League Winners and CCS Qualifiers

LEAGUE WINNERS & CCS QUALIFIERS

Varsity Football and Varsity Girls Volleyball’s successful seasons

KRITI KAUSHAL AND KAVYA KAUSHAL

postscript editor and photo editor

Cupertino High School has shown impressive athletic performance in the 2021-22 season with the Varsity Football team and Varsity Girls Volleyball team topping their respective leagues after successful playoff runs. These achievements are especially remarkable considering how long it has been since both teams have performed this well.

The volleyball team had an overall 21-11 record, with a 10-2 performance against the league teams tying them as league champions in the Santa Clara Valley El Camino League. After facing challenges last season, including occasional player absences, due to an unprecedented overlap between school and club seasons, and canceled games, the team exceeded all their self-set expectations. Sophomore Alyssa Chen is one of the youngest players on the varsity volleyball team. When asked about her favorite moment this season, Chen recalls the first game of the season where the team members thought they were going to lose badly against Homestead, a historically superior team who were in an upper league, but ended up winning 3-0 . “It was nice getting to start the season off so well on a positive note,” said Chen.

Coach Xiaofeng Foret (Coach Feng), the Varsity Girls Volleyball coach, is proud o f t h e team’s perseverance throughout their rigorous practice and game schedule with the added logistical burden of COVID protocols. She credits her team’s success to the teamwork they have demonstrated through the past months. Said Feng, “All the girls did a fantastic job. It was really, really hard, and they worked harder. We all worked as a team, which is more important than how much we won and lost.” Coach Feng hopes to continue this collaborative mindset in the coming seasons. “We don’t need any star players. We have to play together. We need to practice hard together.”

The team’s main libero, a backrow defensive specialist, Angelina

Kondo won the outstanding junior award for the El Camino league. Her impressive performance helped them move up leagues, a change that will affect who the team plays next year. Reflecting on the season, said Kondo, “On games where we truly played as a team, we saw through that we played well regardless of the end result. I don’t think there was one specific moment rather multiple moments that made the season special—it was fun and helped to

cheer each other on. We’re going to just keep working hard, improving our skills and becoming players that rely on each other while helping each other be better players.”

With similar success, the Cuper-

tino Football team finished with a regular-season record of 9-1, tying for first place alongside Gunn High School and Los Altos High School in the El Camino Football League. Individual players also racked up personal distinctions while representing Cupertino with quarterback Jayden Hall leading the league in passing (1393 yards), wide receiver Harry Singh leading the league in receiving (576 yards), and defensive end Vithiyashankar Thulasinthan leading the league in sacks (5.5).

Longtime CHS football coach Chris Oswald attributes

much of the team’s success to the commitment of players who worked hard during spring, summer and the regular season to physically and mentally condition themselves. “They would challenge themselves in workouts,” said Oswald. “For example, they’d be doing their sprints and they’d be looking left and looking right to see if they won. So they were competing against each other even when there were no games on the horizon.”

Oswald sees this as a distinct difference in comparison to previous CHS football teams. “A lot of guys in the past would have other commitments and tell me that they had to attend summer school and other things. However, in this team, the real core of the team was here every day and they challenged each other to become better.”

Senior Harry Singh also saw the united team atmosphere as an important component of the team’s success. “Everyone was a lot closer and everyone actually liked playing,” said Singh. “I’ve been on varsity since my sophomore year and [in previous years] many people were focused on proving themselves to be the best on the team rather than trying to contribute to being the best in the league. And [being the best in the league] is what everyone worked towards this year.”

Although players are often directly associated with the success of a team, Coach Oswald also commends his coaching staff for showing up and providing insight to develop each player’s strengths, to improve the team as a whole. In a year where COVID-19 hurt many football programs that did not have enough players or staff to complete their rosters, Cupertino Football received dozens of hours of help from volunteers who consistently showed up and brought both energy and experience.

Said Oswald, “I was blessed to have six or seven coaches that showed up every day and were committed to these kids and I think that’s the motivation the kids needed. As a result, the COVID season was a good season: we played great. And I think that season really opened our eyes to what we could be which carried forth this season.”

Despite an early loss to Saint Francis in the first round of CCS playoffs, both Coach Oswald and Singh are proud of their team’s success and efforts leading up to the postseason.

“WE ALL WORKED AS A TEAM, WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN HOW MUCH WE WON AND LOST. ” COACH FENG