15 minute read
All decked out
Senior Aashna Patel adds a star to the wall of field hockey‘s space-themed team room.
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ALL DECKED OUT ALL DECKED OUT
Fall sports athletes share their use of team rooms BY AIDAN RUAN AND STEPHANIE ZHANG
PHOTO | KALYANI PUTHENPURAYIL
This fall, as the field hockey season approached, senior and captain Lauren McMillion looked forward to finally getting a chance to participate in planning how the team would decorate its team room, a tradition that seniors partake in.
McMillion says despite the seniors being the only ones decorating the room, the yearly tradition helps to bridge the gap between both old and new members of the team.
“It’s a way to show them how the team works together and also opens up conversation,” McMillion said.
The seniors decided on the theme and decorations, then placed orders on Amazon and bought items from both Party City and Dollar Tree. Throughout a two-day decorating process, the seniors managed to transform their team room into an outer space theme.
In order to make the room more “comfortable and welcoming,” McMillion and the other seniors brought items such as snacks, extra clothes and sanitary products. She also adds that while the seniors have the responsibility of maintaining the team room, each person has the individual responsibility of bringing a lock and making sure to lock their locker. Otherwise, McMillion adds that “[the] coach gets upset, and [may take] the team room away from [the team].” Although Cheer captain Sanika Kothari understands the necessity of the team room for other teams, she wishes that
Cheer could have a chance to use one of the team rooms or the old dance room. Last year, Cheer moved all of its equipment into the old dance room, but due to other sports also using the room for storage, the team found a large portion of their equipment misplaced or lost.
“We were confused as to where we could keep our stuff [and] where we could store uniforms [or] anything extra that we had,” Kothari said. “So having a team room would definitely eliminate that feeling and make us feel a lot more secure.”
McMillion understands that having a team room is a privilege, as Athletic Director Nick Bonacorsi explains there are only four team rooms available at MVHS.
While the fall season hosts eight different sports, the four team rooms are occupied primarily by three sports. The football team uses the front two team rooms, while the field hockey team, sometimes joined by Girls Tennis, uses the back two team rooms.
When deciding which teams are able to use the rooms, Bonacorsi believes it mostly comes down to the amount of equipment each sport requires.
“Football probably has the most overall equipment between all the pads and stuff that they wear,” Bonacorsi said. “Field hockey has always used them because [their] bags tend to be on the larger side.”
While Kothari says a team
room would certainly help Cheer keep track of all of the gear they use, she also believes the team room could double as a space to get ready before a game for all members of the team. “If we go into SENIOR ‘‘THE [TEAM] ROOM PROVIDES A SAFE PLACE FOR PLAYERS. [IT] ALLOWS SPACE FOR LAUGHTER AND RELIEF LAUREN MCMILLION bathrooms to get ready, not everybody can go into the same bathroom, so it makes it hard to have a full team bonding a lot of the time,” Kothari said. “So if we had a room where we could get ready for events, it would make it easier because everybody could be in the same room and we can all be together.” While the current team room system isn’t perfect, McMillion believes the room provides an environment where members can set aside the stress accumulated throughout the day and divert their attention to field hockey. “The [team] room provides a safe place for players,” McMillion said. “It gets chaotic, [but] conversations talking about whatever happened [during the school day] bounce off the walls, allowing space for laughter and relief.” PHOTO | AIDAN RUAN
SPORTS
BEHIND THE SCENES
For the football team, the team room is used as a set place to review plays.
Senior Alexander Lee says that especially before games, he takes advantage of the room to ask other players clarifying questions about specific plays. In spite of not decorating its team room, Lee believes that the team rooms provide the players with a sense of security, as the rooms also serve as a safe space for them to bond with each other before and after both practices and games. While the team room can serve as a serious space for game planning, it also serves as a space where all members can support each other. “[The team room] gives an environment where everybody’s open with each other, like a family,” Lee said.
LUCKY NUMBERS
Athletes share the stories behind why they selected their jersey numbers BY GAURI MANOJ AND VINCENT ZHAO
SOHNI TAGIRISA
6Junior Sohni Tagirisa, right defender for the field hockey team, draws inspiration for her number six from many sources. She first started wearing this number when she was a young soccer player. When choosing her number, she chose six to pair with her friend who chose five because of an Indian dish called Chicken 65. She now feels as though she has a field identity as she has been called the number six throughout her field hockey career. “My field identity [makes me] feel more aware of the way I feel,” Tagirisa said. “[It] feels more like a adaptable version of me that also has a close knit bond with my team.”
PHOTO | KALYANI PUTHENPURAYIL
AUSTIN HWANG
In Japanese culture, the number four — 四 — is often avoided due to its similarity with the Japanese word for “death.” With this superstition in mind, senior and Boys Basketball point guard
Austin Hwang chose the number four to help himself unlearn the negative connotations of the number, teaching him to appreciate his opportunities rather than fear death.
“I think it’s a core reminder that eventually things have to come to an end,” Hwang said. “There are definitely moments in the past where I wish I could have said more to someone who passed away. I felt like it was always weird that you have to say all these wonderful things about how great of a person or how much they meant to you after [they die], so you should say it now before it’s too late.”
PHOTO | GAURI MANOJ 4 4 EL ESTOQUE | OCTOBER 2022
LISA SMITH
Sophomore middle on the Girls Volleyball team Lisa Smith gets 11 inspiration for her jersey number from her sister. In middle school, her sister, Kate Smith, started to play volleyball as number 11 because her birthday is May 11. Before this year, Smith wore number 26 for her own birthday, but this year she switched to number 11, to honor her sister after she went to college. Having [my sister’s] number makes her feel close to me since she’s far away,” Smith said. “ [I] just miss hanging out with her and talking about life.”
PHOTO | VINCENT ZHAO
ROHIT PAMIDI
When junior and quarterback Rohit Pamidi joined the Football team his freshman year, MVHS alum ‘21 and former quarterback Simon Loeffler became his mentor. The lack of in-person practices during remote learning motivated PHOTO | JEEVITH CHANVEER 5 Loeffler to invite the players to the park or an open football field outside of school to hone their plays and routes. When Pamidi returned to the team sophomore year, he chose to be number five as a tribute to Loeffler’s old jersey number. “I decided to pick number five because of how much [Loeffler] taught us and what he did for me and my friends,” Pamidi said. “After picking my number, five became my favorite number.”
SPIRIT IN SPEEDOS
Players and adminstration weigh in on the implications of the water polo speedo run BY KATHRYN FOO AND JAMI LIM
The entire locker room was buzzing, more alive than normal. Initially, senior Kinton Duong credited it to the sounds — the loud, thumping music and shouts of the players surrounding him. The unusual sights contributed too, with his teammates, including himself, dressed in nothing but their speedos, shoes and an occasional ski mask. But really, it was the adrenaline — the building anticipation of the players as they prepared to run.
Water polo player Bill Deacon runs through the stage after the conclusion to the class of 2019 senior homecoming skit.
Each year, at the end of the senior class Homecoming skit, the Boys Water Polo players run a lap around the rally court in their speedos. Dubbed the “Water Polo Speedo Run,” Duong says that it has become a cherished homecoming tradition for the team, with the locker room preparation for the speedo run being only a sliver of the team bonding that the annual tradition brings.
In 2021, the speedo run evolved to include the girls water polo team for the first time. According to senior Maya Mizrahi, the team was excited to be included in the tradition. The administration had also initiated a separate rule where anyone who participated was required to wear shorts during the run, which Mizarahi says garnered feelings of “frustration from [the] teams.”
“I enjoyed the fact that they included the girl’s team because I think it made both teams bond together,” Mizrahi said. “But the fact that they wouldn’t let us wear our usual swimsuits, even though we wear those every single day to games and people on campus see us in them frequently was a little disappointing. It made it less traditional.”
While Duong acknowledges how the run could be potentially inappropriate and entail restrictions, he also feels the experience of the tradition is dampened by the change. However, Principal Ben Clausnitzer supports the initiation of the change beleiving that players should celebrate the traditions in the appropriate attire for their environment.
“We want people to engage in spirit and have fun [in a way] where they don’t actually wear their uniforms,” Clausnitzer said. “The uniforms aren’t always a fit for a different place.”
On the other hand, Mizrahi expresses that there is a need to
normalize the players’ uniforms, believing that students regularly see the players in uniform at any time during games and that the run is no different. Instead, she feels the uniforms contribute to the authenticity of the tradition, making the run more iconic.
“It’s important that we don’t try to censor something that’s natural, like us being in our swimsuits,” Mizrahi said. “We shouldn’t try to shame our students just for their bodies and how they look in a swimsuit. [The speedo run] is a longstanding tradition and it’s not really a surprise to anyone that it’s gonna happen.”
Clausnitzer also points out the exclusive nature of the event and wants to address the need for a wider conversation around the tradition. He says that ideally, the tradition would be reconstructed to become an experience that is less independent from spectators.
“What we have tried to do over time as a school is try to open those communications with the students to say that it isn’t something that’s a school activity [and] it’s not something that we would recommend,” Clausnitzer said. “But if a group of people [want to] do something, you ought to at least do it in a way that is as inclusive as it can be.”
Clausnitzer applauds the effort of team spirit by water polo and other sports teams, but hopes for a more united approach to these traditions. He strives to find a new form of team festivity that minimizes the effect on students but still encourages unity across different teams.
“I think there’s a time and place for everything and we want students to be spirited,” Clausnitzer said. “I wish we could find an actual school event, one that’s schoolsponsored, that could honor and celebrate their work in a way that’s more constructive and doesn’t distract from all the amazing things they do in the pool.”
‘‘IT’S IMPORTANT THAT WE DON’T TRY TO CENSOR SOMETHING THAT’S NATURAL, LIKE US BEING IN OUR SWIMSUITS. SENIOR 91% of MVHS students believe the water polo speedo run is not inappropriate *according to a survey of 85 responses MAYA MIZRAHI
87% of MVHS students
do not believe the tradition should be changed. *according to a survey of 96 responses PHOTO | CHRISTINE XU The girls water polo team poses for a photo before their first water polo speedo run.
SPORTS RECAP SPORTS RECAP
Taking a look at the fall sports season BY KALYANI PUTHENPURAYIL
PHOTO | ROBERT MA
PHOTO | CHIRAN ARUMUGAM
Senior Lauren McMillion goes in to tackle the ball in a game against Cupertino High School on Sept. 28. MVHS lost 7-0 and currently holds a 1-3 league record after forfeiting one game due to a number of injured players.
PHOTO | FIRSTNAME LASTNAME
Freshman Sean Foo runs in the Watermelon Run, a pre-season cross country event that is 2.6 miles long. Hosted at Stevens Canyon County Park on Aug. 28, the participants enjoyed sliced watermelon after and bonded with their teammates after the run.
PHOTO | KRISH DEV
Senior Mira Wagner gets ready to shoot on goal during the Girls Water Polo game against Saratoga High School. The team won 8-7 after a close game with all eight goals scored by Wagner. The Matadors take their stance as Lowell High School gets ready to hike the ball during the first home game of the season. Football started its season with a 22-18 win against LHS.
PHOTO | GAURI MANOJ PHOTO | GAURI MANOJ
PHOTO | AASHI VENKAT PHOTO | AASHI VENKAT PHOTO | AASHI VENKAT
Freshman Jillian Wang gets ready to serve the ball during the team’s game against Mountain View High School on Sept. 27. The teams were neck-and-neck until freshman Leilani Laruelle broke the tie with her match and the Matadors won 4-3. Sophomore Jooha Kim performs during the Football team’s second home game. The Cheer team performed throughout the game to raise the spectators’ spirit and had a show during halftime in which they performed several stunts.
PHOTO | KALYANI PUTHENPURAYIL
PHOTO | KRISH DEV
Senior Ethan Tarng looks to make a pass during the Boys Water Polo game against Saratoga High School. During the game, MVHS stayed in the lead throughout all four quarters and won 16-10.
PHOTO | KALYANI PUTHENPURAYIL
Seniors Miranda Shakouri and Sydney Su jump to block the ball during the Girls Volleyball game against Mountain View High School, which the team lost 3-2. The team currently has a league record of 1- 2 and is fifth out of the seven teams in the De Anza League.
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