at the same time, academics are a little bit ahead.

Not by much, but that is probably most important because at the end of the day academics are going to be where you get into college and how successful you are.”

Billman looks for skating to be prominent in her future. Skating has shaped her entire schedule, both athletically and academically. For next year, Billman is unsure of how many Advanced Placement classes she will be able to take due to her sports commitment. But she hopes that all of her hard work in high

photo courtesy of Sarah Billman

EARLY BIRD Skater Sarah Billman (‘13) wakes up daily at 3:30 a.m. and goes to bed as early in the evening as possible in order to pursue her skating dreams. She has to sacrifice many aspects of her life to get the sleep needed to perform on the ice.

April 2011

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Putting Sports in Perspective

“It would be really selfish for me to take it off just because of an injury if I was able to play, which I could. In football, it’s just too important to me to let it go for an injury.” - Davante Adams (‘11) school will take her to the next level as she gets older.

“There’s no way I’m willing to give up this part that’s been my life.,” Billman said. “So I definitely want to continue through college, and I’m hoping to be national and maybe even [one of the best] in the world.”

Billman’s sport has caused her to adapt a schedule that balances both her academic life and athletics.

Similar to Billman, Paly student and dancer Noa Dagan (‘11) has dedicated much of her time to her sport. Dagan spends anywhere between 15 and 20 hours of time dancing each week. Like Billman, she must juggle her school

workload with her practices.

“I don’t get home until about 10:00 at night on week nights so I would have to start homework then,” Dagan said.

“Sometimes I will bring my homework to dance and sit in and watch the class.

But sometimes I have to text my dance teacher saying I have too much work.”

She realized where dance fell on the spectrum of priorities when choosing which colleges to apply early decision to. Although she kept dance in mind, academics took precedence.

“I made the decision when I decided to apply early to Vanderbilt,” Dagan said.

“I was willing to put my school choice over where I wanted to dance. But Vanderbilt does have a dance company that I can audition for. So I definitely will be dancing in college but there is no official dance program.”

Dagan found clarity in her college decision, and found the middle ground between her best academic fit with a place that will allow a continuation of dance.

However Dagan does find conflict when family activities are scheduled.

“As far as family, it’s always been hard to plan vacations and stuff because of competition weekend,” Dagan said. “It really limits the amount of time we can go on vacation as a family.”

This is a consequence of Dagan’s commitment to dance, and just one example of how family events can clash with sports. Whether parents, siblings and other relatives are supportive or not, family life can factor into an athlete’s commitment. Families hold different values, with sports being just one of many. Others, however, find sports to be an integral component of their lifestyles.

Welcome to the Whitson household, where sports are a major part of the family dynamic. Kimmy Whitson (‘12), setter of Paly’s varsity volleyball squad,

cherishes support from her mother, father and sister. Her family surrounds itself with sports.

“I guess we chose to do sports,” Whitson said. “That’s how our family has kind of shaped around it. If we had chosen something else we probably would have shaped around that too. Sports are part of my family because it’s something that we all have in common and we all like to do.”

Kimmy’s parents immersed themselves into the world of volleyball. Ali Whitson (‘09), Kimmy’s older sister and Paly alumnus, currently plays volleyball for UC Davis. Her father, Bruce Whitson, announced for both Kimmy and Ali’s volleyball teams. In addition, Debbie Whitson, Kimmy’s mother and a Paly teacher, is frequently seen at Paly games in support of her daughter. Mrs. Whitson feels that sports are prevalent in both of her daughters’ lives. Jokingly, Whitson commented that if a big game and a family obligation came into conflict, the whole family would just go to the game together. However, in terms of priorities, sports do not necessarily come before family.

“I always loved doing sports growing up so it’s a fun aspect of things but it certainly isn’t the end all,” Mrs. Whitson said. “As long as you’re not letting down a team, sometimes family or schoolwork has to come before doing your sport.

I try to set it up so that athletics aren’t overwhelming everything in your life.

Although this day in age, it’s really hard to balance. Everything wants 100 percent.”

Kimmy, who has already committed to play for University of the Pacific, will follow in Ali’s footsteps by playing at the college level. Whitson and her sister have bonded through the sport of volleyball as well as other aspects of their lives. Ali, who played volleyball in

high school, was an outside hitter for Paly. Kimmy, the starting setter for this year’s team, led the Lady Vikes to a CIF State Championship in December. Kimmy looks to her sister as an athletic role model. As Kimmy progresses through a higher level of play, her priorities might change. When Kimmy walks in the footsteps of her sister by playing volleyball in college, she recognizes that the role of volleyball could increase in her life.

As the level of sport becomes more competitive, so does the commitment and the intensity.

“I’ve seen her go through the same thing that I want to go through,” Whitson said. “I’ve seen that she’s worked really hard. I think it’s going to be a lot more intense. I have to make sure my focus is really strong. I have to go at it with the same mentality, but I have to know that it’s going to be more of a part of my life and more of a job.”

Sports can take on many roles in a person’s life. For Whitson, it could change from all fun and games to work as she advances to college. But then on the flip side, there’s Mitchell, who used his sport as a comfort to diffuse the pain in his life. Even the athletes who allow passion for their sports to drive their decisions are examples of how sports influence people’s lives.

Putting sports in perspective is not simple. While some athletes rank sports, family, health, or school in a particular order, some categories must come before others. How athletes choose what is most relevant in their lives defines their character. Whether it is Sultani’s faith, Whitson’s family commitments or Adams’ health risks, all athletes face choices between sports and other integral parts of their lives. Even Mitchell, who lost a brother, found strength in his team, and stayed committed to his sport.

This goes to show that even in the face of what seems like the darkest nightmare, athletes can turn to sports as a coping mechanism as well as chance to define their character. <<<

PERSPECTIVE Each athlete has to prioritize his/her athletics in relation to family, relligion, health and school.

Photos by Alex Kershner

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ZOOM Cory Valenti (â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;11) runs with the ball in the Viking victory against powerhouse Menlo. Paly beat Menlo 10-8 at Menlo. The Vikings are 4-2 in league and 7-3 overall, falling only to Mountain View, Menlo-Atherton and Bellarmine this season.

Photo by Alex Kershner

Backpacking

eginner’s Guide to

by Anne Hildebrand design by Ben Sneider

Take an adventure through the serene sport of backpacking

N

o one can resist blue skies, campfires, lakes, beaches, enormous Redwoods and Sequoias. Backpacking is the perfect way to experience the beauty of nature while having fun with friends and family.

If you want to try backpacking, you can rough it independently or stay for a few nights in ‘hikers huts’ along the way through trails in California. But before you grab your school backpack, old shoes and leave with nothing but the clothes on your back and a sleeping bag, there are many things to consider.

The first step to backpacking is planning out your trip. Do you want to go on a round-trip so you don’t have to drive back to your starting point? Or would you rather go on a one-way trip and catch a bus or have a friend drive

you home? Once you decide that, pull up the weather forecast and calculate how many miles your feet can handle every day. Figure out if you need reservations and finally, get the right gear.

That old school backpack that weighs an obscene amount and barely fits your binder - scrap it. To go backpacking for any length of time, a backpack that weighs less than six pounds empty should fit one or two changes of clothes, a sleeping bag, lots of water, a water purifier and tons of food. After hiking for hours, every ounce drags you down so you want one that weighs as little as possible.

There are two main options for backpacks: Internal and external frames. Internal frames are generally more expensive, and lack outside stor-

51

Features

Top 5

Necessities Bungee Cords

You never know when these will come in handy, but they nearly always do.

Swiss Army Knife

Can be used for everything from cutting food to tweezering out splinters.

Moleskin or Blister Band aids

Even one blister can ruin a trip. Prevent or solve the problem by putting moleskin on hot spots before they turn ugly.

Wide-brim Hat and Sunscreen

Everyone wants to tan, but carrying a pack on sunburned shoulders is painful, and at higher altitudes skin will burn harshly.

Extra Socks

The possibility of wading through creeks or slipping into puddles explains the need for these.

Backpacking age space. The upside is that With more compartments, they are usually lighter and there is more space to store easier to spread out and equipment and essentials distribute the weight.

This makes them better for off-trail backpacking because they are sturdier and can withstand more. With external frames, there is always the option to tie a sleeping bag or whatever else you realize you can no longer fit into your pack midtrip, to the top, side or bottom of the aluminum frame. External frames were much more common until recently, when the internal frame was re-designed to better withstand rough use.

Sleeping bags are also important for a backpacking trip. Depending on the weather, there are many different options in price, material, and temperatures that they can withstand. It is usually safe to assume that the ranges labeled on any given sleeping bag are accurate to about 10 degrees warmer or colder than written. The prices range from $50 to over $800 depending what temperatures the bag can withstand, and the materials with which they are made.

The weight can also factor into the price, as trekkers prefer to maintain the lightest load possible. Keep in mind that a backpack should weigh no more than a third of your body weight with all of your food and gear.

The synthetic and natural resources needed to develop these necessary articles play an important role for the consumers. Some people wear stiff hiking boots, but

Backpackers

can burn up to

6,000 calories a day the weight and inflexibility can lead to blisters.

Others wear running shoes like cross-trainers, some buy special backpacking shoes with

Lightweight aluminum frame makes the pack more sturdy and gear can be attached to the top and bottom

EXTERIOR FRAME PACKS are better for off-trail backpacking because they are sturdier. However, their popularity has decreased recently because of their heavier weight and unwieldy frame. more durable, grippy soles that are lightweight and dry quickly. Whatever shoe you choose, it should fit well and be broken in. A trip is not the time to worry about blisters and sore feet. Cotton, silk, polyester and wool blends are the most common material for shirts, with the seam on the shoulder often moved down to the chest or under the arm to prevent chafing from the backpack straps. Stretchy pants that will not rip easily are the best. The decision to wear shorts or pants and the thickness of shirts and pants depends on the environment.

When people backpack, they can burn up to 6,000 calories a day. That means that when you pack food, make sure you pack enough because hiking

Ventilation by mesh and gel pads in both the backpack frame and the straps have made the interior frame backpack popular. The way the back is cut allows more freedom of air movement to prevent sweat buildup and chafing.

Belts attached to the bottom of the backpack put most of the weight on the hips.

Often belts are filled with gel that can be pre-molded by a heating device in the store or by backpacking in them to make the packs custom-fit. The belts are removable and come in a wide range of sizes

INTERIOR FRAME PACKS are lighter and more comfortable with modern technology used to add ventilation.

They also have more padded belts around the waist for added support. Because of the new technology, they have become popular in the last few decades. on an empty stomach is unpleasant and dangerous. Pack things that are light and easy to prepare, like pasta, dried mashed potatoes, trail mix, energy bars, mixed nuts, beef jerky, dry cereals, powdered milk, and anything with peanut butter. Canned and fresh foods are too heavy and do not keep well.

Also, it is vital to bring a fast, reliable water purifier if you plan on going anywhere without filtered water. Boiling water is an option, but can be difficult because of the need to carry pots.

In California, there are multiple ‘hikers huts’ along the coast in some parks. There is one in Sam MacDonald Park that can be rented out for up to 14 people for $10 per person per day. This allows you to have a stove

and beds for a night on your trip. If you go backpacking nearly anywhere on public land, you are required to purchase a permit, which usually costs between three and $20 per person.

Often these permits will have a designated area that you need to stay in each night, and if one area “fills up” then you may have to hike to get to an open area.

Also consider how many miles you want to hike in a day. If you have never been on a backpacking trip, you may want to only hike five or six miles a day so that you can go on shorter hikes

Top 5

Things to Leave iPod

When backpacking, it is best to be aware of your surroundings at all times, and the battery will not last long anyway.

Cell Phone

There is nearly never reception and expensive cell phones are likely to get lost or broken. If you need to communicate with people, walkie talkies work better.

Watches and Jewelry

Experienced backpackers

Who needs to know the time? The sun can guide you as to the relative time of day and jewelry gets in the way and can get lost.

20 miles a day

Glass Items

can hike up to

or scenic areas after setting up your camp. Experienced backpackers can hike up to 20 miles a day.

No matter your experience level, backpacking can be a fun and inexpensive vacation that is always enjoyable to spend time with friends and family in a place where the rules are more relaxed. Backpacking is a great way to exercise while having tons of fun. <<<

Glass is a hazard because it breaks and leaves shards that can hurt you, future backpackers and wildlife.

Problems

Backpacking is the perfect way to leave problems behind and focus on relaxing and having fun

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The Last Semester

by Michael Cullen

Photo by Jack Smale

After he picked off a pass or busted into the clear on a punt return, Deion Sanders, a Hall of Fame cornerback, would high-step his way into the endzone. It became his signature style, a way of celebrating before the six points he knew lay at the end of his sprint.

If you like to explore with analogies like I do, you will appreciate this next part (and if not you might want to skip to the second paragraph); Envision my academic career as Deion Sanders. Now picture Deion reaching the twenty yard line on a punt return, having just burned the other team for eighty yards. For our intents and purposes, we will have the twenty yard line symbolize second semester of my senior year. At the twenty, Deion should high-step, right? Well, dear readers, it seems I started highstepping a little too early, and may or may not have fallen on my face and fumbled the ball into the endzone. Long story short, I’ve got Chronic Senioritis.

The legendary Senioritis hit me pretty hard early in the semester. For those who don’t know, Senioritis is a condition affecting many second semester seniors, characterized by reduced motivation, elevated levels of time on the couch, and sweatpants. Senioritis is also believed to affect the decision making of the afflicted individual. For me, I was hit especially hard in this area, with ‘lay on the couch and watch Sportscenter’ winning out over many a school assignment.

I scoffed at it before, thinking that the term was just an excuse for the seniors to slack off so near to graduation, but it is far from it. The onset of “the big S” is so rapid that those afflicted may not even know they have it.

It may seem like the ideal lifestyle, “Living The Dream” as the legendary Jose Tochez (’11) would put it, and it certainly feels that way until that fateful week when Warning Notices come out…

The Warning Notice is one of the primary methods of treatment for those affected by Senioritis. Until the fabled Warning Notices arrived at my door, I had no idea I was precariously flirting with the line of academic ineligibility. It

took a 3-round tag-team verbal beat down from my parents and a severe reduction of my three dollar allowance to knock some sense into me. As tempting as it was to walk straight from that conversation to my Xbox and join a Call of Duty lobby, the principle of not being able to play sports my final quarter of high school was too terrifying to allow me to get my scrape on.

You may not know this about me, but I consider myself more of an athlete than a math-lete. I would much rather throw on a helmet and crack a running back then crack open a textbook. If someone were to tell me that I only had to take three classes to graduate, and that one of them could be as Hansen’s TA, I would drop half my classes faster than Jimmer Fredette can drop a three pointer from 35 feet out. That being said, once I was told I was on the verge of not being able to lax, I was willing to do anything short of watching a full episode of Jersey Shore to bring my grades back up. Luckily for me, I am evidently not the first case of Senioritis that my teachers have had to deal with. They were all extremely helpful and caring, and I worked with them to find a cure for the condition that was crippling my academic career.

The first steps in my road to recovery were to actually start doing homework (what a concept!), and to complete the reading assignments I had so casually brushed aside in favor of late night cartoons. Once I began completing these elementary tasks, my crash-and-burn third quarter GPA began to rise (albeit very slowly), like a phoenix…a phoenix in a lax penny and Turf Dogs.

The fourth quarter of the academic year is like the fourth quarter of any athletic contest; time to dig deep and collect the energy for the final push to propel you across the finish line. When victory seems certain, there can be an urge to relax down the stretch, but as I have learned. the final stretch can be the most dangerous time to let your guard down.

Just ask Lindsey Jacobellis, the snowboarder who, in the inaugural Olympic Women’s Snowboardcross in 2006, had a handy lead going into the final two jumps of the race, and decided to throw a method grab mid-air on the first. She landed on her edge and slid out, sliding from certain gold to a semisatisfactory silver medal.

So to all students out there who filled out March Madness brackets instead of math homeworks, or are currently setting a fantasy baseball roster instead of composing a thesis statement, know that you are not alone. The end of the school year is in sight, and if you can just hang on for a few more months, you will be lounging on the beach in no time.

To polish off my mind-boggling analogy from paragraph one: it’s perfectly alright to high-step from the twenty, you just better be damn sure the punter doesn’t catch you. <<<

April 2011

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