practice location, has an uncertain future. Read more on

20 SPORTS

Foster City considers redeveloping Mariners Point STORY SAM T. PHOTO MONIQUE AGATEP

Lease to end 2023 for Nueva golf team practice course

Just a ten-minute drive away from the hectic school life of the Nueva high school lies a peaceful vista heralded by windsurfers overlooking the Foster City bay. A place beloved by locals and PGA pro golfer Will Zalatoris alike, the Mariners Point Golf Center is a gusty escape with a view of the San Francisco skyline. The nine-hole par three course is home to a well-maintained short game practice area and a double-decker driving range with digital launch monitors. Every week, hundreds of eager golf players, including the Nueva golf team, flock to the course to enjoy the facilities, but their ability to do so may soon come to an end.

In an announcement that could have major effects on the surrounding community, the Foster City city council brought to light the fact that the golf course’s lease will expire by the end of 2023, leaving the future of Mariners uncertain. While there is an option to extend the lease by one year, the council is considering using the land for something else, and new housing is at the top of the list.

Before proceeding with any new building or lease renewal, the council performed a month-long community survey in June and July to get feedback about the possible redevelopment. This survey was halted to allow for environmental study, but the council plans to continue the community outreach to allow for transparency throughout the whole process.

The announcement has garnered a variety of responses, but it was mostly met with general outcry, prompting the creation of a Change. org campaign to save the course.

Receiving just shy of 5,000 signatures, the petition has amassed attention for multiple compelling reasons.

“We believe that [Mariners] is not an asset belonging solely to Foster City and its citizens; it has established itself as a prime provider of recreational opportunities for San Mateo County residents and others for over 25 years,” campaign creator Shankar Kenkre wrote.

Golf team member Coby W. ’22 said that he understands the city’s need for housing, especially affordable housing, but he doesn’t agree with any plans to get rid of the course.

“There’s [already] very few outdoor communal areas now and I think that one has been a staple of the community for a long time now,” said Coby, who has been playing golf there for 7 years.

Not only has it been a longstanding recreational facility, but Coby, like all the others who call Mariners home, is drawn to it because of its incredible location.

“I don’t think housing should be in that area,” Coby said.

Colin S. ’22, another golf team member and regular at Mariners, pointed out what makes Mariners unique: “It’s the only par 3 course in the Bay Area, it's very inviting for both new golfers as well as experienced ones,” Colin said.

The sense of community is unique to Mariners and both golfers agreed

COURSE WITH A

VIEW Mariners Point Golf Center offers views of San Francisco and East Bay. The Bay Trail, a popular pedestrian and cycling path, winds around the golf course.

that it is also one of its strengths.

“It’s such an inviting, small golf community—to lose that would really suck,” Colin said. “I’m a bit bummed that’s even in the picture.” For the past two decades, Mariners Point Golf Center has offered a laidback environment for golf enthusiasts and beginners alike to work on their golf game with stunning views of the Foster City Bay. In the coming months, the Foster City City Council will continue to engage with the community to gather input on the future of Mariners, but until then, it will continue to serve as a contained oasis for all who want it.

The G.O.A.T.’s stance on mental health prompts conversations about USA Gymnastics

To many, Simone Biles is known as the greatest of all time, or G.O.A.T., as the most decorated U.S. gymnast with 32 Olympic and World medals. To me, a level 10 gymnast, Biles is the instigator of a brighter future with USA Gymnastics’ treatment of athletes.

During the July 2021 Tokyo Olympics, Biles shocked the world when she withdrew from the final team competition, after an uncontrolled vault in which she got lost in the air. Biles decided against competing in the remaining three events to avoid injury and preserve her mental health.

She was experiencing extreme pressure from the heavy expectations of viewers all over the world, and her internal anxiety evolved into the twisties, or the unexpected feeling of being lost in the air. Most competitive gymnasts, whether national team members such as Biles or developmental gymnasts like myself, experience the twisties at one point in their career. Laurie Hernandez, Rio 2016 Simone Biles’ withdrawal silver and gold medalist, from Olympics final said in an article from reflects failures in the USA Gymnastics program, not Olympics.com about the twisties: “It actively makes individual inability you feel like you're not the caliber of athlete that you are.” Apparently, listening to a woman or young girl in a sequin leotard talk about an unnerving feeling with a name like a nursery rhyme has proven diffcultforoutsidersofthe sport to understand and take literally. However, leading up to her twisties, Biles was exactly what the media wanted her to be. She was consistent in winning and kept evolving her skills. Gymnastics fans could always count on her to succeed, which explained the enormous pressure she was under. In the stands of the U.S. Olympic Trials, fans waved posters with “I’m only here for the G.O.A.T.,” in bold red, white, and blue letters. As a gymnast, I believe those supposedly inspiring posters made it diffcultforherto perform confidently because she felt the need to prove herself and satisfy the audience with her seemingly impossible ability to defy gravity. Posters and mindsets like those also ignore the years of sacrifice and dedication it takes for the other three women to make the Olympic team. My hope is that Biles’ decision to

OPINION

STORY ELLIE K. PHOTO EZRA SHAW

prioritize mental health will direct the program onto a better path where gymnasts are entitled to express their feelings.

While some Twitter users or media pundits condemn Biles’ actions by saying it was “betrayal of her team and her sport” and she “choked,” as a gymnast, I think it was the bravest choice she could make. It took enormous courage to realize her safety and health was superior to the expectations placed upon her. Biles experienced external and internal constant pressure and stress related to being the greatest athlete in the world and from her recent trauma from being sexually abused.

She carried this burden through the past two Olympics, feeling a lack of support from the program and being without her family support system in Tokyo. This past month, Biles and fellow gymnasts Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney, and Maggie Nichols testified in court against former team doctor Larry Nassar and his horrific sexual abuse. Biles described the case as “the largest… in the history of American sport.”

In giving her testimony about the sexual abuse she experienced prior to the 2016 Rio Olympics, Biles said, “To be clear, I blame Larry Nassar, and I also blame an entire system [USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympics and Paralympic Committee] that enabled and perpetuated this abuse.”

Her statements exposed to the world the brutal reality of American elite gymnastics. Equally important, she revealed to girls like myself that an athlete’s emotional state is just as important as their physical state.

It is easy to forget athletes are humans with emotions and physical breaking points when they seem to defy gravity. Allowing athletes to present themselves wholly, with thoughts and feelings and struggles instead of infallible celebrities, can change the course of athletics and develop healthier and happier people.