SPORTS
The Vacant Seat Senior copes with the unknowns of the season without her sister. BY SYDNEY MANNING SPORTS COLUMNIST
This year is different. Not because of the change in playing style. Not because of the players that left and came back. Not because of the potential for a player strike or ugly new kits. Not because of anything I can control, because if I could change it back, I would. For all of high school, there have been two somewhat consistent things in my life. Week after week, I could count on those two things to be there. But as the 2015 Major League Soccer season quickly appeared, my sister did not. My passion for soccer has given me the opportunity to get to know so many people I didn’t before, but I’ve realized that I have gotten to know so much about people I already knew for a long time, 18 years to be exact. Ironically, she’s the one who introduced me to this team four years ago. Section 130, row 15, seats 3 and 4. I sat in seat four, and my older sister Mackenzie sat in seat three. Every week we would be there together and have 90 minutes to share with each other and the team we loved so dearly. It was an hour and a half
of laughing, crying, yelling and chanting. It meant the world to me. I always looked forward to that oasis at the end of each week. I knew that however badly I failed my algebra test or how little sleep I got, I had the Sporting KC game to look forward to. Throughout the time we spent together at games, media events, and anything else Sporting related we could sneak ourselves into, I got to know her more than I ever thought possible. Granted she is my sister and I knew her pretty well before, but I have learned so much about her passionate spirit and genuine character that I never got to see before. The way she is so devoted and loving of this team inspired me to be the same. I had never seen her so excited about anything the way she was because of this team. It has brought so much joy to her life that she shared with me. Four seasons running, none of my excitement has changed. The game days are scheduled, but seat three is vacant. Mackenzie was with me when I first toured the stadium, and took me to my first game a few months later. She’s the one that has made the drive to Kansas City, Kansas with me every week since. She went to a surprise player lunch with me where we ate at our favorite restaurant for the first time in the company of some of our favorite players. She was there when we won the U.S. Open Cup in 2012 and when we won the MLS Cup Championship on my 17th birthday. She was the one that attacked me in the hallway when we traded for her favorite player and made sure I stayed updated with the team throughout the school day. She was there when my bucket grill was purchased, destroyed, repurchased and then stolen out of the Season Ticket Members lot. Come to think of it, I can’t recall a single memory that she wasn’t there for, but
all that changed on March 8. Mackenzie wasn’t there for the home opener and she won’t be there for the next few months of the season. She’ll be at the University of Evansville finishing her first year of college. She’ll come home at some point in May after she finishes her exams, but the season starts two months prior. She won’t be there to make fun of me when I wear shorts to a 30-degree game or mispronounce a new player’s name. She won’t be there when we play the expansion teams for the first time or to watch rivalry games. Sure, she’s just a phone call away, but when I turn to high five her after an SKC goal she won’t be there, not at first. I didn’t think about any of that when Mackenzie was at Sion with me. It never hit me that one day she won’t be living in my house everyday, much less going to Sporting games with me. When her “last game” came around in August, I did my best to take it all in, but it was weird to think about her not consistently being there with me. Luckily, I have so many amazing people that are still able to go with me. My dad is always my first go-to, but he’s not the kind of guy to help me sneak in a cupcake and stay in the Member’s Club hours after the game. I have to give my little sister, freshman Tierney Manning, mad credits as well. She does a great job of dealing with my frantic and obnoxious gameday self. Beyond the rest of my family, I have a great group of friends that occupy seat three, but the more I look, I find that nothing is quite the same as my dearest older sister. As the months become warmer and the rest of the season quickly approaches, I await the day when I’ll be able to be back with Mackenzie in our rightful seats.
The Art of Juggling Multiple Sports Students manage to balance sports in back-to-back seasons. BY MEGHAN KEARNEY ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
The fresh smell of spring fills the air, signaling the start of longer days, hinting that summer is near and the start of new seasons of sports. For some, spring might be the first sport they are involved in for the school year, but for others it may be a backto-back season to a winter sport. High school Athletic Director Reynold Middleton says that very few students are able to balance sports and academics, but fewer are able to go directly from one sport to another with no break in between seasons while also keeping up with the school work that is given. According to High School Assistant Athletic Director Kate Pilgreen, 22 of the 115 girls participating in spring sports have also played a winter sport as well. Junior Nathalie Barbeau is one of the few who knows about transitioning from swim season in the winter to lacrosse in the spring with just a one week break in between.
“It is stressful because I only have a small break. The time that I do have off, I spend it conditioning for lacrosse,” Barbeau said “It’s draining during the season because there is practice after school and then once at home, you want to relax but I just can’t.” For other students, there is no one week break between back-to-back sports. As a freshman, Afton Fennewald manages to train for her upcoming soccer season while still playing basketball and balancing her school work. “I think sometimes it might be difficult to play both sports because you might have three or four tests the next day. And as a freshman it can be difficult as you learn the study habits of high school,” Fennewald said. Though it may be challenging for some, it comes to time management and the drive to work at everything, according to Barbeau. “I’ve learned to do what makes you happy and be around the teams that make the sport you are playing fun," Barbeau said. "It is hard to the pressure of time management, grades and overall endurance, but stick with it and everything will seem easy at the end.”
(Illustration by Madison Heide)
LE JOURNAL
MARCH
11
