Sports and Activities

DECA MAKES RETURN TO KANELAND CLUBS

BY PAIGE WHITESIDE

Editor-in-Chief of Web and Copy Editor

After taking a three-year break due to the COVID pandemic, Kaneland winter percussion has returned to normalcy and is participating in competitions for the 2022-23 season. After having to take an unforeseen break due to the pandemic, the program will continue with new staff members and players and multiple competitions throughout the season. The last full season of winter percussion was during the 2019-20 school year before the COVID pandemic cut the season short days before their final competition. Band director and winter percussion co-director Tyler Brooks is directing winter percussion for the fifth time and experienced the setback firsthand. “The last time we did winter percussion was the fourth year of the group’s existence. We were planning on attending the Winter Guard International (WGI) World Championships in Dayton, Ohio, in April 2020. Of course, 2020 threw us for a loop,” Brooks said. “The season was canceled early, and we were unable to attend the World Championships.”

Winter percussion is an indoor percussion marching band that takes place from November through March and consists of bi-weekly rehearsals, multiple performances and regional competitions. Anyone can try out, regardless of percussion experience.

“[Winter percussion] provides an extra outlet for [percussionists] to participate in a marching activity outside of the normal marching band season,” Brooks said. “It also allows other musicians in the band program to join and learn how to play percussion instruments.”

Senior and winter percussion member Emily Biala experienced the last season of winter percussion before the pandemic hit during her freshman year. Biala feels positive about the new season and the changes made to the band program as a whole.

“With the different staff and people, there is a new type of energy because we are coming back after three years,” Biala said. “I am looking forward to learning more challenging music and playing with the group. The music incorporates everyone so that we can all work together.”

Winter percussion will be performing a new show this season titled Glitch. The show is themed around glitches and code and has a run time of just under five minutes.

“Glitch provides a lot of cool glitchy music and visual effects. I think having a show like that is going to create a positive environment for everyone,” Brooks said. Throughout the season, the group performs in two local competitions in Naperville and Chicago, and they also travel to Plainfield, IN, and Dayton, OH.

Photo by Kevin Sigrist Senior front ensemble member Joshua Stover practices his show music. As a marimba player, a four-mallet grip is a common technique.

BY ANDREW VALENTINI

Editor and Co-Broadcast Manager

After two years of inactivity, the Distributive Education Club of America (DECA) has returned to Kaneland, giving students a chance to join a club that can benefit them in the future.

According to DECA’s official website, their organization prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in high schools and colleges around the globe for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.

Kaneland’s DECA club currently has eight official members and has been consistently growing since adviser Dragoljub Gudovic revived it after the club was discontinued during the COVID pandemic. “DECA [used to be] as big as FFA. We had a lot of students. It happened to decline over time in numbers, and then [COVID] happened and there weren’t any competitions for two years,” Gudovic said. Meeting times vary, but usually DECA meets two times per month on Mondays for about two hours. Meetings consist of many activities for students to improve their social skills and business etiquette. “The first thing we do in meetings is play the ‘Yes, and…’ game. The game helps with on-the-spot reflexes and [improves our ability] to continue a story in a sales pitch environment,” junior and DECA member Kyle Hesselfeldt said. “For example, someone will start a story, and after they finish talking, you continue the story immediately starting with, ‘Yes,

Photo courtesy of Dragoljub Gudovic DECA adviser Dragoljub Gudovic and past adviser Renee Grisch take a DECA group picture. Notable members include the club’s president Nick Johnson and treasurer Alyssa Almaraz. and…’, and continue on from there. If you are unable to continue the story, you lose.” The meetings consist of an in-depth analysis of many categories of business and are designed to hone in on students’ problem-solving skills, teamwork and ability to think quickly. “We do mock competitions where we are given scenarios based on different categories of business,” junior and DECA member Michael Happ said. “Last meeting we were [doing a scenario on] instructing a farmer on how to turn his farm into an Airbnb.”

DECA has regional, state and national competitions that take place throughout the year. Gudovich uses club meetings as a way to prepare for these competitions. “The first competition will be in January, and that will be regional,” Gudovic said. “There will be a state [competition] in March and then nationals in April or May.” DECA is available for any students to join, as there are no prerequisites or requirements. To join, students must first inform Gudovic and then attend meetings.

High school student-athletes who coach youth teams

BY SOFIA WILLIAMS

Editor

As athletes grow, they will come across many coaches throughout their careers. Some coaches will have experience in the sport they coach from playing when they were young. Others may not have played the sport they coach, but they were driven to it by their passion and knowledge. In some unique circumstances, though, players might have coaches who themselves are in the prime of their athletic careers, as they are coaching while competing as high school student-athletes.

Junior and varsity volleyball player Danielle McCue has been playing volleyball since she was in fourth grade and now coaches fourth- through eighth-grade teams for the Cyclones Volleyball Club. Being involved in the sport for so long, McCue’s passion for the game has only grown stronger, which is why she chooses to coach young and aspiring athletes.

“I coach because I love to help people grow within a sport they would possibly want to pursue when they are older,” McCue said.

Having the passion for helping others grow in their sport already sets up a new coach for success, but with being a new coach, obstacles are bound to arise. There are plenty of learning opportunities in sports, then, not just for athletes but also for their coaches. Senior and cheerleader Keelyn Devine volunteer coaches fifth- and sixth-grade sideline and competition cheer for the Kaneland Youth Football League (KFYL).

“A challenge I come across is [with] the way I coach. Being a coach, you are supposed to be bossy and know when to be strict and when to have fun, but I am not a bossy person, nor do I like telling people what to do all the time,” Devine said. These challenges are not always bad things, and they can instead be chances to grow. What a coach takes from a negative experience can be as important as the good moments. An ability to acknowledge, learn and adapt are all important traits for a coach to develop. “I want to be a coach who knows when to be strict and when to have fun, but I am

Photo courtesy of Keelyn Devine Senior Keelyn Devine (bottom left) poses with fellow coach and Kaneland alum Abigail Burroughs and their 2021-22 fourth and fifth grade sideline and competition team. All of the athletes on the team at the time the picture was taken still cheer for KYFL with Devine.

still learning how to do that. I want to have a tight bond with my team rather than being someone who is there just to tell them what to do,” Devine said. Head varsity football coach Patrick Ryan has been coaching at Kaneland for

A challenge I come across is [with] the way I coach. Being a coach, you are supposed to be bossy and know when to be strict and when to have fun, but I am not a bossy person, nor do I like telling people what to do all the time. - Senior Keelyn Devine “

15 years, and he has been the head coach for six seasons. Throughout his coaching career, Ryan has personally watched student-athletes coach youth teams and recognizes the many benefits. “I think the younger kids will find a better connection with the younger teenage coach than an adult coach or somebody who is a dad. For our football program, we do a youth football camp over the summer, and we have our players coach the little kids,” Ryan said. “The kids love to be around the high school kids. They think the high school kids are so cool. So I think it is a great way for teenagers to help mentor young kids because [youth] are so impressionable. It is also a great way for kids to give back to the community because of the need for good coaches and officials. So I think it’s a great opportunity.” Part of expanding the knowledge that comes with being a coach also comes from the coaches who mentored the new ones. New coaches taking valuable lessons they learned and then applying them in their own unique ways can be beneficial because they know firsthand what helped them progress and what did not.

“I have learned that some athletes need constructive criticism while others might need a more in-depth one-on-one conversation,” McCue said.

Understanding how other athletes need and want to be treated also benefits the new coach because they then learn how to advocate and help themselves progress in their own careers.