PLAY TOGETHER, SLEEP TOGETHER

Notable athlete couples.

By Chelsea Li

Spending time together off and on the field isn’t too uncommon in sports. Here are three athlete couples that have blossomed from it.

The coordination and synchronicity that exists in pair skating rely on mutual trust and cooperation built over many years. As a result, figure skating duos often form close bonds over the years and sometimes, something more. Madison Chock and Evan Bates have been skating together since 2011, winning three US titles and three world championships. Their most recent Olympics performance included a space themed program where Chock was an alien and Bates was an astronaut.. Bates points out that when skating together, you have to “read each other’s signals’’ and that “after being together for so long on the ice and then off the ice, you kind of pick up on the other person’s nuances.” Last summer, they got engaged while on vacation in Thailand after dating for 6 years. They had been skating as a pair for 11 years already, though. Bates gave tribute to the time they’ve spent together by proposing to Chock on the symbolic date–June 11th.

Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird are both highly achieved athletes in their respective sports of soccer and basketball. Although Bird is now retired after two decades, the former Seattle Storm player is esteemed as one of the best performers in WNBA history. In 2019, Rapinoe was awarded the title of The Best FIFA Women’s Player. Together, they quite literally make a power couple. Bird and Rapinoe first met at a backstage photoshoot for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and started dating a year later. Despite the fame they both carry, Rapinoe notes that their shared experiences help them understand and see each other as normal people. In 2020, the couple got engaged and revealed the news through a post from Bird on Instagram. They’ve been in no rush to get married though, with Rapinoe being pressure than being on a team with people your own age, because they’re just better… I felt a lot of pressure to do as well as they did,” said Hoffman. But being on a varsity team is a huge privilege and gives young athletes the chance to compete at a high er level, “I find sports really important, so while sometimes I can’t do other things I’m happy to go to practice.” Palen said.

If there’s one thing these freshmen have in common, it is the overwhelming sup port they feel from their older teammates. “All the upperclassmen take care of me,” said Palen. Smiley agreed with this, “They make me better.” she said. Smiley explained that she doesn’t find it hard to build rela tionships with her teammates, even with the age difference, “We’re all really close,” she said. Wakefield agreed, as “[he] thinks it’s a pretty good environment” and found it easy to make friends. Playing with up perclassmen can prove to be challenging, but the welcoming environment at Garfield shines through.

Competing and watching their team mates has a certain effect on the younger players, “I do feel inspired by other people on the team.” Hoffman said. Though these freshmen have joined varsity early on in their high school career they believe there are still a lot of areas they can grow in. “I can work to get more playing time and be a better teammate,” Smiley said. She believes she can work to give back to the community that guides her. While working hard sports, these freshmen motivated to work er in other parts of life as well and they the discipline to do so, “I feel like it helps me realize what I can do and makes me want to achieve more every year.” Palen

Every person can gain inspiration from Garfield’s exceptional freshmen and there’s no doubt they will uphold Garfield’s winning busy on the field year round. Last month, the couple announced the launch of their new production company, A Touch More, meant to uplift underrepresented communities and tell “stories of revolutionaries who move culture forward.”

In November, Jordyn Huitema, OL Reign player for the National Women’s Soccer League revealed that she was in a rela tionship with Seattle Mariners star, Julio Rodríguez (nicknamed “J-Rod”). Huite ma captioned her Instagram post of them saying, “Seattle has been good this year”. In 2022, Rodríguez became the fifth Mariners player in history to win the Jackie Robin son American League Rookie of the Year Award. At the same time, Huitema has earned the title of the top scorer in UEFA Women’s Champion League during her time at PSG. At the young ages of 22 and 21, their talents are bringing them a quick rise to stardom. This, coupled with the fact that Huitema had recently ended a five-year relationship with fellow Canadian player Alphonso Davies, brought in a wave of intrigue about the new relationship with Rodríguez. Huitema was accused of being unfaithful to Davies, but he publicly tweeted that “She is a good person” and he has “a lot of respect for her”, requesting fans to

Art By Sydeney Steinwinder