Viking magazine
Bharat
Cho Family
Dogan Family
Scott Joachim
Steele Family
on the cover:
Thieman Family
Wang Family
Schoebel Family
Cheung Family
Tung Family
Ginwalla Family
Telyaz Family
Weiner Family
Lee Family
Salvatierra Family
Jonathan Levav
Liu Family
Pashalidis Family
Junowicz Family
Editors-in-Chief
Claire Cho, Ethan Wang, Roan Haney, Emil Bothe
Creative Director
Nathan Lee
Photo Editor
Lucas Tung
Business Manager
Sarah Thieman
Copy Editor
Scarlett Frick
Head Columnist
Tyler Cheung
Social Media Manager
Amanda Goody
Online Editors-In-Chief
Arjun Bharat, Luke Joachim
Staff Writers
Adi Weiner, Elena Salvatierra, Dylan Robinson, Isaac Telyaz, Evin Steele, Jonathan Yuan, Natalya Kaposhilin, Zoe Pashalidis, Malcolm Ginwalla, Max Merkel, Jake Liu, Elif Dogan, Carter Burnett, Ben Levav, Finn Schoebel
Adviser
Brian Wilson
This cover, with photo by Lucas Tung, features Izzy Bienaime (‘25), Katelyn Pegg (‘25), and Kacey Washington (‘26) on their phones on the football stands. This feature story on the effects of social media on athletes can be read on page 32.
Letter from the EDITORS
Hey Vikes! What an amazing year 2024 has been! Fall sports have wrapped up and we’re heading into the winter season. Continue to check our website, Twitter, and Instagram for score updates and to read recaps of recent Paly games. We hope you enjoy our second print issue of Viking for the 24-25 school year!
Our cover story, “Social Media Unfiltered” (page 24) discusses both the positive and potentially negative effects that social media can have on student-athletes.
“Sweat to Strength,” (page 12) takes a closer look into the importance of electrolytes and how Paly athletes utilize them to improve their game.
There are different sibling duos represented throughout Paly athletics, and “Timeless Teammates,” (page 14) show-
cases those relationships.
“Home Turf Triumph,” (page 16) looks at the existing advantages to playing on Paly’s home field for a variety of sports teams.
It is common for athletes to have athletes they look up to. “Guided by Greatness,” (page 20) reveals the impact that role models have on some of Paly’s athletes.
“The Balancing Act,” (page 22) puts the spotlight on multi-sport athletes and dives into how they balance playing multiple sports with other important aspects of life.
“Sports Photography,” (page 30) is an introduction to the world of sports photography and details the intricacies of it.
few Paly athletes who have shared their tryout experience.
“Parent Trivia” (page 38) reveals the results of an in-depth trivia for the girl’s water polo parents as well as parental knowledge of multiple other sports.
Continuing the spotlight on Paly athletes, “Point of Balance,” (page 40) focuses on junior Liam Li who has been fencing for most of his life.
“Mentors in the making,” (page 32) highlights student coaches here at Paly, and their commitment to helping kids.
Finally, our final word, written by Tyler Cheung, explores what relegation would look like in American sports.
That’s all for the second issue of this school year! We cannot wait for you to read it and let us know your thoughts!
Check out “Jitters to Jerseys” (page 28) to read about the perspectives of a
Roan Haney
STAFF OPINION
Emil Bothe
NIL, the Transfer Portal, and the
The college football landscape has changed for the better. The 2021 NCAA rule change allowing athletes to profit from their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), paired with the introduction of the transfer portal in 2018, has stabilized college football, narrowing the gap between teams and creating more intense competition. Along with the 12-team playoff format debuting this season, college football is the most competitive it has ever been.
Prior to 2021, powerhouse teams like Alabama, Ohio State, and Clemson stacked their rosters with the best talent, leaving others with little chance. The best high school players wanted to play for the very best teams, even if it meant sitting on the bench for a couple of years. For example, in 2019, Alabama’s wide receiver room featured four future first-round picks in Henry Ruggs III, Jerry Jeudy, Devonte Smith, and Jaylon Waddle. College football was dominated by a few elite teams, causing repetitiveness for fans.
NIL disrupts this college football roy-
alty, creating an unofficial salary cap. Colleges don’t have infinite amounts of money, so schools must choose which players to pay. Schools that were previously unable to attract top talent can now offer large sums of money. In a dangerous sport like football, health is not guaranteed, and no high schooler will turn down half a million dollars just to play for a better team. A college like Alabama can’t have all the best players anymore because they can’t afford everyone.
Last season, the college football playoff committee caused controversy by leaving undefeated Florida State out of the playoffs. Florida State wasn’t the only deserving team left out, as 12-1 Georgia also barely missed the playoff after a narrow defeat to Alabama in the SEC championship. The issue with the four-team playoff is that there is not enough overlap between teams from different conferences, so the committee must make decisions without sufficient evidence or an official metric that decides which teams are most deserving.
There will always be debate as to what
12-Team Playoff
teams deserve to be included in the playoffs, however the 12-team playoff creates a more just system for competing towards a National Championship, as serious competitors are rarely ranked low enough. Furthermore, teams have more room for error. Teams can now have more than one loss, which is especially important for teams in the SEC and Big 10, where there are multiple playoff contenders. This allows the playoff committee to award both the best teams in weaker conferences and those with a more competitive schedule.
This season has seen an incredible amount of upsets, most recently with unranked Michigan defeating No. 2 Ohio State and unranked Syracuse defeating No. 6 Miami. This season has shown that the difference between teams is actually quite small, and any team can win on any given day. The addition of the transfer portal and NIL has intensified the competition, and fans should be excited for a 12 team playoff that will provide a more just way to determine the National Champion than ever before.
Table of
Contents
Kacey Washington (‘26) lines up, in a 44-6 loss against Los Gatos. Photo by Lucas Tung.
AIR TIme
Abers Boyarsky (‘26) launches the opening kickoff against Los Gatos in a 44-6 loss on senior night.
Photo by Lucas Tung
slam dunk
Maura Hambly (‘27) jumps up to spike the ball, in a 3-1 victory against Tamalpais.
Photo by Lucas Tung
Rack attack
Jorell Clark (‘25) flushes home a huge dunk in a 6563 overtime loss to Gunn during the 23-24 season. .
courtesy of Jason Hu
Photo
Sweat to TRENGTH
By NATHAN LEE and ADI WEINER
Electrolyte packets have always been popular by athletes for their hydration benefits. We found out which brands are popular among students and the reasons behind their choices.
“I use LMNT or Santa Cruz Paleo electrolytes. I use them to restore salt, potassium, and magnesium when playing tennis, and because it tastes better than water.”
-Tom Li (‘27)
“I use electrolytes after training almost every day and after workouts. I use Relyte electrolytes to recover many of the key minerals that I lose to sweat while running.”
-Jacob Guhr (‘28)
“I use electrolytes during practice and competitions. I use liquid IV because the taste isn’t too strong and it has less sugar than Gatorade or Powerade.”
-Nico Ogawa (‘25)
I use the brand liquid IV. I drink electrolytes after working out but also sometimes in the morning while I eat breakfast. I use electrolytes because they’re helpful for hydration but also because they taste really good.”
-Millie Reiter (‘26)
83% of Athletes use electrolytes
According to the British Journal of Sports Medicine
“I use Nuun hydration tablets before and after workouts.
Electrolytes are good for replacing salts you lost through sweat and also loosen your muscles aiding in recovery.”
-Ryan Kim (‘25)
imeless t
eamates
By adi Weiner and nathan lee
Siblings who play the same sport have an experience unlike other athletes on their team. Playing with siblings creates opportunities to learn from someone they’ve known since birth.
Fung
” The ability to trust Jeremiah on the field is a massive advantage. Playing with him has been a crazy experience because I never thought we would be playing on high school teams together.“
-Justin Fung (‘27)
”Being brothers brings a different connection when we’re playing as teammates. In the games, we can just look at each other and know that Justin can trust that I will be in the spot he needs me to be.“
-Jeremiah Fung (‘25)
Justin and Jeremiah
Photo Courtesy of the Fung Family.
Tessa and Anika
Chang
”I like being able to give my sister advice and relate to her in the sport we play. I look forward to Tessa being involved in lacrosse and soccer and am super excited to watch her play at Paly.“
-Anika Chang (‘22)
”I think playing the same sport as my sister has helped me because I learn a lot of new things from her and it helps me push myself to improve even more.“
-Tessa Chang(‘27)
Gin and Lizzy
Williams
”Playing water polo with my sister was a fun way for us to spend time together and to be a part of the same community. We push each other, and she motivates me to keep getting better.“
-Gin Williams (‘25)
”Playing water polo with her was fun because it gave us something else in common with each other and I got to spend a lot more time with her.“
-Lizzy Williams (‘25)
Photo Courtesy of the Chang Family.
Photo Courtesy of the Williams Family.
Home Turf
Text and design by SCARLETT FRICK and ELIF DOGAN
The concept of a “home
field advantage” goes far beyond the convenience of not having to travel: it’s fueled by pride, familiarity, and community support that energizes athletes and unsettles opponents. How much does it really impact Paly athletes?
GIRLS SOCCER GIRLS SOCCER
Soccer fields each have their own unique conditions- such as the dimensions, type of grass or turf, and even how the ball bounces. Practicing on the same field regularly means players adapt to these specific conditions.
Sophomore varsity soccer player Zoe Quinlan emphasizes how the physical familiarity in the field contributes to a team’s advantage.
“When you play on a field or in an environment that you are familiar with, you will play better,” Quinlan said. “We are used to the field conditions we have and if it’s different from another school’s fields, so we will have more of an advantage because we are used to practicing on our field.”
Becoming familiar with every aspect of the field - from the patches of grass, to the bounce and roll of the ball on the
home Away 2023-24 season
surface, can build confidence. This familiarity can help players infer how the ball can react in different situations, making them more confident in their passes, positioning, and shots. Playing at home can also give players advantages when making strategic moves, as they’re not using more energy mentally by adjusting to new field conditions. However, the home field advantages go beyond just the physical environment; the presence of a supportive crowd can influence performance as well.
“If fans are encouraging you, the team will have more energy, and it’ll motivate players which leads to playing better,” Quinlan said. While home field advantages can bring comfort and confidence,
it also comes with a unique kind of pressure. Quinlan acknowledges that playing in front of familiar faces - friends, family, and classmates - adds an extra level of responsibility.
“I feel extra pressure at home, because I’m playing in front of people that are fa miliar and I don’t want to embar rass myself in front of them,” Quinlan said.
What often comes to mind when a Paly student thinks about a home football game is the image of hundreds of students, family members, and friends filling the stands and dressing up according to the theme of the night. Throughout the season, the Palo Alto football team has consistently drawn impressive crowds at every home game. But for the players on the field, the question remains: do they feel the support from the stands, and does it affect their playing?
“It’s great to play on a field in front of friends and family,” captain and senior football player Jeremiah Fung said. “Playing at home normally makes me feel more comfortable because we practice on the field all week – getting to play there just makes it better,” Fung said.
Yet, Fung doesn’t seem to indicate that playing with a larger support group affects his ability to play. “The crowd usually mutes in my head, so I don’t really hear them.”
Similar to Fung, captain and senior Joe Kessler believes that familiarity can play an important role in the outcome of a game. “Each field differs with the turf, and if you’re not used to it, it can be difficult to adapt,” Kessler said. “Howev-
FOOTBALL FOOTBALL
er, if you play with the mindset that the conditions affect both teams, then I think performance won’t be different.”
Kessler also emphasizes that the enthusiasm and energy of the crowd matter more than the sheer size of the student section.
“It’s super important to be engaged: if you’re at a game and not engaged there’s no point in being there,” Kessler said. “I’d rather have 25 super engaged fans than 100 that aren’t. That’s what it was like down the stretch last season. We had little to no student support, but we had tons of family support and that made the wins more meaningful.”
While Joe Kessler acknowledges the crowd’s presence, his focus on performance during the game doesn’t de pend on external noise or interfer ence.
“I don’t pay attention to the stands, I tune out all the extra sounds because it doesn’t mat ter to me,” Kessler said. “But it’s nice being able to perform in front of a lot of people.”
our home schedule is tougher than our away schedule,” Kessler said. “We play some of the toughest teams in the area on our own field, and while it’s amazing to be able to play that type of competition, I do wish that we could play a weaker team at home.”
With this tougher competition comes a potential decrease in student devotion to games. “[A tougher schedule] affects how many people show up, it’s frustrating that if the win is not guaranteed, most students don’t show up and support and when they do it’s fake noise,” Kessler said.
Being able to support the team regardless of a win or loss can mean a lot to the varsity football players.
While the players don’t seem to believe that the crowd directly affects their performance, they both appreci ate the sense of comfort that accom panies being able to play on their own field and enjoy the sup port of family and friends cheering from the stands. Even with the given advantag es playing at home can create, the Palo Alto vikings face a tough schedule packed with in tense competition this season.
“I do believe
Joe Kessler (‘25) strides down the field. Photo courtesy of JASON HUNG
Riley Reckless (‘26) finishes a shot. Photo courtesy of
2024-25 League season home Away
BOYS WATER POLO BOYS WATER POLO
While football often stands out as the sport that comes to mind when picturing the most significant home field advantage, other teams also experience unique benefits from playing on their own turf. A prime example is the Paly Boys water polo team, where the characteristics of their home pool provide a distinct edge.
“In water polo, home field advantage is a big factor, as every pool is a different size, and the temperature and chlorine levels affect how you play,” junior and varsity water polo player Felix Ryans said.
A high school water polo pool is typically 25-30 meters long and 10-20 meters wide, however, there are no exact standard dimensions for a water polo field, because the dimensions adapt depending on the size of the pool. This means that certain pools are wider, longer, and larger than others, giving players more distance to swim but also a larger and wider area to set up their offense.
According to Ryans, Paly’s expansive pool and resources set them apart from other teams in the league.
“The Paly pool is longer and wider than most of the other schools we play against, so when we play at home, the other teams get tired a lot faster than normal,” he said. “I think when you have a larger home pool, it affects your performance positively because it helps you to build up more stamina than other teams and makes it easier when you play at other schools with smaller pools.”
Ryans also believes that fan engagement plays a significant role in water polo. “When the fans are hyped up and cheering a lot, the atmosphere helps the good players play better, but also demoralizes the other team,” he said. “It also makes the experience a lot more enjoyable for me, as I find it comforting to have friends and family in the stands watching me do something I am passionate about.”
While Ryans appreciates the support from loved ones, he acknowledges that
playing at home can bring more pressure to win. “At times, there is some extra pressure when playing at home, especially when you aren’t having a good game,” Ryans said. “I remember playing at home against Gunn, where I wasn’t scoring as much as usual, and knowing that I have friends and family in the stands seeing me play badly made me think I was doing worse then I actually was. But I reminded myself that ultimately the people in the stands don’t determine how I play, so I should control what I can.”
More than just providing a morale boost or adding pressure, Ryans sees the crowd’s energy as a strategic advantage. “Having fan engagement can help us play better because it can intimidate the other teams and cause them to compound their mistakes,” he said.
The presence of a vocal, enthusiastic home crowd can turn the tide of a match, pushing the Paly team to elevate their game while both unsettling and tiring out their opponents.
DYLAN FUJITA
Girls volleyball may not always attract the same level of attention as football, but for the players, the experience of competing on their home court is just as impactful. The support from fans can energize the team and make a tangible difference in their performance.
“I think [playing at home] does give a slight advantage, especially depending on the teams we play,” junior and volleyball player Marley Shumaker said. “If we were playing rivals like Los Gatos or Gunn, it’s so fun to have our student section cheering for us in our own gym, along with that just being in the environment of our home court is so fun. I think it fuels our energy and makes us fight harder to ‘protect the house’, is what we call it.”
In some instances, the energy of the crowd can make or break a game. “Last year at the Gunn vs Paly game we had a very big student section and everyone was cheering, making the gym so loud,” Shumaker said. “It was so fun to see everyone laughing and just having a great time. I really believe it helped our team pull out the win, and made it so much more special.”
For Shumaker, the presence of fans goes beyond just boosting morale: it helps the team maintain their focus and composure and even helps them pull
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
through in difficult moments. “It is so important to have support,” Shumaker said. “It’s always nice to have our fans cheering on the side because it keeps up our energy and keeps up the mood in the gym. A lot of the time my team can get down on themselves and that starts to affect their playing, but without the energy from our fans it sometimes makes it more difficult to get out of that mindset.”
However, playing in front of a home crowd can come with added pressures. Similar to Ryans, Shumaker and her teammates sometimes face the mental strain that comes with performing in front of an audience.
“It’s hard not to get in your head because you never want to lose at home in front of everyone,” she said. “But I think this just makes us want to fight harder. I think we handle it by knowing that our student section and others watching are here to support us whether we win or not, and that is so important to us.”
Despite the impressive record and standings of the team at the top of the De Anza League, Shumaker acknowledges that volleyball games may not draw as large a student crowd as other sports at Paly.
“I do think we are at times underrepresented, we are a very strong team and I feel like people don’t know that,” Shumaker said. While Shumaker remains hopeful that more students will turn out to support the volleyball team, she and her teammates appreciate both their student section and the support of team parents, knowing that their presence can make all the difference, win or lose.
“It would be nice to see more of a student devotion at home games, however we all are still happy with the turnout,” Shumaker said.
Beyond just student participation, playing at home can provide comfortability, convenience, and an advantage in training, all of which can enhance an athlete’s abilities. Across all four sports, one thing is continuously shared: the support from fans and loved ones brings meaning to each game, and can inspire athletes to give their all.
byGuided GREATNESS
by
MALCOLM GINWALLA and JONATHAN YUAN
Role models play a huge role in fostering a Paly athlete’s ability to perform in a sport, whether that’s inspiring them to train harder or showing them techniques.
As they grapple for a position with the clock ticking down, Paly wrestler and junior James Otuhiva and his opponent Joshua Arevalo wait for the whistle to blow. For the victor, the whistle signifies greatness: offering not only a place in the State competition but a spot on their championship wall. For the other, it signifies going home empty-handed. When the whistle blew on Feburary 10, 2024, Otuhiva became the victor of his match, placing third at the CCS Coast Section Masters.
Otuhiva, a member of the Paly varsity wrestling team, prides himself on his hard work, dedication, and commitment to wrestling. Motivated by his teammates’ dedictaion, Otuhiva was able to grow as a wrestler.
proving athletes’ performances, giving them an established level of performance to work toward. Athletes generally try to imitate how the person they look up to plays in order to improve their own performance.
“Someone that I look up to that used to go to Paly, is Nick Heroes,” Othuhiva said. “He was not really the best technically, but he always had a really big heart and always gave it his all every match. So that stuck with me, and really influenced me to do the same.”
“[Nick Heroes] always had a really big heart and always gave it his all every match. So that stuck with me, and really influenced me to do the same.”
-James Otuhiva (‘26)
Another example includes Hannah Oh, a sophomore on the Paly swim team, who has someone she looks up to — she has asked to keep them anonymous — and has tried to mimic their technique and race strategies to try to improve her ability to swim.
“I sometimes try to imitate her to improve my own performance because she has good technique and strategies she employs when she is struggling either physically or mentally.”
According to a Sports Financial Literacy Academy article, athlete role models are associated with high levels of discipline, perseverance, and never giving up on their goals, despite the obstacles they may face. Because professional athletes embody the ideas of discipline and grit, athletes who look up to them are generally more motivated to persevere and work on their own goals.
For Silvia Rodriguez, a junior on the Cross Country team, her teammate Amaya Bharadwaj (‘26) has been inspiring her to perform at a higher level.
Many athletes at Paly look up to role models, whether they be professionals or fellow students. Role models play a huge part in both stimulating and im-
“I look up to a senior on the team because she has had a lot of experience and has gone through most of the things I am going through right now,” Oh said.
“I really look up to Amaya because she is just been so successful despite the fact that she moved here at the beginning of ninth grade,” Rodriguez said. “She has been such an integral part of both the Track and Field and Cross Country team and she is really dedicated herself. I feel like she has constantly been a leader and inspired others. During practices, she is always running ahead of the boys and pushing everybody else to be the best that they can be on the team.”
These upperclassman leaders make significant impacts on their teammates. Their impact is felt across the team and
is crucial to motivating their teammates and making the program better.
For many Paly athletes, teammates are not the only possible role models pushing them to be their best— some athletes also look up to celebrities.
Dom Hernandez, a junior on the Paly Football team, looks up to a player on the San Francisco 49ers.
“One person I look up to is Nick Bosa on the forty-niners,” Hernandez said.
after. Swimmer Meryem Orazov (‘26) reveres widely known olympic distance swimmer Katie Ledecky.
“I really look up to Amaya Bharadwaj because she’s just been so successful and she’s been such a integral part of both the Track and Field and Cross Country team.”
-Silvia Rodriguez (‘26)
“He’s a defensive end and we both play the same position, so he definitely inspires me to play the way he does. On game day, he’s very ferocious and plays very fierce. I like to model the way he plays during my games.”
Inspiration can change athletes’ awareness of their capabilities, confidence, and motivation. These inspirations can substantially benefit athletes, as it gives them someone to model themselves
“I look up to [Ledecky] because we both are distance freestylers and I feel like I have a lot to learn from just looking at her stroke technique,” Orazov said. “I see from her races that she really emphasizes her pull when she swims. From watching her swim, I’ve started trying to focus on my pull during practices and at meets.”
Junior and water polo player Mila Bynum had the chance to meet her idols on the US national Women’s Water Polo team last summer.
“The USA national team came to play at Paly and we got the opportunity to meet them and ask them questions on the sport,” Bynum said. “It was really cool to see them in person and since then, I’ve
looked up to them and tried to replicate their strategies in the game.”
Professional athletes exemplify the potential that younger student-athletes can reach if they persevere. Along with this, role models can also embody the values of support, teamwork, and positive mental attitudes. One such example is junior and baseball player Nate Robinson, who looked up to his teammate Ari Solar-Eisenberg (‘24) for his outstanding sportsmanship.
“I looked up to Ari because last year, he was a great teammate, and he was always nice to the younger guys,” Robinson said. “I want to eventually be like that when I’m a senior and hopefully become a team captain.”
Idols in sports play a crucial role in shaping and inspiring others, whether by fueling their motivation or encouraging them to become more supportive teammates. Athletes at Paly have the ability to set a positive example for younger athletes, by demonstrating hard work, integrity, and collaboration. By doing so, they can cultivate a legacy of leadership and inspire the next generation to thrive both on and off the field.
James Otuhiva (26’) stands next to his role model, Nick Heroes (24’). Photo Courtesy of Nick Heroes.
Silvia Rodriguez (26’) stands next to her role model, Amaya Bharadwaj (26’). Photo by Malcolm Ginwalla
alancing A T ct Bhe
In the high-stakes world of high school athletics, some students aren’t just competing— they’re doubling down. Athletes often pursue multiple sports for reasons beyond external rewards. Some chase personal growth, others crave new challenges, and many thrive on the variety of experiences that different sports offer. These motivations highlight the deeper connection athletes have with their sports, transcending competition alone.
At Paly, a majority of students have participated in a school sport since athletics are such a vital part of Paly culture. Some students play more than one sport per year – which may have initially stemmed from an interest in maintaining a “prep” period – but evolved into a much more serious commitment.
Physical education is a required class for
At Paly, multisport athletes balance intense training and academics, building resilience and time management skills. Despite the challenges, benefits like personal growth often outweigh the risks and shape well-rounded individuals for life beyond sports.
by AMANDA GOODY, BEN LEVAV and ISAAC TELYAZ
freshmen and sophomores, however, when a student is participating in a seasonal sport, they are typically excused from PE to make up for after-school homework time lost due to team sports schedules. To be excused from PE and gain a “prep” period, a student must obtain a coach-signed paper confirming the student is an actively contributing athlete on the team.
Paly students are eligible to play one sport each season, so many student-athletes take advantage of this. There are three seasons for school athletics: fall, winter, and spring. Each sport has a typical pre-season training, which is usually the most physically demanding and intense part of the season, and when students are participating in both pre-season
training for one sport and regular season games and practices, schedules can be very demanding.
Sabrina Meyers, a sophomore at Paly, is a dual-sport varsity athlete: a varsity swimmer and a starter on the girls varsity water polo team.
“When I’m playing two
photo of Sabrina Meyers courtesy of Dylan Fujita
sports at a time, sometimes I’ll have multiple practices in a day,” Meyers said. “When I get home, I am exhausted and I don’t have as much time to do homework or other work.”
Balancing multiple sports can be rewarding but exhausting, as Meyers acknowledges the strain on her time and energy. Varsity swim coach Danny Dye encourages athletes to participate in multiple sports during the high school season, though his intense training sessions often push swimmers to their limits.
“I’m a proponent of athletics,” Dye said. “I think athletics are very good for the students, mind and body, especially in a high school setting, because they’re representing their school. Their friends are there to support them, their teachers, parents, all their team, all of those positive aspects, are there to support the athlete.”
reporting they spend as much time or more time on athletics as during their competitive season.
Senior Svina Narang has been involved in competitive gymnastics for 12 years and high school diving for three years. Some sports such as high school diving are only one season long, whereas competitive gymnastics requires yearlong dedication with few and short breaks.
“I definitely have had to learn to balance my time, and oftentimes athletic practice can take away from my time to do academic work,” Narang said.
“I believe that athletes are smart enough to know what it is that’s right for them.” - SWIM COACH DANNY DYE
“I try my best to continue to do well academically, but learning to do so was definitely an adjustment.”
said. “Playing sports and getting exercise allows me to stay on a routine, which allows my health to be consistent.”
A Paly student is typically responsible for keeping track of assignments and prepping for tests. However, student-athletes are not only responsible for their academics, but also their athletic performance. Student-athletes are forced to learn time management skills that allow them to split up their time and still perform to the best of their abilities.
“I believe that athletes are smart enough to know what it is that’s right for them,” Dye said.
High school student-athletes spend on average 10-15 hours per week on sports-related activities during their season, with many dedicating even more time. According to Untapped Learning, studies found that 80% of student-athletes feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities at some point during the academic year. Even in the off-season, many students still maintain a rigorous schedule, with 67%
Even though Narang has learned to manage her time, the intense training and stress on her body caused her to suffer during her freshman year from a stress fracture in her spine. A stress fracture results from overuse of certain muscles/bones, and usually occurs when physical activity puts too much pressure on a bone and it doesn’t have enough time to recover.
“Gymnastics is very physically demanding, and impacts my body a lot,” Narang said. “Especially during competition season, practice tends to ramp up a lot. Because of this, during my freshman year, I got a stress fracture in my back due to lots of overuse.”
Although balancing multiple sports and academics can have negative impacts on some, other students argue that this balance can be beneficial. Junior and year-round multi-sport athlete Jake Wang believes that staying physically active improves his mental activity and overall health.
“I think playing multiple sports allows my mental health and physical health to stay consistent throughout the year,” Wang
Conditioning is objectively the most important and the most physically demanding part of many sports. Therefore, being a multi-sport athlete doesn’t just take its toll mentally, but also physically.
“Training can definitely be a lot both physically and mentally at times, but I have learned to have a balance,” Narang said. “I think it’s very important that I am aware of how much I am doing so I don’t overwork myself and burnout, which is really easy to do.”
To effectively balance training and academics, student-athletes often explore various extracurricular activities. Participating in multiple sports allows them to discover their passions while developing time management skills and learning valuable lessons in teamwork and dedication.
“I have been involved in gymnastics since I was five years old, and I think getting involved in such a time-intensive sport at such a young age has allowed me to learn how to work effectively,” Narang said.
Parents typically enroll their children in multiple extracurricular activities as a way to unlock doors for possible futures. a way to unlock doors for possible futures. a way to unlock doors for possible futures.
Photo courtesy of Svina Narang.
Exploring different activities and experiences, including athletics, can help individuals discover their strengths and interests. As a result, as many student-athletes enter high school, there may be multiple sports that an athlete participates in, even if that sport is purely for fun.
Balancing multiple sports can offer unique rewards, providing athletes with diverse experiences that can enhance personal growth, teamwork, and skill differentiation.
“I love playing both [football and basketball],” Wang said. “Each has a unique team dynamic which I love, and the benefits of playing multiple sports are that each sport can help you with all-around athleticism.”
However, while the enjoyment of participating in multiple sports is clear, athletes must also be mindful of the physical and mental risks that come with juggling different commitments.
Some student-athletes who play multiple sports have a “main sport” –which could be the sport they wish to continue at the collegiate level –and the other sport may be to fill a desire, like filling the stereotypical role as a high school football player playing under Friday night lights. Whatever the motive may be, the risks of playing another sport aside
from your main sport cannot be ignored.
According to John Hopkins Medicine, in the US, more than 3.5 million sports injuries occur each year. This is about 1/3 of all injuries sustained by children. One of the sports with the highest injury rates is football, as it is an extremely contact-heavy sport.
Senior Henry Harding recently committed to the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts to continue his academic and athletic career as a pitcher for the Division I baseball team. Despite his commitment to baseball, Harding decided that for his senior year, he wanted to train and play with the Paly varsity football team as a kicker.
“Each has a unique team dynamic which I love, and the benefits of playing multiple sports are that each sport can help you with all-around athleticism.”
- JAKE WANG (‘26)
coach a phone call letting him know about my ACL and MCL tear, he was very understanding and supportive,” Harding said. Harding, like many other multisport athletes, took a risk in his athletic career, understanding that by playing another sport his future in baseball could be diminished or impacted. Amidst these possible life-altering risks, Harding still chose to take the risk and fulfill his dreams of playing football in high school, even if it was just for fun. Even though his risk didn’t have permanent consequences, there are still prevalent temporary consequences that could be possible issue factors in the future.
“I wanted to play football because I knew the football team’s strength and conditioning coach was very good and I wanted to get stronger for the baseball season,” Harding said. “I also wanted to join because I didn’t want to go all four years of high school having never tried to play football.”
While the reward of being on the football team seems substantial, the risks can still outweigh the benefits. As a committed athlete, coaches are committing themselves to the promise of the skill and health of a player, and being injured can cause serious liabilities.
“I thought about the risks and I talked it over with my parents and my college baseball advisor, and we all thought playing as a kicker was a good idea since it would be unlikely that I would get hurt,” Harding said. “They also saw the upside of me getting a lot stronger and staying in shape for the baseball season.”
Harding is facing significant injuries, including a torn MCL, a torn ACL, and a fracture of the femur. As a result, he is expected to be out of action for 9-12 months. When asked about his status at Holy Cross, Harding explained that his offer would not be pulled and he still has a spot on the team for the next season, but Harding is out for his senior high school baseball season.
“When I gave the Holy Cross pitching
“In terms of performance for the college season next fall, it will definitely be a process to get back to the level I was at before my injury,” Harding said. “All of the coaches and medical professionals I have talked with are confident that I will be able to get stronger than I was before my injury, and focus during physical therapy will be on rebuilding my strength from the ground up.”
According to Athletes Untapped, while physical recovery is a crucial part of returning to competition, mental and emotional resilience are equally important in an athlete’s journey. The process of rehabilitation offers both an opportunity for renewal and a challenge that tests endurance beyond the physical. However, recovery must also balance against the broader concern in sports today—athlete burnout.
One of the most pressing concerns in athletics is the chance that an athlete may burn out at some point in their career. The pressure to do and achieve more in athletics is an exponentially increasing issue, and far too rarely is consideration given to the costs of operating in this non-stop fashion.
“After years and years of playing a sport, expectations and competition build up and take away from the fun I used to have,” Narang said. “Coaches especially can add to losing your love for the sport.”
In reality, however, the human body
Photo courtesy of Henry harding.
“All of the coaches and medical professionals I have talked with are confident that I will be able to get stronger than I was before my injury.”
- HENRY HARDING (‘25)
The concept that increasing schedule load by playing multiple sports can help to mitigate burnout in a “main sport” can be surprising to some athletes.
“Surprisingly, yes I think playing multiple sports helps to mitigate burnout in my main sport,” Narang said. “I think that even though I am committing the same amount of time to gymnastics even during diving season, I am not as consumed by one thing.”
“After years and years of playing a sport, expectations and competition build up and take away from the fun I used to have.” - SVINA NARANG (‘25)
ways makes the gamble worthwhile. At its core, the decision to pursue multiple sports is deeply personal — one that requires a balance of passion, resilience, and commitment. While the road is bumpy and often filled with sacrifices, the experiences and lessons gained through multisport participation often shape athletes into more well-rounded, able individuals. The ability to adapt, manage time,
and maintain discipline in the face of constant demands builds a unique resilience. These athletes aren’t just learning how to excel in different sports—they’re also mastering life skills that will serve them long
After all, the true value lies in realizing that limits are not finish lines but starting points. Each challenge reveals new potential and deeper strength, proving that growth happens when you push beyond
Photo courtesy of Jake Wang.
Viking’s Guide Sports Photography
By Lucas Tung
Photography in sports has shaped how we experience and remember the emotion, triumph, and stories behind every game. Learn the basics and tips from professionals in this guide.
It’s not just the click of the shutter when it comes to sports photography. It’s capturing the spirit of athletic competition within the moment. The focused gaze of an athlete committed to their goal or the jubilant eruption of a victorious crowd. Sports photography captures both the highs and lows of peak human performance. One shot is enough to speak to millions of people invested in the global phenomenon of sport, living, struggling to get by, and then overcoming to get the victory. Why is sports photography important? Because it is more than just what’s going on in the field; it’s the emotion, the anticipation, the agony of defeat, and the joy of victory. While all of this can occur in mere seconds as part of a split sequence, and fade away quickly, behind the camera, a moment can live forever. One photograph can validate emotions, spark debates, and unite people from all walks of life. From the hometown high school championship game to the world final being broadcasted worldwide, sports photography relates the action on the field with the world outside of sports. Beyond personal significance, sports photography holds a crucial place in our shared cultural narrative. Millions of images from sports and other topics are constantly being contextualized: that was a photo of perseverance, that was a photo of hope, that was a photo of change. They document the evolution of our jerseys and gear and the dismantling of gender and racial boundaries. Therefore, sports photographers do much more than capture the championship game and the score; they capture the story of ex-
istence trying to define its existence.
This guide to sports photography, brought to you by the Viking Sports Magazine brings not only the essential fundamentals necessary to start your photography journey; but also insight from professional photographers who are going to help you learn the tips and tricks used by the best of the best.
For any aspiring photographer, the first step in their journey is to learn about their camera. A photographer needs to understand the capabilities of the camera they have on hand. There are so many different variables necessary to understand about your camera for when it is time to take photos. “Is my lens suitable for this range?” or “Is my shutter fast enough to freeze the moment?” Understanding these details are crucial for capturing the perfect shot.
For all sports, a fast shutter speed is a necessity for capturing the brief intervals of each play. A speed of at least 1/500 of a second is recommended for shooting high speed action, the faster the better. Furthermore, without knowing how sensitive your camera is to light, all of your photos will be either pitch black or bright white, cameras use the measure of ISO to control this variable. Although most cameras have an automatic feature to control ISO, sometimes manual input is the best. When shooting a game or a match during a sunny day, shooting at a lower ISO is key. When shooting during a night game or in a dark setting, the higher the ISO the better. Despite this rule of thumb, the light sensitivity through the lens is directly correlated to how fast your shutter is moving. Therefore, the faster your shutter speed, the higher your ISO should be.
Another important setting when taking photos for sports is aperture. Aperture controls how wide the lens of your camera opens. This influences the lighting of the shot as well as the depth of field. The
aperture of your camera works exactly like how you control the width of your eyes. When you squint, it is the equivalent of a camera using a high aperture; similarly, when your eyes are wide open, it’s the same as low aperture on a camera. Therefore, a higher aperture gives more light, and allows for greater focus and sharpness on the subject of a photo. Whereas a lower aperture gives more light and a bigger depth of field. These three settings are the foundation of photography, often referred to as the exposure triangle. Mastering how to apply and combine these tools together is essential for any aspiring sports photographer.
Having a feel for the sport you are shooting is just as important as knowing your camera. Knowing where and when to be in the best location to get the best shot is a very valuable skill when taking photos of sports. For example, being aware of who is on offense or defense during a football game, or how much time is left in a soccer match, can be the difference between the perfect up close shot and missing the moment. Before you go to take photos of a game, familiarizing yourself with the rules and flow, will make taking good photos significantly easier. Understanding the rhythm and strategy of the sport allows photographers to anticipate key moments before they happen. For example, in basketball, knowing that a fast break often leads to an exciting play can guide a photographer to position themselves for the best angle. SEach sport has its own special rhythm, by being able to predict what happens next, photographers can be able to capture the action at its best.
Ultimately, the combination of technical skills and an acquired feel for the game will lead you to be able to take stunning, meaningful photographs that capture the action and tell stories that can resonate far beyond the sidelines.
Pro Tips
Chris Hurtt Professional Photographer
• “Take lots of shots and don’t think about it, the more shots you take, the more things you’ll see.”
Karen Ambrose Hickey Professional Photographer
• “Try and get the athlete’s face, the ball, and the full body. Those three are the most important parts of a shot.”
• “Photography is about context—the thought you put into the shot creates the meaning behind it.”
• “When you take photos, step back and be a spectator. Let the moment unfold, and focus on capturing the moment.”
• “Use cropping to focus the viewer’s eye, you want to tighten the image to show the viewer what you want them to see.”
• “Try to take a variety of shots, mix up the angles and the focus, to give diversity to your portfolio.
itters Jerseys J to
by TYLER CHEUNG, LUKE JOACHIM, and FINNEGAN SCHOEBEL
Fears surrounding tryouts are a near universal feeling for Paly athletes. How can practice and mental exercises combat these issues?
Around fifty boys, ranging from freshmen to seniors, stand around Paly’s lacrosse field. Some stretch, talk with friends, or pass a ball, while others stand awkwardly in silence. The atmosphere is filled with mixed feelings of excitement and anxiety. For each of these athletes, the next three days will define their season, and possibly their sporting careers. It’s tryout season for Paly winter sports.
Tryouts are the stereotypical scary sporting event with every athlete asking the same question: will I be the next cut? Athletes are required to endure days or even weeks of grueling sessions, afraid that one or two missteps could com-
For junior and basketball player Graham Vaughan, that extra practice came in the form of extra hours shoot ing baskets ahead of tryouts.
“I was spending hours ev eryday in the gym practicing, shooting baskets or doing drills, and I played some bas ketball outside of school as well, like AAU or with friends,” Vaughan said.
Adding on to the idea of playing in AAU, many athletes join club sports in order to keep themselves in shape and ready to play school sports.
Club sports create an environment where players can play in competitive settings throughout the entire calendar year. In the case of junior Temuge Battamur, he joined Palo Alto Soccer Club, a private club soccer team that helped him prepare for the season.
to perform to the best of their abilities during tryouts. For soccer player Oliver Payne ('26), this balance means being extra attentive to inju-
“any coach would not be telling you the truth if they told you that previous experiences... might not impact at least some of their decision-making.”
-Coach Brandon Byer
"When it's getting close to school season, I start adding a rest day here and there to make sure I'm fit," Payne said.
“I go to practice three times a week with Palo Alto [Soccer Club],” Battamur said. “It’s helped me a lot in both my confidence and my abilities and makes me feel way more prepared for tryouts.”
However, the combination of school and club sports can lead to athletes being worn down by the time school season starts, and therefore not being able
Getting an injury before a tryout can be detrimental for players, especially if when making a first impression on the coach. Proving oneself after recovering from an injury can be very difficult, so it is important for athelets to always warm up and stretch properly leading up to tryouts.
Balancing sports and school is another layer of student athlete’s lives that increases stress. Going to practice after school everyday is already difficult, but rigorous academics can make it very exhausting to train extra everyday to earn a roster spot.
"High school [season] is really physically demanding, so it takes a lot of work to make sure that I'm ready,” Payne said.
For many athletes, learning what you can and cannot control is the most effective way to manage stress. You cannot control other players' actions, coaches actions, or any of the conditions of the tryouts. However, you can control your effort, hustle, and attitude.
If an athlete possesses qualities that reflect high effort, hustle, and a positive attitude, they can put themselves in the best position to make the team.
a greater impact on a player’s stress regarding tryouts.
Last spring season, junior Dylan Liao attended tryouts for both golf and swimming. His performance in tryouts would determine what sport he would play, adding on a new level of pressure.
“I was trying to get on the golf team last year because I had no desire to be on the swim team anymore at that point,”
"I definitely feel like it was unfair how football players got a free spot on the roster without even trying out."
“I feel like when go ing into tryouts, the goal shouldn’t be to impress people as much as to put your best effort,” junior soccer player Naveen Narayanaswami said. “You should believe in yourself by being confident in what your best effort can do.”
-OscAR BARILLAS OTSBY ('26)
Adding on to this, it can be very difficult for those multi-sport athletes to transition from different sports. Multi-sport athletes face unique challenges when switching sports. Each sport requires different skill sets, and it can be stressful for players to try out for a team in which they are out of practice. Junior Kacey Washington plays both football and basketball and has to transition his sports with no break in between.
“I’d say that football and basketball require two different sets of stami na,” Washington said. “Transitioning workloads from catching to shooting can be difficult, but I usually account for this by attending basketball open gyms about a week before tryouts.”
In addition to this, personal stress es are not the only factors that affect players before tryouts. Parents can put some high expectations on Paly athletes, causing prolonged stress both during the tryout period and the regular season. Athletes have a much closer relationship with their parents compared to teammates and coaches. This means parent pressure can have
Liao said. “If I didn’t get on, my parents were going to force me to get on the swim team.”
At tryouts, every athlete’s goal is to impress the coach, but coaches don’t always have a neutral position going in. Through prior teams or relationships, many coaches build a biased impression of a player before entering tryouts. In fact, some athletes who participate in tryouts feel like their competitors get a free pass onto the team without actually going to tryouts. Last year, the JV basket
season started while football CCS was still going on. Some players were cut from the team because it was known that some of the football players were good enough to make the basketball team. When football CCS finished, a few players essentially automatically made it on the team with no tryout, purely because of their reputation. This appears unfair to some players who got cut. Junior Oscar Barillas Otsby was one of the non-football players who got cut from the team last year.
“I definitely feel like it was unfair how football players got a free spot on the roster without even trying out,” Barillas Otsby said.
Others feel like this bias from coaches isn’t necessarily bad, because the coaches impressions can be based on real performances in the past. If a coach has a positive impression of a player, it most likely means they are actually good at the sport.
“Some people do have an advantage for sure, but I feel like this could be good or bad because the coach knows who’s good and who’s bad,” Liao said.
Even though many coaches can be biased, many do a good job of remaining as neutral as possible. Narayanaswami explained that even though varsity soccer coach Luiz Lodino is his club coach, he is certain that he can remain fair and unbi ased in his team selection.
“I don’t think anyone has an advantage going in even if they know the coach,” Narayanaswami said. “I know Luiz, of course, but I also know he is a very fair guy and will choose the best players for the team, whether he knows them or not.”
Most coaches try to mitigate these biases, but it can be difficult to filter out their inner conscious favoritism when evaluating players. This conscious bias from coaches can be unfair for new players and transfers who hope to make a good first impression.
Five year Junior Varsity Basketball Coach Brandon Byer feels that through experience, coaches should be able to accurately evaluate players without bias.
“I think any coach would not be telling you the truth if they told you that previous experiences of seeing players from previous seasons or in the off-season might not impact at least some of their decision-making,” Byer said. “For me, I go through a process of acknowledging these biases that I hold, over the course
“When going into [The] tryouts, the goal should not be to impress people as much as to put your best effort in.”
-Naveen Narayanaswami ('26)
of tryouts, and self-reflecting on whether these previous conceptions are heavily impacting, semi-impacting, or hardly impacting my individual decision mak ing processes.”
For all the stress felt by the athletes to perform, coaches are under just as much -- if not more -- pressure. Coaches need to distinguish be tween athletes after just a few hours watching them perform and build teams around players of all different levels and abili ties, many of whom have never played with each other before.
Additionally, coaches need to try and choose athletes with the right personality traits to make sure team dynamic is the best it can be. Tryouts only recognize a small window of the lives and personalities of athletes that are much more diverse than what coaches see during tryouts. These challenges stress coaches greatly, as making the wrong choices could unfairly hurt kids, lose the respect of the team, or even derail an entire season. However, Byer feels that coaches can become better at managing these stressful situations overtime.
“Having conducted tryouts for five going on six years now, I actually do not stress anymore about having to make decisions with regards to who makes the team,” Byer said. “My assistant coach and I have clear criteria that we look for in student-athletes, during the tryout period, which presents things pretty clear to us as we move throughout this time frame.”
Even though certain coaches
be able to avoid the stress of tryouts and can grow accustomed to the challenges of selecting the right athletes, it is not the case for everyone. Many coaches struggle with the idea of being responsible for whether a kid makes or doesn’t make the team, and fears picking the wrong players -- whether for skill or for personalities.
The pressure to perform leads to rising stress for athletes, many of whom experience dips in their performance due to the sometimes overwhelming stress. However, some coaches are used to recognizing and managing the stress of kids. For example, coach Byer reminds players to focus on being the best person they can be instead of being worried about their performance. This is because focusing on providing personal skill can cause people to hog the ball or be overly physical.
“How I handle the stress of kids during tryouts is to reiterate the message that you can only ‘control your controllables’,” Byer said. “The idea of this is that the focus for each person trying out should be on intangible things such as effort, attitude, communication, listening, body language, etc. These transcend multiple sports and frankly life in general.”
Even though tryouts are known to induce stress in both players and coaches, it is always important to remember that hard work and dedication will always show during tryouts, and while current form might just be temporary, class will always be permanent. When focusing on effort and attitude, athletes give themselves the best chance to succeed. FINAL ROSTER:
Social Media
Social Media
by MAX MERKEL, ELENA SALVATIERRA, and SARAH THIEMAN,
The digital lives of student-athletes The digital lives of student-athletes
The rise of social media offers student-athletes new ways to learn and reach beyond the field, however new challenges arise among the pressures of competitive sports and academic expectations.
Every athlete is familiar with the rush of adrenaline you get from competing. Now, with the rise of social media, a new kind of adrenaline fills an ath lete as the likes and comments flood in. In recent years, social media has become an integral part of almost every aspect of life, revolutionizing how we communicate, connect, and create. Gen Z especially has populated platforms like TikTok, Insta gram, and Twitter, which have now be come powerful tools in all areas, including sports. For many student-athletes, social media is now a part of daily routines, al lowing them to reach an audience ex tending beyond the playing field. But, when it comes to high school, social me dia can be both a blessing and a curse. The rise in social media has come with countless transformations and gateways. Numerous school sports teams can now use platforms to promote games, high lights, and team spirit. They also can share important dates, such as tryouts, team meetings, and gamedays, encouraging new students to join sports teams they wouldn’t have otherwise considered. So cial media has also transformed the re cruiting process, the learning/teaching environment, and athlete’s creativity.
However, an increase in social media among student-athletes can be a slippery slope when it comes to self-esteem. As ev erything moves online, it is important to learn how students balance the pros and
cons of these online platforms.
The Paly community has greatly benefited from the positive aspects of social media. For example, Paly Athletics updates
dent-run, like the Paly Girls Water Polo instagram account, run by junior Maeva Herbert-Paz.
“It definitely helps us gain some recognition about gamedays, and it’s just fun to post content in general,” Herbert-Paz said. “It gives a place to post cool pictures taken at games, boost team bonding, and just create a fun environment for team
According to Pew Research Center, of teens say they use social media “almost constantly”
45% 45%
In addition to enhancing school spirit, social media helps with getting noticed by colleges, one of the main focuses of many young athletes. Throughout the season, athletes don’t always have opportunities to display their best performance, but an athlete’s social media presence can significantly help drive their success. Student-athletes now have vital doorways to catching the attention of not only their peers but recruiters as well. Social media has transformed the recruiting process, especially through offering an outlet for stu-
dent-athletes to gain recognition and reach out to coaches. Platforms like X, Instagram, and LinkedIn provide direct lines of communication to schools they are interested in and give them a space to upload their athletic highlights. Senior football captain Jeremiah Fung explains how social media has played a positive role in his recruiting process.
“I use social media, especially Twitter, now known as X, to get recruited for my football, that’s where all the coaches today recruit and contact you,” Fung said. “I know other athletes can use social media to follow schools that show interest to stay updated and help them make an informed decision on what school they want to go to.”
Websites like MaxPreps and Next College Student Athlete, NCSA, are platforms that help athletes get recruited by providing online connections, views, messaging, and tips with college coaches around the country. These platforms also help students stay up to date on schools’ staff changes, scores, and training camps, which helps create a well-rounded image of their prospective schools. Based on the content posted by schools or programs, aspiring athletes can get a glimpse of the team culture and environment. Junior football captain Jake Wang uses social media primarily as a consumer but has begun to utilize it for various recruiting benefits.
“It definitely helps coaches learn about student-athletes that they might be inter-
es away, and many outlets weren’t available.”
and get a good idea of you.”
Social media also allows student-athletes to build their own brand through posting skills, highlights, and other posts about their personal life and progress, which increases the chances of getting recognized. This is true for Fung, who primarily uses Instagram for this purpose.
Recently, AMAZN HQ, a news and media platform for Asian and Asian American Sports with 70.4k followers on Instagram, recognized Fung from his Instagram.
As a result, they came to Paly and filmed and featured his athleticism and accomplishments for their platform, a major accomplishment for the young athlete that stemmed from social media.
“People can see who I am and understand who I am through the content I post.”
- Jeremiah Fung (‘25)
“I use Instagram to create popularity for myself and create an image for myself,” Fung said. “People can see who I am and understand who I am through the content I post. Consistency on posts is important, you shouldn’t switch
Another positive aspect of social media is the possibility of learning opportunities from other athletes everywhere. By following experienced athletes, coaches, organizations, or even fellow high-schoolers, young athletes can gain valuable insights on training tips, rules, nutrition, recovery tactics, and skills. For example, Fung models his route by running on creators like James Everett on instagram and also follows professional names like Davante Adams and Calvin Johnson who share content on YouTube. In-person coaching is effective on its own, but it is important to learn perspectives and techniques from others.
“I use YouTube and Instagram a lot to learn certain drills or certain releases that I need to do in certain situations, like situational football,” Fung said. “Like, oh shoot, that guy did something really cool, now I should go try to see if I can do it, and then
The easy access athletes have to others turns social media into an interactive learning environment that extends an athlete beyond their immediate team, trainers, or coaches. Senior Kennedy Do participates in competitive dance, and uses social me dia to stay connected with the dance in-
“As a student-athlete, I use social media in creative ways to improve my dance skills by learning tips from top industry choreographers in all styles, worldwide,” Do said. “I am also inspired by other dancers who post their highlights. Dance competitions and companies often post videos of their technique and conditioning classes, so I take inspiration from their exercises and drills and incorporate them in my own training.”
Social media is not just a place for learning, outreach, and consumption: it is also a powerful tool for creative content creation.
Paly junior and multi-sport athlete
“In reality, social media is one big highlight reel.” - Alena Lotterer (‘24)
physical as well, with possible symptoms of nausea, headaches, muscle tension, and tremors. Social media also risks loss of sleep due to spending too much time mindlessly scrolling or watching, and for an athlete in season and a growing teenager, adequate sleep is vital to performance and health.
rest needed to improve. According to a 2023 survey from Statista, the average teenager spends 4.8 hours on social media platforms every day. While this time spent on social media may feel relaxing and relieving in the moment, putting off other things only builds up stress.
“Social media is bad, don’t get me wrong,” Fung said. “It’s a positive from the recruitment side, but for everything else, it’s a big-time distraction. You really have to know when you need to shut it off and get your workout in, or get on the field and get in shape.”
Kacey Washington has taken his use of social media to the next level by creating online highlights and edits. These edits focus on himself and other players and uses this content not only to share his love of sports but his love for video editing as well.
“I view content a lot and enjoy it, but sometimes, it gets carried away late into the night and I’m still watching it, and when I wake up, I have lost a ton of sleep,” Washington said. “During practice, I’m slower, tired, and I lag behind. I’ll think about a motion through my body, and I’m just so tired that it takes an extra emotional process for me to actually do it, affecting my performance.”
Among the pressures of being both a student and an athlete at Paly, Washing ton uses his content creation as a way to destress. Washington posts highlights and edits on his personal YouTube chan nel to showcase his passion and skill.
“I create content for many reasons but a big one is de-stressing from school and sports,” Washington said. “It gives me a small purpose, and something that makes me excited, you know, it’s something I can look forward to because I enjoy making it.”
Despite the numerous new benefits us ing social media has given to student-ath letes, it can come with a lot of significant risks, especially to the mind and body of a growing teenager. The constant threat of addiction, harmful comparison, search for validation, or opportunity for hateful com ments can cause social media use to quickly turn downhill.
According to Mclean Hospital, the earli er teens begin to use social media, the more impact it has on their health. It can take a toll on not just mental health, but
The most prevalent challenge social media has created is the risk of distraction
Alena Lotterer, a former Paly student, attends the University of Virginia and participates on the diving team, and talks about the role social media plays in the world of Division I sports. Her schedule differs from other college students, as she has to balance academics, morning workouts, maintaining health, and limited social time. This leaves little time for social media. She includes how her perspectives have changed as she has moved to the next level of sports.
“We get so busy as student-athletes that I never realized how important it is to get a full eight hours of sleep,” Lotterer said. “In high school, I’d get by on five hours and just keep going, but since coming here, I’ve realized how crucial sleep is to my productivity.”
In addition to harming productivity and physical health, maintaining a presence online can be harmful to mental health due to the constant comparison to others.
Photo of Kennedy Do Courtesy of Kennedy Do
fect images of success. This comparison creates unrealistic expectations and a loss of motivation, as athletes judge themselves based on what others have achieved.
“Mentally a common thing with social media is body image on social media,” Lotterer said. “But in general looking at others and comparing yourself, I know one thing I’ve done is gone down rabbit holes looking at other divers and seeing how good they are, and I’ll get mad at myself or start freaking out about ‘why I am not there’ or ‘why don’t I do that like them.’”
actions that may be deemed inappropriate. This is called a digital footprint, or the data left behind online. A digital footprint can be tracked and monitored by coach es, competitors, or parents, which dis plays an athlete not only for their skill but also their character and behavior. By put ting oneself online, especially with things that may seem harmless at the time, it can be difficult to re member to think about who may see it in the fu ture.
“Social media can exacerbate pressures that already persist.”
Other mental health issues can be accelerated by social media, including body image, an issue felt by many female athletes everywhere. The relationship between girls and social media can be complicated. According to Harvard T.H. Chan, exposure to videos and photos on social media platforms can contribute to body dissatisfaction, eating disorders, and mental health issues among teen girls. To avoid harmful comparisons, Lotterer stresses the importantance of keeping in mind that social media only shows a limited view of someone’s life and accomplishments.
-Kennedy Do (‘25)
social media makes it important to stay informed about effective ways to use social
Extended time on social media
“In reality, social media is one big highlight reel,” Lotterer said. “Everyone will be out doing fun stuff while we are working away at school-practice-school-practice, so social media can create a bit of FOMO, but then I remember that social media is just highlights.”
This feeling spans across all sports, including dance.
“For me, social media can exacerbate pressures that already persist in the dance world,” Do said. “For example, dancers often only post their most impressive skills which can create an unrealistic picture of abilities and progress.”
Another harmful possibility is a student-athlete damaging their reputation through posts, comments, or other inter-
many people to feel pressure to par take. When choosing to participate in social media, it is important to be careful and mindful with every post and interaction. Man aging screen time and set ting personal boundaries helps reduce the risk of creating a negative foot print, online peer pressure, and loss of productivity. So cial media is not slowing down or going away, so man aging it correctly is crucial to keeping a responsible digital presence.
Overall, social media has transformed the lives of student-athletes, both posi tively and negatively. On the positive end, it serves as a platform to showcase talent, connect with colleges, and learn from or teach others in the athletic community. On the other hand, so cial media can have many down sides, including addiction, loss of productivity, harmful com parison, and digital foot print. The wide and growing spectrum of
Photo of Kacey Washington by Lucas Tung
by EVIN STEELE and NATALYA KAPOSHILIN
PARENTTrivia
What position does your child play?
How many timeouts is each team allowed during a water polo match?
ELIZABETH OLSEN mother of Lydia Mitz
MARK WILLIAMS father of Gin Williams
RYAN FRICK father of Scarlett Frick
BRETT BYNUM father of Mila Bynum
Driver or set.
Sometimes she plays set, sometimes she plays on the side (wing?).
Three timeouts.
Not sure, three per half?
5 [editor’s note: ‘5’ indicates a position on the right side] Three.
Driver/Utility/ Attacker.
Three: two full timeouts, as well as one 30-second timeout.
Rules can be complicated. With over 17 basic rules alone in soccer, keeping track of all of them can be difficult. We interviewed three parents of different sports to test their knowledge on the rules of the games their kids play.
Q: What is the punch through move in basketball?
“When you hard push the ball foward into a dribble to go by a defender. ”
-Austin Lee, father of Iverson Lee (‘26)
A: A basketball move where a player takes a big step foward while dribbling
Q: What is a third party obstruction in field hockey?
“I know what a third party, in general is, is it somebody who is on the outside?”
-Inga Thurstant, mother of Charlotte Barclay (‘26)
Our parents are our biggest supporters, always cheering for us—even when they’re not entirely sure what they’re cheering for. Viking put the parents of Paly Girls Water Polo to the test to see how much they really know about their kids’ sport.
What is sudden death in waterpolo?
How long does a team have to take a shot on goal after gaining possession?
Whichever side scores first wins the game (after overtime). 30 seconds.
Score tied at end of game means two more shorter periods (three minutes each). If score still tied there is a shootout, teams alternating shots kick.
Two three minute OTs followed by a shootout.
If the game is tied after regulation it goes to two overtime periods. If it’s tied after both overtime periods then it goes to alternating penalty shots.
seconds.
What is the “two-meter rule” in water polo?
Like an offside. Offensive players cannot go inside the two-meter line unless they have the ball.
If you have the ball you can cross into the two-meter line.
seconds.
In most cases 30 seconds, exceptions being if game clock has less than 30 seconds remaining.
A: Third-party obstruction is a foul called when a player blocks an opponent so a teammate can play the ball.
Q: What does it mean in soccer when a player is offsides foul?
It’s kind of like “offsides” in soccer or hockey. You can’t be inside two meters while teammate with ball is outside two meters.
Depends on the context. Most common context is that an offensive player cannot be inside the two-meter mark unless the ball is inside two meters.
“You have to be behind the last defender and if you’re in between the last defender and the goalie when the ball is passed, it’s an offsides” foul. ”
-Ashwin
Rao, father of Areet Rao (‘26)
A: Offsides means that the opponent is closer to the goal than the last defender.
POINT OF Balance Balance
by ZOE PASHALIDIS and DYLAN ROBINSON
Due to its limited availability, fencing can be an overlooked sport. Junior Liam Li describes his motivation behind choosing the sport and how fencing has changed his life
Fencing probably isn’t the first thing that pops into a person’s mind when they think of high school sports. While football, basketball, or track usually receive the most attention, fencing receives little. But for one Paly student, fencing is a crucial part of his life. Meet Liam Li, a junior who has been competing in fencing since he was six years old. His journey into the world of fencing began differently than most. Growing up in a family that strongly emphasized the importance of physical activity and sports, Li was nudged to try out different sports at a very young age. While most of the peo ple around him started playing soccer and other common sports, Li was drawn into the gracefulness of fencing.
member watching a fencing match on TV,” Li said. “The way they moved was so pre cise and intense, but also elegant. It just grabbed me.”
Li first en countered fencing when he was visiting a local communi-
ty center that happened to have a foil. In fencing, a foil is a light, flexible sword used for scoring points with controlled touches to the opponent's torso area. Immediately, he seemed to connect with the
part of its athletic program, Liam had to seek training and mentorship outside of the traditional school environment. This is when he joined the local fencing club, where he trained several times a week with experienced coaches.
“They pushed me hard, and practice was tough,” Li said. “But it was fun having practice Monday through Saturday, with four private lessons dotted throughout the
With practice taking up a lot of time during the school week as well as the weekends, Li’s commitment to fencing is very demanding. Though many student-athletes find the commitment of a sport plus school to be very hard and restricting, Li has thrived in this type of atmosphere."My parents always remind me that school comes first, but they know how important fencing is to me," Li said. "It's all about finding a rhythm. Some weeks are tougher than others, but I've learned to manage my time."
Aside from fencing, Li also plays for Paly’s football team. The commitment to both these sports and academics speaks to his impressive time management skills. Playing such a physical sport like football can create many injury risks and concerns, but can also create many opportunities. These two sports complement each other in unexpected ways.
Photo Courtesy
“Football may come with injury risks, but it pushes me to be faster, stronger, and more agile,” Li said.
Li also recognizes that fencing has helped him in his academic life.
“Fencing and academics, unlike other sports, actually go hand in hand quite well,” Li said.
In fencing, there are different letter ratings based on your abilities. They range from A to E and also U. Li received an E rating when he was only ten years old. He recalls competing in the North America Cup (NAC) where he had his most memorable match, for good and bad reasons. He had gone into the eliminations round ranked 103 out of 247 people, just above half, which is not the ideal start. The rounds before eliminations are known as pools, where competition rankings are given to head into eliminations. Li didn’t know at the time, but he had torn his me niscus in his left knee during pools. With the pain he was experiencing, Li did not have high hopes of doing well, but with the support of some team mates, he pre pared to rise above the challenge.
“The first couple of rounds went by fast,” Li said. He was ranked 13th in the na tion when he reached the top 16 in the tourna ment. Li then real ized that he had a fighting chance to take home the trophy.
surprise and his torn knee, Li kept the score always within one or two points. Matches are won when a player reaches 15 points, and with their match tied 14 to 14, Li knew he had to take a fierce approach.
“I had to be extremely ag gressive towards him,” Li said. “I hit his blade out and hit him right on the stomach. It felt great.”
With this, Li had won the match and was headed into the top eight of the NAC. It was then that he and his coach, Vitaliy, decided to forfeit the next match due to the pain he was experiencing in his knee. Though he had to drop out of the match be fore the next level, Li and his coach were still proud to be leaving with a
“My parents always remind me that school comes first, but they know how important fencing is to me.”
- Liam Li ‘26
“It was when I got into the top 16 that I realized that I got a shot,” Li said.
As he approached his upcoming opponent, Li realized that the opponent
lack.
“It teaches you that in order to be good at something, you really just got to keep doing it over and over again,” Li said. “Fencing helps you develop really fast thinking, not only re-
“It teaches you that in order to be good at something, you really just got to keep doing it over and over again.”
- Liam Li ‘26
“Vitaliy didn't re ally care about re sults, he just wanted us to improve every day. This mentality really made me enjoy fencing,” Li said. What sets Li apart from others is not just his technical abilities, but his strategic thinking. He understands that there will always be someone with some sort of physical advantage, but that isn’t everything.
“You don't have to be the fastest or the strongest, or even the tallest,” Li said. “You can win by just out-thinking your opponent. All I had was a little bit of speed and just
Fencing is a great sport for developing many other life skills. Liam has advanced many skills that others around him may
Li’s journey in fencing has not been without its challenges. Just like most athletes, he has had his stepbacks that have varied in difficulty. However, these stepbacks set a fire in Li, and he takes each fall as an opportunity to grow and adapt. Looking ahead to the future, Li wants to continue his fencing journey and dreams of possibly competing at a collegiate level one day. “I’m excited to keep pursuing fencing and reach new heights,” Li said. “My goal is to keep striving for excellence, and seeing just how far my dedication can take me.”
Li also hopes to bring popularity to the game he loves. This may start with the opportunity to fence at high schools, including Paly. He believes that the addition of fencing to the already academically strong Paly would enhance the school even further.
“I’d love to see Paly offer fencing one day, it’s an incredible sport that builds focus, agility, and resilience,” Li said. “It will open up new exciting opportunities for students to challenge themselves and grow physically and mentally.”
Li’s journey in fencing emphasizes passion and dedication, which can sometimes be overlooked in common high school sports. His commitment to balancing rigorous training with academic responsibilities doesn’t just highlight his incredible time-management skills, but also lessons from the sport that have helped him in life, including resilience and strategic thinking. Continuing with his pursuit of his goals, Liam stands as an example to prove that perseverance
entors aking in the
by ARJUN BHARAT, CARTER BURNETT and JAKE LIU
Many Paly athletes feel inspired to coach in order to further their connection with a beloved sport, as well as build stronger bonds within the community.
The field buzzes with excitement as cheers from parents and student-athletes echo through the air. Coach Ian Johnston, a junior at Paly, paces the field deep in thought, searching for the play that will win his team the match.
For many Paly athletes, the thrill of the game isn’t enough— they also want to inspire the next generation. These students are coaching young athletes, sharing their passion for the game, and helping youth build skills while deepening their own connection to the sport.
Having received many years of coaching and expertise themselves, a transition into coaching can be a natural progression. Local grassroots programs provide coaching opportunities for those interested: a fact many students are taking advantage of.
Junior Liam Johnson plays as a forward for Silicon Valley Soccer Academy and coaches during the summer at its sister club, Palo Alto Soccer Club.
“I decided to start coaching to be around the field after my tournaments,
during my off-season,” Johnson said. “I think I just really love the sport, and the community that Palo Alto Soccer Club and SVSA have built locally.”
Coaches play a big part in the development of athletes, and accomplished student-athletes have the privilege of playing high-caliber games, experiences which they can use to benefit the athletes that they are coaching.
Many athletes recall fond memories regarding their own coaches and the encouragement they received from a young age. Junior Ben Zhu shares his experience as a youth player and explains how his coaches influenced his basketball philosophy.
“I really liked my middle school coach, Coach Pat,” Zhu said. “He mostly just let me do my own thing, and that’s how he shaped my coach-
ing style. I want my players to play how they want, it’s the most natural and most fun for them.”
Other coaches get the most inspiration from mentors after they start coaching, inspiring them to continuously improve their coaching techniques.
“Last summer, I had two guys that were in their twenties that just moved here internationally, and they were really awe-
“I want my players to play how they want; it’s the most natural and most fun for them.”
- Ben Zhu (‘26)
some mentors,” Johnson said. “They taught me how to improve my coaching, and how to get kids to understand and be excited about the sport.”
Additionally, coaching can help athletes gain a deeper understanding of tactics and strategies that they can apply to their own game.
“[Coaching] has made me understand my game a little bit more, even though the kids are in elementary school, it’s made me just understand how important some of the basics are,” Johnson said. “I think I’ve actually learned the most from the kids that have never touched the soccer ball, and they’re like, I want to be playing in the scrimmage at the end of the week, get me there, and it’s like, where do I start?”
Furthermore, sometimes the fundamentals of a sport, which athletes haven’t thought about in years, can be reinforced through teaching youth.
“I think it was really helpful to have coached before because it was just something where it helps you hammer in those basics,” Johnson said. “Things
“When we lose a game or don’t play to our standards, it always lights a fire under the players.”
- Ian Johnston (‘26)
playing my whole life, I don’t even need to check my shoulder, but you have to be cause that’s how you can tell if there’s space.”
However, coaching as a teenager can have many drawbacks. For one thing, they often struggle to gain the respect and confidence of the athletes’ parents. In many cases, this can cause feelings of self-doubt and uncertainty about their leadership, in what is often their first position of authority. Johnston explains that in football, sometimes the hardest decisions are best for the team.
really affect me, because I don’t really care what the parents think.”
“A really difficult thing that’s really important is to find the balance between what’s good for the team and what will make people happy,” Johnston said. “Substituting kids in and out is sometimes really hard because you have to get everyone to play, and someone is always going to be disappointed.”
Even at a club or recreational level, athletics are very important to both kids and parents, which can often put lots of pressure on the coaches’ young shoulders. Many parents are often vocal in their criticism, making it easy for young coaches to lack confidence in their abilities, something that all coaches face, even at the professional level. Junior water polo coach Maeva Herbert-Paz shares this experience.
“Very often, parents can get overly involved, and in some cases interfere with the game,” Herbert-Paz said. “This makes the water polo games really intense, and I think that parents should just come to the games to support their kids.”
To many coaches, the spectators are as much part of the game as the players. Johnston explains how he’s learned to focus solely on his team, rather than external pressures.
“Last year, a kid’s dad texted us through
Many student coaches also struggle with earning the respect of their peers, as many students feel that because of the close age gap, their coaches are more of a friend. Senior Justin Lee, who coaches a local ultimate frisbee team, shares his struggles with getting through to players.
“One thing I think that frisbee teaches the middle schoolers is that you can’t win all by yourself.” Lee said. “In frisbee, you have to have at least two players to score and that really helps with ‘ball hogs’ as they learn that they have to trust their teammates and understand that it’s a team game.”
While most athletes just have to balance their athletics with schoolwork, student coaches experience increased difficulty and added responsibility balancing their coaching with other activities. Similar to athletes, many coaching positions require hours upon hours of work off the field, coordinating practices, traveling to games, and addressing the needs of the team.
“I have to spend a lot of time creating lineups, to make sure all my athletes play equally,” Junior and middle-school basketball coach Kamili Fossati-Moiane said. “I also have to think of drills and exercises for my players to do during practice.”
Playing a sport along with coaching is difficult in many ways, but being able to balance can be the key to success.
Maeva Herbert-Paz (‘26) Photo by Carter Burnett
Oftentimes, athletes who juggle both playing and coaching struggle with time management and scheduling issues.
“Luckily for me, it’s the same sport and the coach runs the program that I play, so I have the opportunity to make my schedule easily around my sports schedule, making the hours more flexible,” Herbert-Paz said.
Youth coaching can be considerably more arduous than high school and professional sports, in that the kids may be at all different levels, both physically and mentally. While high school athletes generally have been playing the sport for multiple years, young children might be afraid to come out of their shell.
“I used to be shy, so I think that we help bring them out of their comfort zone by doing team-building exercises as well as pairing up players for drills and throwing which helps them be more willing to join in on drills and games.” Lee said.
A key struggle that coaches deal with is organizing practices. As a coach, they have to coordinate practices that will help the team improve and get better. However, this oftentimes requires lots of time, effort and stressfrom the coaches.
“I feel that coaching takes more time than people think, for me it’s around six to seven hours a week for coaching, which requires a lot of time and commitment from me.” Zhu said.
There is also additional time re-
“I’ve seen that the kids that are the most successful are the ones that have minimal reaction to the mistake.”
- Liam Johnson (‘26)
quired to make plays and to plan out game plans during the game weeks.
“My usual plan is to draw out a playbook before the season starts and use that for the rest of the season,” Zhu said. “Making the playbook only takes a couple hours and I can look up plays on the internet to help with that process.”
Johnson doesn’t see his many responsibilities as chores: it’s an enjoyable experience that helps him better connect with his athletes.
“Over the summer, my responsibilities vary day by day, but it’s usually I have to be there, helping or leading drills for the kids, and it’ll be me working with them and teaching, providing tips on how they can improve and get better, and being supportive,” Johnson said. “Obviously, if someone gets a little bit of a bloody nose, then I have to deal with some first aid, but my responsibilities are kind of just to be like a fun, helpful person, to encourage kids to learn and get into the sport.”
Mistakes and setbacks can teach young coaches valuable lessons: not only about the sport, but also how to encourage and motivate their kids af-
“When we lose a game or don’t play to our standards it always lights a fire under our players, it causes the players to bring greater intensity to our practices and hold each other accountable,” Johnston said.
In many cases, a loss at the beginning of the season can actually help, as it allows for wounds to be healed and progress to be made, also allowing a coach to build a humble and overcon-
“Last year we steamrolled our first
two opponents and came into our third game cocky and underestimating our opponent. We played a close game and the refs made some game changing calls, but we ended up losing by one.” Johnston said. “We ended up winning out the season, and when we met that team in the playoffs we came ready and had a convincing win over them, I feel like that was in big part because that early loss gave us.”
Despite this, coaching is no easy task. Many challenges can often arise when coaching students whether it’s between multiple kids or disciplinary issues between a single athlete, young coaches definitely have their hands full. Kids disagree all the time, both on and off the field. Sometimes these turn into big issues, but often times, it’s just small disagreements between athletes. As a camp coach, Johnson has to deal with new kids each week, most of which have never met each other before.
“Usually, the conflicts between the kids are silly, it’s like someone thinks the ball went into the net, or someone else doesn’t,” Johnson said. “I would actually say the most common one is when the kids complain that teams aren’t fair. To calm things down I’ll say, ‘Okay, we’re gonna play, and we’ll play for five minutes and see what the score is.’ After that, we can change teams, or if it gets to a certain score, I’ll jump in myself.”
In other cases, conflict can help form bonds between athletes, which can put them on the road to success.
“I feel that Ultimate, like many other
Ian Johnston (‘26) Photo by Carter Burnett
sports, helps students understand how to communicate with each other through issues.” Lee said. “When I come back every year, I see that the kids have learned to be more responsible, respectful, and resilient when they face new challenges.”
Another challenging aspect of coaching is the psychological aspect. Quite often, young athletes will get frustrated and can be too harsh on themselves. Johnson explains how athletes’ reactions can be a tell-tale sign of their mental strength.
“I think the biggest thing though, is just seeing the mistakes that kids make and the reactions they
have to those mistakes,” Johnson said. “I’ve seen that the kids that are the most successful are the ones that have minimal reaction to the mistake. That’s been, I think, the biggest thing that I’ve seen with the working with the kids at summer camp that I’ve tried to green in my own playing, which is like the ability to just move.”
The ability to pick oneself up is something Johnson admires and strives to apply to his game, noting that it’s one of the most important things that coaching has taught him.
“I think that’s been the big thing for me, where it’s like
“I’ve learned that you need to be patient, communicate directly with what you want to happen, coaches need to be flexible.”
- Justin Lee (‘25)
some mistakes happen and you just have to move on,” Johnson said. “I’ve tried to ingrain this in my own playing, the ability to just move on. They have other ideas floating around in their head, but their ability to move is just very impressive in my eyes.”
As time goes on, and coaches get to work more with individual players, a strong bond begins to form between coaches and players.
“One of my proudest moments was when there were two boys that were probably eight years old that didn’t know how to play soccer at all. By the end of the week, they were probably in the top three or four kids in the entire camp,” Johnson said. “I worked with them all week and they thanked me at the end of the week for getting them into the sport.”
Johnston has worked with the same group for over two and a half years, and he sees great progress in his players, not only in their ability but also in their character.
“I’ve been impressed with my quarterback Dylan [Goodwin],” Johnston said. “He’s a very focused and motivated player and his progress this season has been outstanding. His coachability has made my experience coaching a lot easier, and I think he has a bright future ahead of him.”
“The biggest thing that I’ve learned is that you have to be patient, communicate directly what you want to happen with demos and examples,” Lee said. “Coaches need to be flexable because not everything is going to go perfect, but make sure that what you are teaching is fun.”
The experience of coaching a youth team provides all coaches with a valuable experience that they will take away with them for the rest of their lives. Not only can they learn to be a leader and how to juggle many different components of coaching, they can also learn from their own athletes values of resilience and perseverance that they can use in their future.
Paly junior Maeva Herbert-Paz gives instructions to her water polo team, the Golden State Bears.
Photo by Carter Burnett
BY TYLER CHEUNG
Survival Fittest of the The Final Word
Soccer leagues around the world have successfully used a system of relegation and promotion for many years. Should American sports leagues incorporate this precarious system?
It’s the final day of the 2023 English Premier League season. Fans pack into Goodison Park ready to watch a football (soccer) match between Everton and Bourenmouth. Every seat is filled, the energy in the stadium is high, the stakes could never be greater. However, Everton isn’t fighting for glory, they are fighting for survival. With a record of 7-18-12, Everton needs to win to avoid getting relegated out of the league. As halftime hits, the crowd is tense as the score remains 0-0. Suddenly, as the 57th minute hits, Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure scores a beautiful goal. The crowd goes ecstatic as there is hope for the future of the club. No more goals would be scored in the match and Everton would live to fight for another season.
“Teams on the verge of relegation would do everything in their power to stay in the upper league, turning previously non-competitive games into some of the most important games of the season.”
overlooked and have irrelevant games towards the end of a season. Relegation is a system where the bottom teams in the highest league get demoted, and they are replaced by the top teams from the lower league at the end of every season. Introducing the idea of relegation would cause low tier teams to have high stakes games at the end of the season. Teams on the verge of relegation would do everything in their power to stay in the upper league, turning previously non-competitive games into some of the most important games of the season. Getting relegated would be devastating for a team because the lower leagues earn much less money and are provided with inferior resources.
league system.
The English Football (soccer) System is built up of seven levels with the Premier league sitting at the top. After every season, the bottom three teams from the upper league and the top three teams from the lower league will get promoted and relegated to the respective leagues. Another main aspect that separates the English football system from American sports is their recruiting system.
billion
Every sports team experiences ups and downs, but in all major American sports leagues there is little to no consequence for performing poorly in a season. Instead, struggling teams are often
The NFL, MLB, and NBA operate as closed leagues. This means that every team and division stays fixed no matter the result of the previous season. In contrast, the English Premier League, the top tier of soccer in England, follows an open
play -
Teams have youth academies where they recruit young as eight years old. The English football system also doesn’t enforce salary caps on any teams which means there is no limit on how much a certain team can spend. This system can allow some teams to get extremely rich, but it also reinforces the idea of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.
The main reason introducing a relegation system is good for american sports is it eliminates the idea of tanking. In the american sports draft system, the teams that are worse usually get the earlier draft picks in the following college draft. The intention of this is to give them a fair opportunity to rebuild and create more competitiveness within the league. However, this system is far from perfect. Midway through the season, if a team knows they aren’t going to make the playoffs, there is no reason for them to perform better. In fact, performing better during the tail end of the season would actually negatively affect the team because they would get a worse draft pick.
For example, during that 2020 season, the New York Jets were head to head with the Jaguars in terms of getting the number one overall pick, but they won a late season game against the LA Rams
when the punter made a touchdown saving tackle. This resulted in the Jets getting the second overall pick in quarterback Zach Wilson. Through the past few years, it has become very clear that Trevor Lawrence is the better quarterback and Jets fans wished they had lost the game against the Rams back in 2020.
“Even with the top five players in the draft, these teams still ended up as the bottom five teams in the NBA the following season.”
On the other side of the scale, the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2020 were the worst team in the league with a record of 1-15. Because of this, they made some management decisions that clearly showed they were giving up on the season. They traded away star cornerback Jalen Ramsey mid-way through 2019, they released running back Leneard Fournette, they traded defensive end Yannick Ngakoue and defensive tackle Calais Campbell. All of these were pro bowl players that they gave up for future draft picks. Though this did secure them the number one overall draft pick in Trevor Lawrence, it made the rest of the 2020 season demoralizing for Jaguar fans and boring for the NFL as a whole. This “planning for the future” may benefit teams in the long run, but it makes current sports uneventful and one sided.
Adding a relegation system will also create an exciting mini playoff at the end of the year where the worst teams are all at the center of attention. Currently, towards the end of the season, bad teams are forgotten about and are often considered irrelevant in the grand scheme of the league. With the
relegation system, the teams on the chopping block will be doing everything in their power to stay in the upper league. The final games of the season for these teams will feel like playoff games because of the importance of them. This will add a whole layer of entertainment to these leagues and make watching American sports more exciting as a whole.
The goal of American sports draft systems is to give the worst teams the best players, but this usually doesn’t actually result in better outcomes for those struggling teams. In the 2023 NBA draft, the top five picks were taken by the Spurs, Hornets, Blazers, Rockets, and Pistons. Even with the top five players in the draft, these teams still ended up as the bottom five teams in the NBA the following season. Another example is when the Carolina Panthers traded a plethora of draft picks and starreceiver DJ Moore to the Bears in return for the 2023 number one overall pick. They used this pick to draft quarterback Bryce Young who is clearly performing poorly today in the NFL. At the time of writing this article the Panthers have only won three of their last 21 games with Bryce Young as a starter. The NFL does have some teams who have successfully rebuilt, but the NBA has struggled with teams that are bad and stay bad. All of this proves that top prospects are always hit or miss and giving bad teams better draft picks is not enough to keep leagues balanced and entertaining.
Another problem that comes along with tanking is players sitting. When a team is out of playoff contention, it is common for them to sit some of their star players to avoid the possibility of getting injured. Some avid fans can only afford to attend one game every season. Imagine how disappointed a fan would be if their favorite player wasn’t playing at the one game they could attend. Tanking doesn’t only take away from the entertainment of games, it can be detrimental to the fan experience.
The main reason relegation has become such a big possibility in western sports is the development of the lower tier professional leagues. Recently, the United Football League has become a prominent league during the spring in
addition to the NBA G League and Minor League Baseball. Most of the players in these leagues are players who formerly played in the upper leagues. Promoting some of these strong teams from the lower leagues will give an opportunity to rising stars who otherwise would have never gotten a chance in the big leagues. Promoting these teams will allow a fresh new look for leagues and allow a wider fan base.
Incorporating lower leagues into the overall scope of big professional leagues will allow american sports to expand internationally. The NFL has already tried expanding their influence overseas by organizing games in Europe and South America. Lower professional leagues can have the flexibility to create new teams that are based in international locations. For example, instead of being affiliated with a NBA team, G League teams could expand to teamless cities like Seattle. This will allow fans from all over the world to become more involved in American sports.
“50 percent of NBA rostered players have previously played in the G league.”
Furthermore, lower league players have done more than enough that they are competent enough to create good competition for top professionals. According to Fox sports, 60% of UFL players were invited to NFL workouts last year and 78 individuals signed contracts on NFL teams. A prime example of success after promotion is kicker Brandon Aubrey who played on the Birmingham Stallions for two years before being signed by the Dallas Cowboys. Now, Aubrey is considered one of the best kickers in the league, making 95.8% of his total field goals including one from 65 yards. It’s not only in football: according to NBA.com, on opening night of the 2023 season, 50% of NBA rostered players had previously played in the G league. This proves the lower league players clearly have the competence to perform well at the higher level. However, this relegation system would
be a lot more feasible in non-tackle sports like basketball and baseball. This is because it can be dangerous for football players to face players that are much stronger and hit harder. If a whole UFL team gets promoted to the NFL, that team would most likely sustain a lot of injuries, as the players are not used to the speed and physicality of the NFL. This is one of the reasons the NFL does not allow college players to declare for the draft before they use up their college eligibility. Some people argue that superstars like 17 year old Ryan Williams should be drafted in the upcoming year, but the reality is it isn’t safe to allow such young players go up against full grown men. In contrast, promoting minor league teams in basketball and baseball can be safe and exciting for these teams. In basketball, it is a lot more common to see players get drafted into the NBA after only one year of college play. For example, in 2019, Zion Williamson was drafted first overall after only playing one year of college basketball at Duke. In basketball and baseball, young and developing athletes can still safely compete against their professional counterparts.
Gary Yan (‘26) takes a strike at the birdie. “Going into the season we were scared about getting relegated, but as the season went on, we started feeling better about ourselves,” Yan said. The Paly badminton team has been caught in a cycle of constant relegation and promotion for the past few seasons.
“As fans, we deserve to see players give it their all for the whole season. We deserve to have a system where every game counts.”
Considering that the NBA is a lot more fit for relegation, there are many teams in the NBA that are bad with little room to improve. For example, the Detroit Pistons have not won a playoff game since 2008 and have only achieved a winning record once in the past 16 seasons. They even set the record for most games lost in a row last season with 28. The Charlotte Hornets have also failed to win a playoff round since 2001. These teams stay persistently uncompetitive and it results in a large amount of blowout games. Allowing G League teams to separate from their NBA affiliates along with promoting some of them will allow teams like the Pistons to start winning games in the G League and rebuild properly without being destroyed every season.
The main argument against relegation is it financially impacts relegated teams too much, however there are many solutions to this problem. When a team gets relegated, they will receive a “parachute payment” from the league, which is a large sum of money given to cover a dip in player wages and TV broadcasting costs. Likewise, it would be included in player contracts that if their team got relegated, their salaries would go down. This is reasonable, because their poor performances were most likely the reason for their relegation. Players will be motivated to try harder in their games if they know their paycheck is on the line. In terms of game ticket scales, most loyal fans will rally behind their team regardless of relegation. If a fan is not loyal, they most likely would not support the team anyway if they were tanking at the bottom of the league.
In conclusion, relegation would create end of season excitement that american sports currently lack. It could redefine the meaning of competitiveness and resilience. As fans, we deserve to see players give it their all for the whole season.
Photo courtesy of BOBBY DAVERMAN
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Maura Hambly (‘27) and Naama Green (‘25) jump to block the shot against Tamalpais High School. Photo by Lucas Tung.