Table of Contents 1: Cover 2: Table of Contents 3: Summer Favorites (TJ) 4-5: Same but Different 6-9: Through the Generations 10: Back Page Writer and Editor: Sidney Tranel Designer: Maryn Reimers
Same but Different Sidney Tranel and Maryn Reimers
From 2011 to 2020, 60% of children in the US participated in a team sport. Obviously, there are a number of team sports to choose from including; baseball, football, track, dance, swimming, etc. How do kids choose what they want to do? Taking a look at two sports that seem to be very different can give us an idea. Sidney Tranel ‘25 is a freshman track athlete and Maryn Reimers 25’ is a freshman dancer. They are good friends who share similar interests, so this begs the question: how do two people who seem so alike in personality and interests choose such different sports to play? Furthermore, how did these athletes choose the sport that was right for them? The first thing we need to look at when answering the question, how did these two girls choose a sport that is fit for them, is how are these sports alike and how are they different? Tranel 25’ gives us a rundown of her season’s track schedule. “Practice is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. It usually lasts for about 2 hours (4:15-6:30pm). The season starts late February and ends mid-late May,” Tranel says. This means that the girls are practicing for about 3 months and a total of approximately 90 days. Tranel also explains her meet schedule. “We have 1-2 meets a week, typically on Saturdays and Tuesdays/Thursday. Most meets are local and the farthest we travel is Des Moines. Our most major meets are the Drake Relays, which is only a select group of people with outstanding qualifying times. State and state qualifiers are also significant and you must have outstanding qualifying times for these too.” This year, the team consists of about 70 people. It’s also important to understand what goes into being a competitive dancer. Reimers 25’ shares her experiences of her first year on the West High Dance Team. “Dance practice is Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday every week. The season starts at the end of May and lasts until early February. During our summer training, we lift on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for two hours then head back to West for a two hour practice,” Reimers 25’ explains. Competing is quite a bit different than track. “There are 5 competitions total throughout our season. They go from starting at Carver Hawkeye Arena, to ending at the national competition in Florida. Everyone goes and everyone dances.” For Reimers’ upcoming season there will be 13 girls on the team. Clearly, we can see the major variety between these two sports. Well, what about the similarities? Both dance and track include team bonding. The track team has a big team dinner every night before a meet where they get together and eat spaghetti sponsored by Zio Johnos. The dance team also has team dinner before competitions. Olive Garden typically cater theirs, and they dance and just hang out. Tranel and Reimers both explain how competitions and meets are their favorite part of be-
ing on the team. “I love the adrenaline of racing. Getting to cheer on my team, the feeling of winning and celebrating by going out to dinner after with my teammates,” says Tranel 25’. “I love competition because we finally get to showcase what we’ve worked on, I get to spend time with my teammates, cheering each other on and getting ready backstage while feeling the excitement and anxiety of pre performance,” says Reimers 25’. One of the hardest parts for these girls is the end of the season and the graduation of their senior teammates. “The feeling after our last track meet was just so sad. The coach made a speech and the seniors cried and I knew it wasn’t going to be the same without them. They have guided me through the season and I can’t really imagine not having them with me.” Tranel shares how she felt especially close with Jasmine Ortega and Payton Davena, West seniors. Reimers also formed a strong bond with one of the seniors on her team: Olivia Casebolt. “Liv was there for me even outside of the dance team. She sits with me at lunch and chats with me and helps with school work,” Reimers 25’ says. While they’re both sad to lose their seniors, they’re also excited to meet the new freshman who will join the team in the years to come. Now that we’ve seen the similarities, obviously there are also differences among the two sports. Track meets are much more frequent than dance competitions. Meets are usually at least a couple times a week, while competitions are barely once a month, being only 5 in total. Sometimes meets only include a small number of people, while other times the whole team attends. During competitions, the whole team participates. This also makes sense when taking into account the track team is 70 people, whereas the dance team is just 12 individuals. The off-time during both seasons is also drastically different. The dance team only has about a month “off ” although fundraising and occasional optional practices still occur. Looking at track, for people who don’t participate in cross country and summer/winter conditioning, the offtime is 8 months. Even when participating in summer and winter conditioning, it only consists of optional practices Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. So, clearly, the dance team’s season is quite a bit longer. The dance team also features more team bonding, and the team together as a whole is very close. “Since our team is a small group of teenage girls it gives us time to connect and get close. When you spend as much time together as we do you just bond no matter what, and start connecting with people in many different aspects. After speed and agility in the summer, we would go downtown and get coffee together. We also do a full team scavenger hunt, in which we divide into small teams and race to finish the hunt first,” Reimers 25’ says. “Since our team is so big, it’s definitely harder to get close. We don’t really do full team bonding. I love going out to dinner after meets but it’s usually a smaller group of friends and not the whole team,” says Tranel 25’. Taking a look at both the similarities and differences between the two sports teams provides some clarity into why each girl chose the sport they did. To summarize, both athletes enjoy meeting new people, participating in competitions and meets, bonding with their team and feeling a sense of belonging, and facing the challenges of being part of a team for such an extended period of time. By contrast, practice schedules, competitions vs meets, and the ability to bond with teammates differs notably between the two teams. However, a more historical perspective is necessary to fully understand their chosen sport. Tranel began running while a student at Wickham Elementary, with ‘Girls on the Run.’ Similarly, Reimers has been dancing since her elementary school years. It appears that considering early life experiences is needed to answer the question of how did these athletes choose the sport that was right for them. The similarities between the two sports connect the two girls by showing their similar interests and personalities. The differences show how the girls are unique from one another as each sport is unique and is the perfect fit for them.
THROUGH THE GENERATIONS then
vs
now
When thinking about what high school looked like 20 years ago, it’s easy to imagine how it looked based on the movies and the stereotypes presented. Well, what if you took a look into the past through the eyes of someone who actually did go to West High school 20 years ago? Having a sister who is 20 years older than you is liking having a personal time machine. Courtney Rice graduated from West High School in 2003. Before West High, she had gone to Regina from kindergarten through 8th grade. She wanted more experiences both academically and socially. “I thought that there would be lots of opportunities and activities and ways of getting involved. And I wanted to travel and meet different kinds of students.” Rice said. She got involved in choir, which has been an important part of her life since childhood. One of her favorite memories is when her choir teacher nominated her for an honors choir to go to Europe for the summer, touring eight different countries. She especially loved seeing Notre Dame. Rice also participated in sports and many extracurriculars. She played basketball freshman year, golf all four years and was on the bowling team for a couple years. She also joined a variety of different clubs. She was the vice president of the students against drunk driving club. This was a big deal to her. “I remember at one football game, where we ordered the Students Against Drunk Driving ribbons and then we tied them to the antennas of all the cars in the parking lot. So when people came out, they saw this field of those red ribbons.” Rice said. STAR was also a club she participated in. Juniors and seniors who were interested in teaching would go to Weber during free periods and help tutor and teach younger kids there. Rice was also very involved in singing and acting and was a part of the drama club. Rice also participated in a lot of volunteer work. “It was important to us so we volunteered at some churches and soup kitchens and did some different work with donation centers.” Rice said. She worked at Carlos O’ Kellys from freshman year to senior year and worked at the Coralville pool as a cashier. Something similar to me, is that Rice loved to keep a busy schedule. After spending all this time reminiscing about the past, what about the present? Currently Courtney Rice is a teacher at Clear Creek Amana. She teaches AP lit and comp, yearbook, newspapers, journalism and sophomore english. Her husband, Mathew Rice, is also a teacher. He teaches in the special education department at Borlaug Elementary. She has three kids, Walter, Remona and Sylvia. During her high school days, English had always been a priority for Rice. She took all the honors English that was offered, and senior year she took an AP english. Her teacher, Ms. Carolyn was a huge mentor and inspiration to her. “I had her my junior year, and my freshman year and she is the reason I’m an English teacher,” Rice said. Being a high school teacher now, Rice feels she has a deeper connection with her students and me. She kind of understands what it’s like to be me and having connections with me also benefits how she interacts with her students. “Some of the cool things are like I get to know a little bit about what it’s like to be you because I’m a high school teacher. I know my students and they tell me lots of things,” Rice said. Having a sister with her for her freshman year was beneficial and gave her someone to learn from. Me, having Rice to look up to and help me through freshman years feels similar in a way. Rice describes the social leverage it gave her and the fun of borrowing clothes from her older sister. When she left for college it was a lot harder since they had been going to school together through their whole lives. “I was really sad when she left. It was hard to have that first year, sophomore year without her being there,” Rice said. I’m currently a freshman at West high school, 20 years after Rice graduated. Coming into high school after being all online in eighth grade is similar in a way to Rice’s experiences after transfer-
ring from Regina. Trying to reconnect friendships and adjust back to school after being in isolation was hard when most kids had already been strengthening and forming different friendships. When Rice transferred to WHS after being a student at Regina her whole life she had similar struggles with friendships. “I would say that I was often kind of like jealous of some of the older relationships that existed because sometimes that seemed hard to break into, you know, when kids had known each other since kindergarten, if they had gone to the same elementary and then Northwest and then West, there’d be like memories or inside jokes that I didn’t know,” Rice said. One of the things I’ve learned in my first year of high school is the importance of football games and sports events. I’ve never really been interested in watching sports but seeing how they bring students together and getting to cheer together with fellow classmates is an exhilarating feeling. Rice also talks about the popularity of sports events in her day. “Football games were huge. You’d always go, might not stay the whole thing. But you’d go and you’d stand on top of the bleachers and go crazy,” Rice said. As expected, Homecoming and prom were also a part of both mine and Rice’s experience. I haven’t been to prom yet but getting dressed for hoco, buying a dress, getting nails done and taking pictures felt like a significant part of the process. Personally, going out to dinner before and getting ready was more fun than the actual dance. Rice relates more to her experience with prom, which I have yet to attend. “We took pictures beforehand and kind of partied at each other’s houses. And then after we just, you know, hang out with the same group and it’s nice. It was nice to go and it was really beautiful because it was at the Memorial Union downtown,” Rice said. Learning from Rice and hearing about her high school experience has given me hope for the rest of my future experience through High School. Having someone to learn from as a teacher, and a sister who went through high school just like I am currently, helps me to feel less alone. I’ve figured out that we both have a strong connection with our English teachers, love keeping busy, and like to participate in a variety of extracurriculars. Although I’ve also gotten to know how being in high school in different generations has made us different. “Without me being a teacher and past going to west high I don’t think I would know you as well, In some ways,” Rice said. Without the connection we share, our bond might not be as strong, and so I’m grateful we will always have these memories that we can share.
Courtney Rice