10 Blueprint
SPORTS
April 29, 2016
Brother-sister program spreads love across DGS families By Michelle Hroma, Copy Editor At some sports events, the stands are filled, crowds roar and the team thrives on their popularity; however, this is not the case for all sports. The Student Activities Athletic Leadership Team has recently implemented a brother-sister program within the DGS sports teams. This program was created in order to promote school spirit and equal support for all sports. Senior and co-head of the brothersister committee within SAALT, Kristin Lea, explains why this program will benefit athletes, teams and students. “We think this will help increase school spirit by having a bigger fanbase for all sports. It’s more fun to have friends come out and support your team; this way you get to meet new people who are also active. Once you get to know the people on your brother’s or sister’s team, it will be fun to cheer for them, and you will want to go to their DGS badminton players cheer for DGS gymnastics against Addison Trail High School on April game,” Lea said. 22. Photo by Gabrielle Bartkeviciute Athletic Director and sponsor of SAALT, Randy Konstans, thinks that this on that since we got here six years ago. program will help ignite school spirit We think it’s better but we think it can Konstans and Student Activities Direcand create a bond between athletes. get even better,” Konstans said. tor John Aldworth, this is really the first “Their primary purpose, where it Although this program has been an year the program has been implementcomes from and where it has always has idea for a while, this is only the second ed into DGS athletics. come from, is “how do we improve school year that this has gone into action. Junior Lawrence Hiquiana is one spirit?” Mr. Aldworth and I have worked Since SAALT was created this year by of the heads of this committee within
SAALT. Hiquiana talks about how this brother-sister program was established. “Since it’s only the second year we’ve been doing it, we talked to all the coaches and had them all name team representatives. Then we met with each team representative. Then we gave them contact information and scheduling...We talked about things they should be doing like teambuilders, going to each other’s games, really getting to know each other,” Hiquiana said. In order to get all the teams to work together, the brother-sister SAALT committee has organized the pairings of sports, along with scheduling events for the sports to meet and support each other at games. “What we’ve been doing is not forcing it, but we’ve made it really easy for the sports to go to each other’s games and support each other, so we’ve laid out a lot of things for them and did a lot of the grunt work that a lot of teams wouldn’t want to do,” Hiquiana said. SAALT’s main motivation behind this program is spirit for DGS itself -- not just each individual sport. “We’re all athletes and we’re all fighting for the same thing,” Hiquiana said. Contact Michelle at mhro1998@csd99.org
Team togetherness spikes up boys volleyball’s performance Tischler sees the resilience of this year’s team as a prominent characteristic. “In years past, we were just a bunch of random guys playing together. Here we are all friends, and if we didn’t play volleyball, we would still
be friends, and I think it carries onto the court,” Tischler said. “Late in the game, people usually get tired. But we condition enough so we don’t get tired and are able to pull out the win.” Contact Joe at jste1881@csd99.org
DRIVERS LICENSE Michaels’ Driving School, Inc. Since 1945 The boys volleyball team wear their warmup jackets before a match on April 20.
By Joe Stellato, Editor-in-Chief Print DGS boys volleyball has spiked their performance to start the season after winning their first three regular season matches. Showing much improvement from their 20-17 record in 2014-2015, the team has a 10-6 regular season record. In his tenth year with DGS, head coach Kevin Streuer honors this year’s team to be “the smartest team” he’s ever coached for their intelligence on and off the court, and their depth in the roster. “We’ve got 15 guys on our team and we expect 15 guys each to have a job to do. If they’re not doing their job, then we aren’t working together as a team. I wouldn’t say one player sticks out individually, but everybody as a [team],” Streuer said. Last season, the team finished first in the WSG Conference and looks to
Photo by Michelle Hroma reclaim the title this year. Senior Patrick Leahy credits the team’s ability to work together for their current record. “Last year there was a big division on the team because of the couple seniors [that] won state sophomore year. They always had really high hopes for us, and we weren’t always able to fulfill them, unfortunately,” Leahy said. “I would say this year we all get along, and we are all on the same level, and I think that really helps us compared to other teams.” Senior Andrew Dytrch believes the togetherness aspect of their play has attributed to their success. “We have 10 returning players and since we’ve got to know each other, there’s a lot more trust on the court and that helps us as well,” Dytrch said. In the first two games of the season, the boys came from behind to force a third set and prevailed. Junior Shawn
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