Hello 你好 Mabuhay こんにちは Bonjour 안녕하세요 Bienvenidos नमस्ते Salve مالسGuten Tag Привет Chào Γεια Cześć Hello 你好 Mabuhay こんにちは Bonjour 안녕하세요 Bienvenidos नमस्ते Salve مالس 03.04.11 Vol. 43, Issue 6 こんにちは Bonjour 안녕하세요 Bienvenidos Guten Tag Привет Chào Γεια Cześć Hello 你好 Mabuhay Hindi नमस्त Salve
14 sports
Boys’ basketball reaches third round The varsity boys’ basketball has met their goal of reaching the third round in CIF. Michael Hyun Staff Writer
photos By Gabriella Compolongo
OUR house: (clockwise from top left) Senior Shawn Yamamoto drives for an open baseline lay-up. Junior Brandon Croom elevates for the slam dunk. Senior Chibuzo Okoro sets a screen at half-court for senior Zachary Galman.
Every year the boys’ varsity basketball team aims to improve its record in the CIF, and this year the team’s goal was to make at least the quarterfinals, a goal that it achieved. Thoughts of winning and victory motivated the team to do its best, and after the loss against Aliso Niguel, the team knew it had more potential to keep going. “I feel like we had a goal, and we reached it. It has that sense of accomplishment,” senior Chibuzo Okoro said. “We still believed that we could have gone further. The last game we were hoping we could have won because after two previous wins we felt that we were on a roll and we felt like we could go all the way to finals.” The team hoped to make it to the quarterfinals after failing to in the second round last year, and only the first round two years ago. “The past years, every game we would play or lose, we would always lose by a couple of points not even by double digits,” senior Shawn Yamamoto said. “Our offense is there and our defense is there, so it’s up to us to execute the game. Our coaches can’t do anything, but it’s up to us
and what we’ve learned and practiced.” The team’s first round was against Tesoro High School in a winning score of 57-51, and the second round was against Quartz Hill High School ending in a close score of 56-52. “I think the Quartz Hill team was more athletic, and what’s different from Tesoro is that Quartz Hill is smart with the ball and Tesoro was more disciplined. Basically they’re really athletic, and we needed to keep our focus, we can’t get beat on the dribble, and you have to step up,” senior Kevin Real said. In the quarterfinals against Aliso Niguel High School, Walnut lost by nine points with an ending score of 64-73. “They were big and they passed well and they’re really good. They knew how to play, and they just knew how to win,” senior Zack Galman said. “We had to press them a lot and we had to run the ball more and not have as many turnovers. We had to stop them from cherry picking.” With senior starters leaving, the team must step up their game even more. “[We want to make] the championships because it hasn’t been done in a while, [and] I think we owe it to the guys to go out and get it next year,” junior Brandon Croom said. “[With four senior starters leaving] it’s going to affect us a lot. Everybody is going to have to step up and work harder and contribute if we’re going to succeed next year.” .Ω
مالسGuten Tag Привет
Girls’ waterpolo finishes season at CIF quarterfinals Varsity girls’ water polo ended the game against Crescenta Valley 5-8. Ashley Xu Staff Writer The defeat against Crescenta Valley ended with a score of 5-8. The loss has not beaten down last year’s waterpolo CIF champions, but has only gotten them into the right mindset of preparing for what lies ahead. As a team, the players decided that their ambitions were not only to make it to CIF, but to also participate in quarterfinals and semi-finals as well. Though they did achieve one part of their goal into making the quarterfinals, the other goal was short-lived. “One of our biggest strengths this year was that every girl was a threat - there wasn’t one girl that couldn’t shoot,” senior Stephanie Tuncel said. “With that came our biggest weaknesses in our inability to finish our shots. Throughout the season, we found that our strength resided in our defense, not our offense. Crescenta Valley came out hard during the game and personally, I think we did have our moments. However, we just weren’t able to finish our shots and contain their go-to girl.” Despite losing to Crescenta Valley in quarter finals, they were still proud to beat the Division 5 champions in the first round. “We were the underdogs in all our CIF games and we really didn’t feel that much pressure to win,” senior Samantha Lepp said. “We knew we were playing difficult games, more difficult than before.” With high expectations set for the game, the girls were not particularly satisfied with the results handed back to them.
photos By Reetika Singh
MAKING A SPLASH (RIGHT TO LEFT): Senior Kylie Leeper shoots the ball while her opponent scrambles to block her open shot at the goal. Sophomore Cathleen Nguyen lobs the ball down the pool to an open teammate. “Since we weren’t doing the best that we could and we weren’t getting the outcome that we wanted, many of us were getting frustrated, which interfered with the game, but also made us want to play better,” Aquino said. “It made the team realize what wasn’t getting done.” With the loss of many extremely talented seniors last year and more to leave with the closing of this year, the team has not
wavered at the thought, but are working hard to maintain what it have established. “I wish the best of luck to next year’s team,” Tuncel said. “I think they’ll do just fine as long as they don’t focus on the talent they lost, but rather take advantage of the talent they are gaining.” Ω
Athletic trainer gives advice on how to deal with injuries Athletic Trainer Nelson Chen provides three approaches on dealing with sports injuries properly. Compiled by Robert Hwang, Online Sports Editor
1. Bend your leg 2. Tape properly 3. Choose correctly Keep your leg bent instead of straightening it when applying ice to injured muscles so that: • the muscle will not cramp. • blood will not pool around the injured area • the muscle will heal faster and keep its range of motion • swelling is minimized. • removes excess fluid out of the affected area.
Tape the body part correctly. Tips on taping:
Make sure to select the correct type of athletic tape:
1. Quickly pull hands in opposite directions to tear tape. 2. Smooth the tape while it is being applied. 3. Learn to use the angles naturally supplied by the body part. Do not force the tape in a direction it does not want to go. 4. Each area should be covered by 2 layers of tape. 5. Do not use excessive force when applying tape.
• For standard ankle application, the tape of choice is 1.5- or 2-in (3.8- or 5.1-cm) white, porous, athletic tape or nonelastic tape. • For nosebleeds, use a cloth and sit in a comfortable position. Pinch your nose for a few minutes in order to stop the bleeding. • For a black eye, use an ice pack and place it on the affected eye to reduce the puffiness and the pain.
photo by Robert Hwang
ALL WRAPPED UP: Athletic Trainer Nelson Chen uses pre-wrap to prep Senior Nikolas Gutierrez’s ankle for tape in an effort to help prevent an injury.