Volume 9 Issue 1

Run, Forest Run pg. 28

Follow Julia Doubson’s (‘18) trail... if you can keep up.

Squashing the Competition pg. 24

Take a look into the life of Aman Mittal (‘17) as a nationally ranked squash player.

541 Ramona St. Palo Alto, CA 94301 (650) 326-1446

Volume 9 Issue 1 October 2015

LINE UP TOP STORIES

PRECISION Squash player Aman Mittal (‘17) focuses intently to figure out his next move.

28 RUN, FOREST RUN

Get to know Julia Doubson (‘18) and the sport of orienteering running. Doubson is a member of the United States Junior National Team and has been involved in this unique sport since she was just five years old.

by SAMUEL DESRE

24

SQUASHING THE COMPETITION

In this story, we go indepth with Aman Mittal (‘17) and learn about his unique interest in the sport of squash and his future on the court.

by SKYLAR BURRIS and ETHAN STERN

17

TUMBLING INTO TOLERANCE

With the recent addition of two male students to the cheer team, we investigate the stigma around the sport.

by MADDY ATWATER and LAUREN KOYAMA

20 MENS’ VS WOMENS’ WORLD CUP

A look at the differences between the mens’ and womens’ tournaments.

by TALIA MALCHIN

ZOOM Reach Score Bump

KICKOFF

Staff view Pop culture grid 10 questions

with Jon Samos (‘16)

Inside the mind

4 6 8 11 12 13 14 22

THE VIKING TRIES Beach Volleyball

Home field advantage The Great Debate The Last Word

38

40 42 47

THE VIKING GUIDE

Pump-up playlist 34 How to dress like a true fan 35 Team lunches 36

15

of Kathi Bowers

What to look out for in the Bay Area

COLUMNS

SMACK TALK

A description of what smack talk is and how it affects Paly athletes.

by RYAN CHANG and JAMIE CULLEN

41

GET JUICED

Learn everything you need to know about juice cleanses.

by MEREDITH KINNAMAN and TALIA MALCHIN

44

30 FOR 30

A ranking of the best ESPN documentaries.

by THE VIKING STAFF

46

THE VIKE

Find out what Matthew Seligson (‘16) and Brian Tracy (‘17) have to say about their new app.

by ALYS OLMSTEAD

Joanna Falla (‘17) blocks an incoming shot in the girls water polo game against Los Gatos.

Photo Courtesy of Bob Drebin

Tony Caballero-Santana (‘16) scores a touchdown against Sequoia. The Vikings went on to win against the Cherokees 54-28.

Photo by Skylar Burris

Chelsea Fan (‘18) digs the ball to keep the play going in a match against Woodside. The Vikings won in three sets.

Photo courtesy of Cooper Lou

Editors-in-Chief Kylie Callan Alys Olmstead Managing Editors Maddy Atwater Sam Desre Meredith Kinnaman Design Editor Alys Olmstead Photo Editors Maddy Atwater Meredith Kinnaman Copy Editor Daniel Douty Columnist Daniel Douty

From the editors Dear readers,

Welcome back! We here at The Viking hope that you all had wonderful summer vacations and are settling into the new school year well. We are so excited to bring you the first issue of the ninth year of The Viking Magazine and we cannot wait to see what the rest of this year brings.

With the new season, we have welcomed 12 wonderful new members to our staff and we are looking forward to teaching them the ways of The Viking and working with them this year. We also have a new advisor, Brian Wilson, who moved here from Michigan.

We have already learned so much from him and we are excited to welcome him to the Viking family.

In our cover story, Samuel Desré (‘16) explores the unique sport of orienteering running and Julia Doubson’s (‘18) experience with it, as she has been involved with the sport since she was very young and now competes for the United States. Additionally, Skylar

Burris (‘17) and Ethan Stern (‘17) look into squash, another unusual sport that Paly athlete Aman Mittal (‘17) participates in competitively.

Make sure to also check out The Viking’s Guide to Back to School Athletics, where Meredith Kinnaman (‘16), Quinn Knoblock (‘17) and Steven Marinkovich (‘17) explain some team traditions and provide some advice for fans attending sports events this fall. If you’re looking to be more informed about the ways some teams work and how to best dress for Paly games, this is the place for you.

We hope that you take a well-deserved break from homework, tests and those dreaded college applications and enjoy this first issue of The Viking, we know you’ll love it.

Go Vikings!

The Viking, a sports magazine published by the students in Palo Alto High School’s Advanced Magazine Journalism class, is an open forum for student expression and the discussion of issues of concern to its readership. The Viking is distributed to its readers and the student body at no cost. The staff welcomes letters to the editor, but reserves the right to edit all submissions for length, grammar, potential libel, invasion of privacy and obscenity.

Advertising in The Viking The staff publishes advertisements with signed contracts providing they are not deemed by the staff inappropriate for the magazine’s audience. For more information about advertising with The Viking, please contact the The Viking by email at vikingeds@gmail.com Printing Services 2,500 copies of The Viking are printed, six times a year by Fricke-Parks Press in Fremont, Calif.

Sincerely, Kylie and Alys

Multimedia Editor Sam Desre Daniel Douty Business Manager Kylie Callan Staff Writers Skylar Burris Ryan Chang Ben Cleasby Jamie Cullen Quinn Knoblock Lauren Koyama Talia Malchin Steven Marinkovich Christian Rider Peter Snodgrass Ethan Stern Mara Zenger Staff Adviser Brian Wilson The Viking Palo Alto High School 50 Embarcadero Road Palo Alto, CA 94301 650-329-3837 Email contact: vikingeds@gmail.com Advertising and Sponsorship Contact: vikingads@gmail.com

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Staff view

About the lack of a boys’ volleyball team at Palo Alto High School The fall season has started, and sports are once again in full swing. With female students deciding to play on the football teams at Gunn High School and Saint Francis High School, gender equality in sports has become a topic of discussion here at The Viking.

California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) rules state that for sports that have both girls’ and boys’ teams, girls are not allowed to play on boys’ teams and boys are not allowed on girls’. However, for sports that only have one team, such as football or girls’ volleyball here at Palo Alto High School, girls are allowed to play on traditionally boys’ teams but boys, in most cases, are not allowed to play on girls’ teams.

We believe that the only way to counteract this inequality is to establish a boys’ volleyball team here at Paly. It has proven popular at many local high schools and middle schools, it is a sport that colleges recruit for and it would promote team spirit and gender equality.

Many schools that Paly already faces off against in other sports already have boys’ volleyball teams, such as Los Gatos High School, Archbishop Mitty High School, Saint Francis High School, Mountain View High School and

Monta Vista High School. Even Jordan Middle School and JLS Middle School here in Palo Alto have teams. Aside from its popularity at other schools in the area, volleyball has been well-liked here on Paly campus through programs like the volleyball tournament on the quad and the Viking Best of the Best Sports Fest last spring. Creating a boys’ volleyball team would allow all students who enjoy these activities to pursue their interest in a more formal setting. Additionally, for the boys graduating from middle school teams, it would give them the opportunity to continue their sport at Paly.

Many colleges have boys’ volleyball teams.

Establishing a team here at Paly would give students a way to play sports beyond high school, and possibly a way to attend schools they would not otherwise have access to. It would allow them to be a part of the athletic community at Paly and pursue a healthy lifestyle.

A boys’ volleyball team would promote team and school spirit. It would add to what is currently a female-only program, promoting more of a feeling of community within the sport as well as more student support for the sport as

a whole. The teams at Paly offer a tremendous network and support system, and adding a team would only make it better.

In order to create an athletic team at Paly, a student must find enough students who are interested, find a place and time to practice that would not interfere with the practice of other sports, and find a coach. With its popularity on the quad coupled with the students graduating from middle school teams, there would certainly be enough interest to fill a roster.

Additionally, boys’ volleyball is a spring sport, and especially with the construction of a new gym with more court space, it would not be hard to find a time and place the team could practice. Finally, due to the extensive number of club volleyball teams in the area, it would not be difficult to find an interested coach.

Creating a boys’ volleyball team has proven popular at many schools in the area similar to Paly, it would provide an opportunity for male volleyball players to pursue their interest at the collegiate level and it would add to the wonderful athletic community Paly has to offer.

For all of these reasons, The Viking staff believes that a boys’ volleyball team would benefit Palo Alto High School as a whole. <<<

Viking Favorites Fall Sports: Football

day of spirit week: Generation Day

Fall Drink: Coffee

Football team: Niners/Patriots

Fall activity:

Thanksgiving food: Apple Pie

Fantasy Football/Netflix

OCTOBER 2015

P Culture Grid

The op WHAT DO PALY ATHLETES SAY?

Eric Maser (‘17) Water Polo

Bryn Carlson(‘16) Cross Country

Romello Purvis (‘16) Football

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift

Kim K.

Hands down Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift

Neither

Bernie Sanders

Trump

Hillary

Rand Paul

Epic

Great

I don’t care

Wet

Beach

Normal

Beach

Beach

Stupid

Not gonna fly

Straight out of the Gulag

Kim K. or T. Swift?

Trump or Hillary?

New Star Wars is going to be...

Totally badass

Beach or Normal Volleyball?

Beach

Tutorial Rules are...

Nayhe suh

HOT Tom Brady

Coming fresh off his fourth super bowl win, Tom Brady went through a whirlwind of media frenzy over the deflategate scandal. With beautiful execution of the deny-til-you-die tactics, Brady beat the case and the League. After getting out of his 4-game suspension, Tom Terrific is back, with a vengeance.

Images taken from

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An adjustment

Claire Krugler (‘16) Volleyball

Alfredo Gonzalez (‘16) Cheer

Paly Alumni

Paly alumni are everywhere in the sports world right now. Over the summer you saw Joc Pederson (‘10) start in center field in the All-Star game. Davante Adams (‘11) is starting at wide-receiver for the Green Bay Packers. Kevin Anderson (‘11) is a captain for Stanford Football. Now we wait for Keller Chryst (‘14).

RG3

The Washington Redskins are a bona fide dumpster fire. Whether it be their ridiculously expensive “franchise quarterback” Robert Griffin III, their divided front office or the play of the team on the field (yikes), the Redskins are in trouble. Hard times to be a Redskins fan.

w w w. v i k i n g s p o r t s m a g . c o m

Tutorial By now you’ve probably grown to love the new tutorial policy, or not. The new policy of military (A.K.A. Reese) lockdown has outraged many students. Fight the man, Paly!

N OT

Q uestions 10 with

Jon Samos (‘16)

as told to Peter Snodgrass

The Viking asked Paly football player Jon Samos (‘16) 10 questions about himself and then compared his responses to those of his coach Steve Foug, friend Matt O’Reilly and teammate Riley Schoeben (‘16). Read on to discover who knows Jon best!

Jon Samos (‘16)

Varsity Football Player

Questions

Steve Foug Coach

Matt O’Reilly (‘16) Friend

Riley Schoeben (‘16) Teammate

Andrew Luck

Favorite football player?

Aaron Rodgers

Micheal Vick

JJ Watt

Voodoo Mane

Favorite rapper?

Flavor Flav

Voodoo Mane

3 Pac

Andrew Bogut

Favorite Warrior?

Trailer Park Boys

Favorite T.V. show?

Celebrity Wife Swap

Diners Drive-ins and Dives

Ping Pong

Favorite weekend activity?

Writing poetry

Chillin like a villain

Mountains

Beach or mountains?

Mountains

Beach

Beach

Astrophysics

Favorite class?

Lunch/AP PE

Communications

Athletic conditioning

Hot Pockets

Favorite late night snack?

Totino’s Pizza Rolls

Mac ‘n’ Cheese

McDonald’s

Malt milkshake

Beverage preference?

Shirley Temple

Malt milkshake

Root beer

In ‘n’ Out

Favorite fast food?

Arby’s

McDrizzle’s

In ‘n’ Out

20%

20%

30%

Images taken from

Draymond Green

Draymond Green

Steph Curry Trailer Park Boys Ping Pong

OCTOBER 2015

Inside the mind of Kathi Bowers

as told to Peter Snodgrass

On Long Term Goals “My long term goal is I would like to see students involved in our athletics not just as athletes, but as managers, announcers, photographers, web page designers[and] statisticians. I would also like to see us do some increased things with Gunn, we are looking at a few things to try to work together and make the program better for all of our athletes.”

Misses Most from Teaching

“I miss getting to know a lot of different kids and that’s one of the things I am thinking about as the Ad: how to get to know more kids.”

On Short Term Goals “My short term goal is to make the transition to the off site, for the offsite teams, as smooth as possible and to help them run their programs in a quality way.”

photo by Meredith Kinnaman

How She Uses Math in Her Everyday Job “One of the things an athletic director deals with is the budget, and the numbers side of me does like looking and seeing if there are errors. One of the immediate concerns is funding.

Many people do not know that we do not get any money from the district.

I do like the financial side of it and looking for ways to fundraise, and right now I am solving the logic side of it by trying to look for fields.”

On the New Gym “[I look forward to] not having to deal with all the headaches. But most importantly having our own space and making it a community builder and a thing that people rally around and they’re excited to be in and I think just getting the kids back on campus will be good.”

SmackTalk THE ART OF

by RYAN CHANG and JAMIE CULLEN

Image taken from

GETTING PHYSICAL Rather than smack talk, hockey allows for players to settle things physically.

W

e all remember Richard Sherman’s infamous interview after the 2014 NFC Championship game, where he personally called out Michael Crabtree on national television. What sports fan could forget Michael Jordan shooting free-throws with his eyes closed to spite Dikembe Mutombo? These top-tier athletes performed a tactic commonly known as smack talk. Smack talk is defined by the Webster dictionary as “disparaging, taunting, or boastful comments especially between opponents trying to intimidate each other”.

This tradition has been around as long as sports themselves, but the term came about in the 1990s. In fact, the commonly known term “Ball Don’t Lie” originates from Rasheed Wallace, who is the all-time record holder for technical fouls in the National Basketball Association (NBA), in a smack-talking frenzy that resulted in his expulsion from the game.

Smack talk occurs on all levels of sports, from professional, to college, to high school. It isn’t uncommon to see major sports brands like Nike revere smack talk, almost making it

CALLED OUT Photo of Seattle Seahawks cornerback and avid smack-talker Richard Sherman.

seem like an essential part of the game. Joe Lapchick, the founder of the Center for the study of Sport in Society, says that trash talk has historically given athletes a mental edge over their opponents.

Psychologists studying sports may argue that trash-talking is ineffective and often affects the athlete’s performance, but nonetheless, it will continue to occur in all level of athletics. According to sports psychologist Eric Stevens, sports fans “ love a winner and if trash talking comes with it, or if winning results because of the trash talk, we not only tolerate it, we relish it.”

“I think we see it more in the NFL level. The people who do it in high school are the ones who are not self confident” head football coach Jake Halas said. “The guys that I see do it (smack talk) in the high school level, are the guys that can’t play”.

Smack talk can take various forms depending on the game being played, but no matter the sport, the ultimate goal is to get your opponent to lose their focus on the game. In football the smack talk tends to be more harsh and personal because the game is more violent and head to head. While in

sports like golf and track, smack talk is virtually non existent. Even here at school, the Palo Alto Viking athletes are very familiar with this special art form.

“There’s not much smack talk in track, sometimes the sprinters talk [smack] before races to try and intimidate you, but it doesn’t really affect me because you just zone it out,” sprinter Thorin Haussecker (‘17) said.

While some light smack talk is tolerated by referees, players have to be careful to keep it quiet and or else they could receive a penalty or ejection from a game.

“Most of the trash talking in the NFL is not seen. Most of the trash talking happens when the players aren’t looking at each other or else it’s a straight up flag.” said Halas.

“The refs allow some light talking back and forth, but if it gets too heated or certain language is used then they’ll throw a flag or even eject people from the game” an anonymous football player said.

Smack talk takes different forms in every sport at every level, whether is subtle or obvious it is part of sports. <<<

We interviewed various athletes from three different sports on the Paly campus and got their opinion on smack talk. We interviewed football player Shaun Pike (‘16), Volleyball player Trisha Wittenbrink (‘17) and basketball player Miles Tention (‘17).

Does smack talk affect you or your team on the field?

SP: “No I wouldn’t say smack talk affects me in any way, because coming from other people I just don’t let it phase me because I don’t really care what they have to say. Of course it makes tempers rise but I just try to use that as fuel to feed my fire.”

TW: “We mainly try not to let trash talk affect us, but it can get to the point where it puts the team down and we’re focusing on how the other team is acting rather than focusing on how we’re acting. Its really a negative experience all around.”

MT: “I think that when I am trash talking or talking to an opponent I can play better ‘cause it gives me more of a drive to make sure that I can back up what I’m saying and it’s not all for show. But I also think when someone is trash talking our team, it makes us play better because we want to prove them wrong and make sure what they said to us is not true.”

FIGHT Red Sox and Rays players breakout in a fight after words were exchanged between teams

Do you think smack talkers act the same way off the field?

SP: “Honestly no, because smack talk is just part of the game. If you look at it that way, which you should, when you come off the field and the games over its time to be friends and respect each other for what you guys just did, so I would say that smack talk isn’t really a thing off the field.”

TW: “It’s hard to say because you can’t judge someone based on one thing they say in the game, but it definitely reveals a part of their character if they would want to put someone down just for a point.”

MT: “No, I think that a lot of trash talkers don’t act the same way on the court as well as they do off the court. I thinks it’s more of a mental thing. If you can trash talk and get in an opponent’s head it affects them a lot it can change their play.”

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Tumbling into Tolerance Have you noticed the long black pants among the line of green cheer skirts? Well, either way you are invited to delve into the world of breaking barriers and destroying stigmas through a simple act of joining a cheer team. After years of battle, it seems as though the walls have been almost completely torn down.

by MADDY ATWATER and LAUREN KOYAMA

GOT SPIRIT? The 2015-2016 Paly Cheer team practices routines at University of California Santa Cruz to prepare for their upcoming season.

S

even years ago, D.J. Shelton (‘08) was the only male on the Palo Alto High School cheer squad. Seven years ago, Shelton was the victim of daily verbal abuse, from being called a quitter because he no longer played football to being labeled as a homosexual or a pervert.

However, seven years ago, Shelton defied these pre-determined gender roles and helped change the stigma around male cheerleading.

Johnny Campball may not be considered a

household name, but on November 2, 1898, he was credited with the birth of cheerleading. After rallying the football crowd with a simple cheer for the University of Minnesota, Campball then organized a “yell-squad” that other colleges proceeded to mimic. In fact, it was not until 1923 that women entered the world of cheerleading.

After learning this, you might think there has to be one famous male figure out there that was also a cheerleader. Well, turns out there are a lot more than just one. George

W. Bush was the head cheerleader at Phillips Academy, Dwight D. Eisenhower took up cheerleading at Army when he could no longer play football, Franklin D. Roosevelt cheered on Harvard football in 1904, Ronald Reagan was a basketball cheerleader for Eureka College, and even Samuel L. Jackson was a cheerleader at Riverside High school in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

With a background of many leading male figures in cheer history, why is there such a prominent stigma around males in the sport?

OCTOBER 2015

According to WGN-TV, in high schools, 97% of cheerleaders are female. In a judgemental high school world, breaking gender boundaries is a struggle for most teenagers.

Typically, breaking these boundaries often calls for ridicule from the surrounding culture of the offenders. Yet in a mere seven years, it seems as though the Paly student body has grown more accepting of the male cheerleading idea, and maybe even has taken a step closer to the defiance of stereotypical gender roles.

The 2015-2016 varsity cheer squad at Paly includes 23 girls and two boys. Alfredo Gonzalez (‘16) and Max Usman (‘17) joined the squad upon the realization that they would no longer participate in their fall sport.

“My best friend [Ella Higashi (‘16)] said that the cheer team was looking to recruit guys to help their stunting routines,” Gonzalez said. “After quitting football my junior year

and having nothing to do for the winter and fall season, I decided I wanted to do something, so I thought I might as well do cheer.”

The girls on the cheer team were thrilled to have male cheerleaders join. Adding males to the squad provided diversity and the opportunity to explore new grounds. Previous collegiate male cheerleader, Steve Gallagher, is the

we can do so many cooler stunts like one manning and we can do a lot more having them on,” cheerleader Sydney Bader (‘17) said. “Last year we only had two coaches and they were basically just dancers, so having the stunting coach with us just makes us look [better].”

Competition wise, the presence of males will greatly help the Vikings. It opens up the possibilities for more stunts, more dancers to perform, and new potentials to be reached. The boys, physically, have more muscle than the female cheerleaders, allowing less people to be used in the base of a stunt and more.

A guy wouldn’t be bullied for playing football because it’s “manly” just as a girl wouldn’t be ridiculed for doing cheer. But what happens when a boy chooses to cheer? Seven years ago, Shelton was verbally assaulted every day. Today, Gonzalez and Usman have not faced the same struggles that previous male cheerleaders have experienced.

Both boys were widely accepted and appreciated by the team. For Usman, many of his friends were already cheering, so it felt like a step in the right direction. He was happily placed with his friends and outside peers payed no mind to the situation. For Gonzalez, people were scared of the abuse he would get from other guys.

“A lot of people would come up and say, ‘Alfredo, are you sure you want to do this, like some people are going to make fun of you?’ and I didn’t listen to that,” Gonzalez said.

“It’s mostly been people thinking that I’m going to get made fun of, but it never actually happened.”

The verbal assault that Shelton experienced seven years ago is no where near the same reaction Usman and Gonzalez have received from the Paly culture. Still, many high school guys are reluctant to become cheerleaders.

There seems to still be a subconscious negative stigma surrounding male participation in the sport.

“I think there are guys out there that find it interesting, but are concerned that traditionally it has been more a female sport,” Gallagher said. “To cross that barrier is a little daunting and so with guys on the team, hopefully it makes it more inviting.”

A lot of work is required to break the stigma surrounding high school male cheerleading. The irony of the whole situation is that this stigma does not appear in the world of the collegiate sport. Once in college,

“To cross that barrier is a little daunting and so with guys on the team, hopefully it makes it more inviting.”

- Steven Gallagher new stunting coach for the Paly cheer team.

He brings a lot to the squad and is focusing on using the boys to accomplish complex routines. The cheer squad is currently working on partner stunting and more difficult pyramid forms.

“I think it is strengthening us a lot because

CHEESE Alfredo Gonzalez (‘16) and Ella Higashi (‘16) smile while they take a break from cheering at a Palo Alto High School football game.

Higashi and other cheerleader friends are one reason why Gonzalez joined the team.

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SMILE Cheerleaders Jess Jensen (‘16), Max Usman (‘17), Anna Medoff (‘17), Melissa Lopez (‘16), and Valeria Gomez (‘16) reenergize after practicing routines. cheer squads are coed, and usually split 5050 between males and females. The fear of becoming a male cheerleader vanishes, and turns into just another extracurricular.

The majority of college men that join cheer are students that previously competed in football, that hope to participate in another athletic event that will allow them to use their unique physical build. However, in high school these athletes are considered “quitters” by their peers because they transitioned from football to cheerleading. Switching from a

stereotypical masculine sport to a stereotypical feminine increases the verbal abuse that is received by the athlete.

Many people discredit cheerleading as a sport, when in reality more injuries occur when compared to football. To participate in cheer, athletes have to be flexible, able to balance, and have the strength to perform different stunts. As bases, male cheerleaders are responsible for another person’s life. In this position, athletes need exceptional strength to toss and catch the team’s flyers. Male cheer-

97%

50%

of high school cheerleaders are female

of college cheerleaders are male

leaders play an important role in limiting the injuries that happen to the stunters.

“I invite any boy at Paly to try single basing a cheerleader- it’s one of the hardest athletic things I have ever done,” Shelton said. “Being a male cheerleader, responsible for another life who you’re holding above your head, is physically demanding and requires a level of trust between teammates that most athletes will never experience.” <<<

65.2%

of all catastrophic injuries in youth sports occur in cheerleading OCTOBER 2015

M E N ’ S V S.

by TALIA MALCHIN

W 0 R L D

The past two summers have been packed with soccer from the men’s 2014 World Cup, fo common love of the sport through this world-wide event. But despite its ability to accoun age-old issue of

MONEY

Germany’s Men’s National team won the 2014 world cup and received

$35

million in winnings

U.S. Men’s National team did not get out of group stage and placed 11th in the

$9 million in total, the men’s world cup gave out $358 million fifa has $5.7 Billion in revenue tournament, earning them

VENUE

to all teams

the men’s World Cup stadium in Brazil contained only the

highest quality grass Some major league men’s soccer players will refuse to play if their game is on turf

MEDIA & FUNDING

Fifa has a world cup app but only features men’s world cup details and promotions, not women’s Separate teams stayed in their own hotels in a 2004 inter view for “The guardian”, fifa president sepp blatter was asked about how to boost women’s world cup views and ratings, and responded: “let the women play in more feminine clothes like they do in volleyball. They could, for example, have

TIGHTER SHORTS . female players are

PRETTY ... they already have some different rules to men... why not do Images taken from

it in fashion?

WOMEN’S C U P

, followed by the women’s in 2015. Soccer fans unite around the globe to celebrate their ount for happiness and excitement around the whole world, it is also the product of the e of inequality.

U.s. women’s National team won first place in the 2015 world cup and recieved split among the team

$2 million

to

$1 million for first place, and pre2007 winners received no reward for winning it all In total, the women’s world cup gave out $15 million ; this is 4% of the men’s earnings

2007 and 2011 women’s world cup winners only received

40% and it overheats; a 30° increase is possible, and the women’s field in Canada reached 120° The Scotts Lawncare company offered to provide free grass , but fifa declined because “a decithe women were put on a turf field, which has been proven to increase injuries by up to

sion [had] already been made” over 70 players petitioned against the turf, but fifa threatened to not let them play if they continued women were assigned the same hotels as their opponents

Alex Morgan saying: “a talented goalscorer with a style that is very easy on the eye and good looks to match.”

FIFA RECENTLY PUBLISHED A PIECE about

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FO

by MARA ZENGER

The San Jose Earthquakes opened their new home, Avaya Stadium, on March 22 of this year. Before moving into Avaya Stadium, the Earthquakes had spent 20 years in various Bay Area facilities, most recently being Santa Clara Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Buck Shaw Stadium. Avaya Stadium seats 18,000 people, and they have sold out every home game this season.

Image taken from

There has been high expectations for the San Francisco Giants this year, having won three of the last five World Series. But, after the loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday, September 29, the San Francisco Giants lost their chance to repeat as World Champions, knocking them out of the National League West Playoffs.

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FOR IN THE BAY AREA Super Bowl 50 will be played at the San Francisco 49ers’ Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara on Sunday, February 7, 2016. This will be the first superbowl held in the Bay Area since Super Bowl XIX was played at Stanford Stadium in 1985.

m

Stanford football has 11 returning starters this year including redshirt-senior, Kevin Hogan, who will return as quarterback for the Cardinal. Hogan begins the year as the NCAA quarterback with the most wins (24) in all of collegiate football. Also in line to play quarterback for the Cardinal is Paly’s own Keller Chryst (‘14) who will be going up against his former teammate, Justin Rittman (‘14), when the Cardinal plays UCLA at Stanford Stadium, on Thursday, October 15.

OCTOBER 2015

THE

COMPETITION

Squash, usually thought of as a gourd, is also the name of a sport played worldwide by over 20 million people. Aman Mittal (‘17) has been playing squash since he was young, but little national recognition to the sport has made it hard for others to follow in his footsteps.

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by ETHAN STERN and SKYLAR BURRIS

n average weekday for Paly junior Aman Mittal (‘17) is very similar to that of every other 16-year old boy. It includes going to school, playing his sport of choice, and finding time around that to do his homework load for the night. However, Mittal’s sport of choice is not football, soccer, or even tennis. For Mittal, nothing feels better than a squash racket in his hand.

“Squash, although the name of a common vegetable, is also a sport,” Mittal said. “It’s kind of like tennis with multiple walls. You have to hit the ball within certain boundaries in the court, and you can volley the ball or hit the ball off the bounce.”

Squash was first played before the first basketball was bounced or the first football was thrown. Squash is an adaptation of tennis that dates back to 1830, and was officially made a sport in 1864 once actual courts were constructed at a school in London. According to the World Squash Federation (WSF) as of 2009 at least 188 countries or territories have at least one court and over 20 million people play competitively. Unlike most sports, squash is played by a diverse community, from old generation to new.

“I started playing recreationally when I was around 6,” Mittal said. “I kept trying [racquet] sports until I was led to squash by my dad who used to play, as well as a family friend. I started to get serious about it when I was 11, and started competing in under-13 tournaments around California.”

This is a common experience for the majority of kids who start a sport at a young age: eventually choosing a favorite and sticking with it until the end of high school or, if they’re lucky, through college. What’s uncommon about Mittal’s experience is how quickly he was noticed. Ranked among the top 50 of his age group in the United States by the age of 16, Mittal isn’t new to pressure.

“There’s some pressure of constantly trying to get your ranking up, but I don’t let it get to me. I just play my game and have fun on the court,” Mittal said. “I always take away something new from every tournament I play and from every win and loss.”

Even with the consistent pressure on Mittal to be the best, remembering why he plays is important. Whether it be a stress reliever or a way to stay in shape, finding what makes a sport fun and sticking with it through the good and bad separates the great from the mediocre. Mittal’s reason is simply for his love of the game. Even though it has been ten years since he first started playing squash, Mittal still enjoys squash as much as he did the first day he played.

“I love the thrill I get from having a good rally with an opponent,” Mittal said. “I love the variety of shots that you can play and the quickness of the sport in general. It’s exhilarating and it’s a good way to get stress out of your system, as you can hit the ball as hard as you want against the wall.”

For Mittal, squash was love at first sight. The first step to success for every athlete is discovering what they love in a sport, and it didn’t take

Fun Fact: Squash got its name from the dicovery that a punctured racquetball which would “squash” against the wall when hit created a sport with a greater variety of shots to work with.

POWER AND PRECISION Mittal has mastered the act of serving, but this craft isn’t just given; it is earned hours and hours of grueling practices.

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612 Squash

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complain about their own sport’s conditioning, squash is played almost continuously (90 seconds between each game) for 40 minutes or longer with no substitution. In other words, if a player isn’t already in amazing shape, it’s likely that their opponent will easily outmatch them. “[I do] lots of long distance sprinting for endurance, as well as short sprints for reflexes,” Mittal said. “Footwork is key in squash... [and] I also work on my shots, like having the perfect drive, dropshot, boast, and kill shots.”

Of course, Mittal’s intense program of up to 20 hours a week of training takes a toll. Any athlete’s biggest fear is an injury, and sadly for Mittal he was diagnosed with patellar tendonitis two years ago when he noticed intense pain in his knee. Patellar tendonitis, also known as jumper’s knee, is common in high impact sports with quick changes of direction and explosion. The tendon connected to the knee cap is stressed and causes aches and pains when overworked. After a tournament, Mittal started noticing knee pains and went to the doctor to check up on it.

“I obviously knew something was wrong so it didn’t really surprise me,” Mittal said. “I knew it sucked though.”

Taking time off of a sport can be devastating for a player, both physically and mentally. It’s common for players to lose confidence and fitness. Mittal was not one of those players, bouncing back stronger than before and with an optimistic mindset.

He made sure to keep his mind on the endgoal: playing as much squash as he can to

Basketball

long for Mittal to find that with squash. For some players, the thrill comes from a great defensive or offensive play, a great rally or a nail-biter that they’re able to bring home.

For Mittal, it is a lot simpler than that.

“I loved and still love hitting hard,” Mittal said. “I loved squash from when I started, and being able to play tournaments and have successful outcomes were a big plus to the enjoyment.”

Loving a sport is important, but perseverance is also a major component when it comes to being the best one can be.

Mittal spends 18 to 20 hours playing squash or training for upcoming tournaments, because it isn’t easy to become one of the top ten western state players. It takes an incredible amount of dedication, effort, and time. Although plenty of Paly athletes

Calories Burned in an Hour:

5 New Sports Vying for the 2020 Olympics: I. Squash II. Tug-of-War III. Polo IV. Chess V. Sumo OCTOBER 2015

EYE ON THE PRIZE Egyptian squash player Marwan El Shourbagy is currently No. 10 in the world for his squash play, and would probably represent Egypt in the Olympics in 2020 if squash was chosen to play. become the best he can be.

“Some physical therapy helped and just simple breaks from playing,” Mittal said.

“Nothing in my mentality changed because I knew I still have ways to go and I can only get better by leaping over this minor obstacle.”

Although arguably one of the most arduous sports to date, the WSF is still fighting to include squash in the Tokyo Summer Olympics of 2020. In 2009, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose to include seven-man rugby over squash for the following Summer Olympics. When asked about this, Mittal blamed it on the lack of international attention to the sport.

“Squash takes a great amount of skill just like any other sport. It’s underrated for what it actually is,” Mittal said. “It doesn’t make squash any more illegitimate of a sport just because it isn’t an Olympic sport.”

Since June 22 of 2015, squash has been shortlisted as one of the sports that still needs approval from the IOC. Squash has never been included in the Olympics and many hope 2020 could be the year to change history.

“I think it will happen,” Mittal said. “The

sport is very common in other parts of the world besides America, but the sport is growing quickly here, so maybe we’ll be seeing it in the next couple Olympic Games.”

Just like in any Olympic sport, getting the privilege to play at such a level takes dedication for any player. It takes a special kind of athlete to put in the hours and to give their all to their sport and their country.

Sadly, the highest paid Major League Eating competitor makes $52,000 more than the highest paid squash player. To put that in

a college with a good team,” Mittal said.

“Many of the ivy league schools have amazing squash teams, and same thing with liberal arts schools on the east coast, such as Williams and Amherst. It’s hard to tell right now, but my goal is to play college squash for a good school with a good team.”

Like all great athletes, Mittal has a wonderful coach backing him up and guiding him along the way. Coach Gareth Webber has worked very closely with Aman for four years. Webber is from Wales, and is quite accomplished himself.

“I represented my country in all junior age groups and was a member of the National squad as a senior,” Webber said. “[I’ve been coaching for] 18 years.”

Not only is Webber a successful player, but he also coached for Yale’s men’s squash team from 2003 to 2011. There he earned the England Squash Level IV Elite Coach award, one of the most prestigious coaching awards held within the world of squash.

To say the least, Mittal has many of the tools and guidance necessary to succeed.

Through Weber’s coaching and hard practice, Mittal has improved all aspects of his game.

“It doesn’t make squash any more illegitimate of a sport just because it isn’t an Olympic sport.”

– Aman Mittal (‘17)

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perspective, the average NBA player makes 29 times more money than the highest paid squash player. The majority of squash players have a second job to supplement their income according to the US Squash website.

When a sport doesn’t have a great paying level above college, it makes the college level even more competitive. Despite the competition, Mittal’s dream is to play on a successful team in college.

“I’m having hopes of being recruited to

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“His strengths are his timing of the ball and his speed,” Webber said. “He is very coachable and has a great work ethic.”

Both of these qualities go a long way when it comes to most sport, but playing squash means most of your hard work goes unnoticed. Most people who don’t play basketball know Michael Jordan by name and number, but there are very few who can name one professional squash player. In the United States, there are twice as many squash players as hockey players, and yet squash is rarely broadcasted on ESPN. “I know that I’m not playing to get famous,” Mittal said. “There are well known people in the squash world that only squash players know of, so it’s a closer knit community in a sense.”

Despite the fact that squash creates a closer community, based on the numbers the sport should be reaching a much wider audience than it does. In the United States, professional and collegiate sports make money through advertisements in between plays or timeouts. Football is so widely reached because of its broadcasting.

So why isn’t squash televised?

“Funding,” Mittal said. “Playing squash professionally would be a really cool experience, but the pay isn’t great. [That is,] unless you’re top 10 ranked in the world.”

Although funding is incredibly important to the growth of

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a sport, inspiring young children to begin playing squash would also be a strong step in the right direction. As most kids’ eyes aren’t opened to squash at a young age, it’s hard to find tweens and teens who have already found their calling to switch sports.

“I think squash will expand through players encouraging more kids to play, because that’s kind of how I started way back in 2006,” Mittal said. “This will be a more gradual change because there isn’t as much coverage of it in the U.S.” Mittal is doing his own small part to introduce younger players to the sport through coaching. After coaching for the past year and a half, Mittal has found a way to share his passion for the sport he loves. Although not one of the most talked about sports, squash is great for kids to stay in shape and make new friends, because, according to Mittal, it’s a tight knit community. Even then, it means something a little bit more than just spreading the knowledge of squash to younger generations.

“I love working with the kids who are passionate about getting better at squash,” Mittal said. “Through coaching them, I’m able to learn things about my squash as well, to my surprise.”

Mittal started coaching less than two years ago, but he has quickly grown to love it. Trying to learn from every situation he is put in, Mittal has found a lot of things to learn from being around the kids he coaches. Coaching seven to ten year olds has taught Mittal how to become both a more successful coach and player. With patience and leadership, Mital has learned both how to better the kids and how to better himself.

“I learn about myself as a coach and a player when I work with the kids,” Mittal said. “They help me understand what some major problems with all squash players are.”

Although coaching is fun on the side, Mittal’s first true love is the game, and he aspires to be as memorable to squash as Joe Montana to football, Stephen Curry to basketball, or even to Lionel Messi to soccer.

Considering squash is not listed as one of the top ten sports played in the United States, young Aman Mittal did not have as many players to dream of becoming. With perseverance and dedication, Mittal has become a player for others to look up to. While expanding squash’s already diverse audience, Mittal continues to work towards his goal of becoming the best squash player he can be.<<<

In a Survey of Paly Students:

33%

don’t know that squash is a sport.

80%

100%

have never stepped on a squash court in their lives.

would try squash if given the opportunity to play.

OCTOBER 2015

Run, Forest Run

Julia Doubson (‘18) was one of the youngest athletes to compete at the Junior World Orienteering Championships, she represented the United States in four events. Read on for her story.

by SAMUEL DESRÉ

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Photo Courtesy of Jay Hann

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ith a compass in one hand and a map in the other, Julia Doubson (‘18) emerges from a deluge of water and mud in the middle of the taiga terrain of the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC). Doubson, representing the United States, would eventually finish her race through a roaring crowd of spectators who came to Norway to see orienteers of tomorrow in the world of orienteering.

Doubson competes in orienteering, a sport defined by the the United States Orienteering Organization as a competitive international sport that combines racing with navigation. It is a timed race in which individual participants use a specially created, highly detailed map to select routes and navigate through diverse and often unfamiliar terrain visiting control points in sequence. Control points are checkpoints that runners have to go through to successfully finish the race.

Doubson started competing when she was five years old, after her dad, Fyodor Konkov, took her to his new orienteering club: the Bay Area Orienteering Club (BAOC).

“Orienteering is a sport for all ages and abilities; it’s a family sport,” Konkov said. “It is not uncommon to see an orienteer with a baby on the course. Certainly not [when] running advanced or elite course competitively, but orienteering is not only about competing. Julia was coming to orienteering meets because the whole family was coming.”

After representing the Western-Ukrainian orienteering team in his high school years, Doubson’s father made it a goal for his family to practice the sport as well. While he was representing his country, Konkov even got in trouble with Soviet representatives for wearing colors of the Ukrainian flag (blue and yellow), which were banned by the Soviet authorities for being a symbol of independence.

“Fortunately, we were not tortured or sent to labor camps for that, but some communist party representatives had a serious conversation with us saying that we should stop or be prepared to face harsh consequences.” Konkov said.

“Now fast forward 40 years. Nadiya Volynska, orienteer from Lviv, the city I used to live in in Western Ukraine, won a medal in one of women’s races. She ran in her yellow and

STARTING YOUNG Doubson runs at a meet organized by the Bay Area Orienteering Club (BAOC) at the age of seven. blue official national uniform. It is great to know that she won’t be prosecuted for wearing these colors.”

Konkov shares his orienteering experiences with Doubson and helps her reflect on her own experiences. He also takes her to orienteering meets across the United States and tries to guide her as much as he can when

After being exposed to orienteering by her family, Doubson quickly fell in love with this unconventional sport.

“I like that you are not just running, you are running with a purpose,” Doubson said. “I like combining running with mental activities since you have to find a balance between running and navigating.”

There are four kinds of orienteering races, all of which Doubson has competed in at the Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC): Sprint, Middle, Long and Relay. All of these events require different skills, but Doubson’s skills are best highlighted in sprint orienteering races.

According to Doubson, the sprint is an urban orienteering course that has a winning

Julia has a lot of room for improvement of her skills. The young age and lack of experience compared to the rest of her competitors certainly creates some disadvantage.

- Fyodor Konkov

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Doubson travels to Europe.

“Since my dad has a lot of experience orienteering, he can give me advice and support for races,” Doubson said. “He’s helped me learn from my mistakes and my successes.”

OCTOBER 2015

time of about 12 minutes and is normally under 3 kilometers.

“For the sprint course you have to be able to map read [and] plan routes quickly. When planning routes it’s especially important to look out for traps like a dead-end or an uncrossable wall,” Doubson said. “In a sprint race, every second counts so deciding whether to go right or left around a building will affect your placing.”

Because middle distance orienteering is often set in a forest environment it’s known for its short legs, distance between two control points, and constant change of direction. Doubson believes that in order to be successful in a race you need to able to closely read the map and be able to change direction efficiently.

“

“I have more room for improvement in middle distance since I could get better at precise map reading in forest orienteering,” Doubson said.

Long distance orienteering is a mix of both long and short legs, and like middle distance orienteering, takes place in the forest. The

end of the race properly.

Lastly, the relay is the event that can differ the most from one competition to another.

Relays can be run in urban and forest environment, and the distance of each leg and the number of legs also varies between orienteering meets. However, one unchanging variable is that the courses are forked, meaning that each runner has to go through different controls.

In non relay races the controls are the same since the athletes have staggered start. Relays are athe only races to have a mass start.

“Since the first runner starts in a mass start you want someone who can keep up with the pack,” Doubson said. “Running with other people can help your speed since you can

Since my dad has a lot of experience orienteering, he can give me advice and support for races. He’s helped me learn from my mistakes and my successes.”

-Julia Doubson (‘18)

“

skills necessary for long distance orienteering are different from the ones necessary for sprint orienteering. According to Doubson, you have to be able to make efficient plans for the longer legs and have endurance to still be able to execute the shorter legs at the photo by Malcolm Slaney

photo courtesy of Robert Graham

CROSS TRAINING Doubson runs at the 2015 Stanford cross country invite where she placed 53rd in the division one race. Doubson finished the five kilometers course in a personal record of 20:06.

SPRINT Doubson competes at JWOC in the sprinting event. Doubson’s best performance at JWOC was in the sprinting event where she placed 66th out of 135 participants.

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photo courtesy of Ethan Childs

PRESSURE Doubson races the second leg of the relay for the United States at JWOC. The relay is the most stressful event for Doubson because her performance affects not only her but also her teammates. run faster without focusing on navigation as much but if you are not paying enough attention to your map and the group gets lost, you won’t know where you are. Also with forkings you don’t know if other runners are going to your control.”

According to Doubson, orienteering is dominated by its Scandinavian countries of origin.The sport has had trouble growing in the United States which makes it harder for athletes to compete and practice at a higher level.

“There are lots of reasons accounting for its low popularity here … it can be a hard sport to understand and it’s intimidating for some people to try something totally new,” Doubson said. “With the U.S. being a large country, you’re required to travel all over if you want to attend big competitions and experience new kinds of terrain, which isn’t plausible for some people. It’s an amazing sport, but with not that many American orienteers it’s hard for it to grow.”

Practicing to navigate as quickly as possible through an unknown area can sometimes become a challenge for Doubson, but with the guidance from other orienteers of the BAOC, she always finds a way to practice.

“Some people in our club have trainings

on the weekends where someone either sets a course or exercise working on a specific skill,” Doubson said. “Also the national junior team coach sends out armchair orienteering which is when you are looking at a map and decide how you would run the course.”

Doubson uses cross country and track and field as cross training for orienteering.

Her athletic abilities have allowed her to be part of the varsity teams for both sports with a 3200 meter personal best of 11:58 and a 1600 meter personal best of 5:29.

“I would run cross country and track regardless of whatever I orienteer since I like running,” Doubson said. “It just works out well that cross country helps [me] get faster for orienteering and orienteering keeps me in shape for cross country.”

Doubson was on the Junior National Orienteering Team (JNT) for the first time this year, a team with runners who have to be 20 years old and under. Doubson was the youngest orienteer on the team. According to Doubson, the JNT requires orienteers to sign a contract that has requirements like expected training hours per week, logging training hours on the website called Attackpoint, participating in training group calls, and attending two training camps per year.

As per her contract, Doubson went to two of the junior national training camps: one in Colorado Springs in April and another one in Boston before leaving for JWOC. “It can be hard getting orienteering training in, so training camps are useful to do more orienteering than usual and get a chance to experience different kinds of terrain,” Doubson said.

However, not all members of the JNT get to run at JWOC considering that in order to be part of the JWOC team, orienteers have to go through another selection and be among the six best junior orienteers in the nation.

“The Junior National Team is mainly for training and making progress while the JWOC team is selected to compete at JWOC,” Doubson said.

Taking place at the end of March, the trials at the U.S national championships in Kentucky are a deciding factor of who will go to represent the U.S at JWOC. Doubson placed third in the sprint, fifth in the middle and third in the long. Other factors included overall ranking of the year and bonus points which are given to orienteers with a certain 3200 meters time. Doubson was seventh in the overall ranking and received bonus points based on her track times. These times

OCTOBER 2015

photo courtesy of Malcolm SLaney

XC FEVER Doubson (2nd from the left) poses with some of her varsity cross country teammates after a SCVAl meet. The team hopes to qualify for the State Meet after finishing fourth at CCS last season. secured her a spot on the JWOC team that will go to Norway to compete in the summer.

“Going to the Team Trials in Kentucky, I was mainly hoping to gain experience racing against other juniors on an advanced course,” Doubson said. “Not putting much pressure on myself I actually ended up doing better than I’d hoped.”

Doubson went to Europe for a month and a half with the JWOC team. She first competed at JWOC where she placed 66th in sprint, 96th in middle, 78th in long and 30th in her relay. Not only did Doubson compete at JWOC, but she also raced at two of the biggest orienteering meets in the world: Norsk O-Fest and O-Ringen.

Doubson competed in three distance races at O-Ringen where she placed 42nd, 71st and 105th.

At Norsk O-Fest, Doubson ran the sprint course and middle course and placed 22nd and 36th respectively.

Doubson was unable to compete for victory against orienteers up to five years older than her. However, JWOC was a wonderful experience in which Doubson was able to learn many lessons.

“When I was running the JWOC relay in Norway I made a small error early in the race and got too caught up in how I was doing

“

instead of just focusing on navigating and I ended up making mistakes the entire race,” Doubson said. “I learned that I need to work on recovering from mistakes and continuing to give the same effort even after losing a lot of time.”

Doubson’s lack of experience at higher levels was one of her main weaknesses against more experienced competitors.

“In orienteering even the best make mistakes,” Konkov said. “Certainly Julia has a lot of room for improvement of her skills. She currently runs courses mostly for [the] 18-20 years old age group. The young age and lack of experience compared to the rest of her

and was not making much progress.”

After quitting, Doubson tried other sports like dance, rock climbing and aerial silks. She stopped participating in those sports regularly because she wanted to focus on orienteering.

“This is when it turned out that Julia definitely possessed qualities needed to do advanced orienteering: [her] ability to run fast off trail on various terrain and know where you are on the map at any given moment,” Konkov said. “Orienteering is about balance of mental and physical effort, so Julia definitely knows how to balance these two critical abilities.”

Doubson sees orienteering as part of her future, and her trip to Europe with the Junior National Team has motivated her to devote even more of her time to orienteering. “ This summer trip motivated me to keep on working to improve in orienteering,” Doubson said. “It was incredible to be in places where orienteering is very popular and compete in an event with thousands and thousands of other orienteers. Seeing the elite orienteers and what a high level they compete at was inspirational since I got to see how much work it takes to achieve those results.” <<<

I like combining running with mental activities since you have to find a balance between running and navigating -Julia Doubson (‘18)

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competitors certainly creates some disadvantage.”

Doubson’s improvement this past year in orienteering was due to the fact that she started to focus solely on orienteering in 2014 after quitting gymnastics because of growth injuries.

“I started competitive gymnastics in 2010 and quit in 2013,” Doubson said. “My last year of gymnastics I had a lot of growth injuries

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The Viking’s Guide TO: Back-to-school Athletics

by MEREDITH KINNAMAN, QUINN KNOBLOCK and STEVEN MARINKOVICH

The Viking’s Ultimate pg. 34 Pump-Up Playlist How to Dress like a true fan

pg. 35

Team pg. 36 Lunches Dress to pg. 37 impress OCTOBER 2015

The Vikings ultimate pregame pump-up playlist This collection of songs will get the blood and adrenaline flowing, getting any Paly Ahtlete pumped up and ready to tackle any opponent.

A Little Party Never Killed Nobody-Fergie

Get Silly-V.I.C.

Give me Everything-Pitbull

Hey Mama (feat. Nicki Minaj)-David Guetta

Homegrown-Zac Brown Band

Imma Be-The Black Eyed Peas

Keep Your Head Up-Andy Grammer

Limbo-Daddy Yankee

Low (feat. T-Pain)-Flo Rida

Mambo No. 5-Lou Bega

Nasty Freestyle-twayne

OMG (feat. will.i.am)-Usher

Party Up-DMX

Pump it-The Black Eyed Peas

Reflections-MisterWives

The Beast-Tech N9ne

Big Spender-Syndicate Soud Labs

Boom Boom Pow-Black Eyed Keys

Bottoms Up (feat. Nicki Minaj)-Trey Songz

Bulletproof-La Roux

California Girls-Katy Perry Cheerleader-Omi

Classic-MKTO

Dance Again-Jennifer Lopez

Drop it On the 1-Zion I & The Grouch

Drunk in Love (feat. Jay Z)-Beyonce

Fight Song-Rachel Platten

Fancy-Iggy Azalea

Footloose-Kenny Loggins

Get Silly-V.I.C.

Give me Everything-Pitbull

Hey Mama (feat. Nicki Minaj)-David Guetta

Homegrown-Zac Brown Band

How to Dress Like a True Fan All About Basics Simple things such as hoodies, hats, sweats, or even beads can go a long way in showing your Paly spirit.

Plenty of Options I f you don’t have much Paly gear t h e r e ’s a l w a y s a solution. Dressing in all green gets the point across c l e a r l y. I f yo u have a friend on the team, try and get one of their j e r s e y s . Yo u ’ l l look like a true fan.

Team Lunches

An inside look at the Paly sports teams’ lunchtime bonding

Photo by Meredith Kinnaman

Paly sports teams often have team lunches on the quad to get hyped on game day. Team lunches bring a sense of unity to the team and prepare it for the game that day.

GAME DAY Girls’ water polo prepares for its game, starting the day off with a team lunch.

Photo by Meredith Kinnaman

Games to Play: -Secret Santa -Never Have I Ever -Two Truths and a Lie

-Duck, Duck, Goose QUAD LIFE On game day, girls’ volleyball has its team lunch out on the quad.

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Dress

to Impress

Viking shows you how to dress for each team you play Photo courtesy of Katie Passarello

Los Gatos---------------> Los Gatos does mean “The Cats” in Spanish,

Photo courtesy of Katie Passarello

KITTY CAT Volleyball players Katie Passarello (‘17) and Kabria Dame (‘15) prepare to play Gatos.

<----------Homestead

Their mascot is the Mustang, so Paly’ll be the cowgirls and cowboys and ride them to victory!

WESTEN STYLE Paly swimming wears it’s flannels, in preparation to take on the Mustangs.

Photocourtesy of Haley Chalmers

Gunn ----------------->

The big rivalry, it only seems fitting to have a blackout.

Photo Courtesy of Meredith Kinnaman

BLACKOUT Paly swimming has a blackout, ready to take on Gunn.

<-----------Saratoga

Sara”toga”, but don’t get too carried away with your dress up, it’s not spirit week.

TOGA TOGA Paly girls lacrosse goes Greek on game day against Saratoga.

OCTOBER 2015

tries

Beach Volleyball

Photo by Ben Cleasby

THE COURT Viking staff writer, Ethan Stern (‘17), basks in the glory of the beach volleyball court in preparation to take on his opponents. This pose doubles as a stretch for his back before he starts playing.

V

by BEN CLEASBY olleyball is everywhere: at schools, with friends in the park, and even played as a year-round sport.

However, as soon as some sand is thrown under the feet of those who attempt to play this sport, it becomes a whole lot harder and a whole lot more tiring.

Beach volleyball is nearly the same as court volleyball except that it’s played on an entirely different surface. Rules-wise, there are some minor scoring changes, a different amount of players and a smaller court size.

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This spinoff sport was created sometime around the 1920s and is credited to have started in either Waikiki, Hawaii or in Santa Monica, California according to NCSA athletic recruiting.

Considering that it is still summer, and California is known for its beaches, The Viking decided to take on this popular sport. There are courts located on the Stanford campus right here in our own backyard and the only thing that you need to bring is the beach volleyball itself. However, if you are looking to play on one of California’s beaches, there are no well-known places with nets already set

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up. Occasionally a few spots by the Santa Cruz Boardwalk have nets set up for sanctioned tournaments. An alternative would be to buy your own net or to borrow one and go set up on any of the beaches nearby, which would only take roughly fifteen minutes.

The game is simple to pick up, and a beginner can easily have fun with a couple of friends.

Rallying, or simply hitting the ball back to one another counting points depending on which side the ball falls, is a fun and easy way for new players to get the hang of the game. For The Viking, that is exactly what we did. It was a casual game between friends, ignoring a lot

Photo by Steven Marinkovich

Photo by Steven Marinkovich

RETURN Ethan Stern (‘17) dives to return a short serve to save a potential rally with his opponent. of the rules that we didn’t even know about.

The two-on-two games were tightly contested as we never even served from behind the line and added a “no outs on serves rule” to help get things rolling for us. Usually the server needs to serve the ball from behind the line.

Servers in volleyball switch in an order so that no one server is allowed to serve three times in a row, but in beach volleyball there is no penalty for switching servers out of order. We ignored rules such as this simply because they made the game too difficult for us.

Just having to try to hit the ball back over the net was a challenge for us. A lot of the time the ball would randomly spring in any direction other than where we wanted it to go. Another

DIVE Staff writer Ben Cleasby (‘17) dives backward in an attempt to keep the rally alive.

difficulty was communication. Often times the ball would be hit between my partner and me and we would both first lunge to hit the ball.

With the lack of communication, we would both get out of the way allowing the ball to fall right in front of our faces.

Despite these small factors that make the game of beach volleyball difficult, there was still one factor that conquered all, the sand.

Trying to run on those tiny grains of rock completely diminishes your speed, causing you to dive for a lot of balls you would usually be able to reach with ease. Oh, and say goodbye to your agility as you try to make one quick turn and your foot is planted in the sand not allowing you to budge in the other direction.

Beach volleyball reaches its prime every four years when the summer Olympics hits the television as Misty May Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings dominate in the sport, winning gold medals three Olympics in a row in 2004, 2008, 2012 according to Team USA. However, these two athletes will soon be retiring which may lead to the sport losing popularity, as the public is unaware of any new rising players.

The game may seem very difficult, but it’s incredibly entertaining trying to push your body to the limit and spending a nice day out on the sand with a couple of good friends. Also, beware of unwanted sand that just so happens to fall down your pants or the next thing you know you’ll have a beach of your own. <<<

What to Wear

1) Tank top or no shirt for better tan lines 2) Bronzer for a darker tan 3) Shorts that are too short 4) Sand socks for better mobility

OCTOBER 2015

Home Field Advantage

by CHRISTIAN RIDER

PALY PRIDE Paly students cheer on their football team. The team went on to beat Sequoia 54-28 in their home opener.

P

laying at your home field brings a sense of pride to your game.

You have more fans cheering for your team versus your opponent’s, you’re on a field, court, or pool that you are familiar with, and you’re representing your school. But does any of this really give you a true “home field advantage”?

According to the records (Maxpreps) of the 2014 Palo Alto High School sports teams, there is not a significant difference in how many games Paly won at home compared to how many Paly won away. For boys basketball, the team won the same amount of games it did at home (5-3) as it did away (5-4). Boys water polo had a similar record with five wins and two loses at home, and five wins and three losses away. The girls volleyball team had a substantial amount of away games compared to the amount played at home, but this didn’t seem to matter to the team, considering it went 4-1 at home and 9-5 at away games. The football team is the only team that showed different outcomes with a record of 1-5 at home and 2-3 away. Obviously there is not a huge difference in how Paly performs on and off Paly campus, so what does home advantage actually give the players?

An estimated 320 Paly students went to the season opener football game against Sequoia High School. Along with the students there

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were also parents and past Paly students who attended the game. The stands were packed.

“When I looked at the crowd I felt the pressure of getting the win” running back Paul Jackson (‘16) said. “But at the same time it was comforting to have such a great fan base behind me and my team.”

Sports that are affected by the current construction of the gym will not have the luxury of having this “home court advantage.”

Athletics that require a gym, such as basketball and volleyball, will have to commute to different locations for its practices, and play its home games at rival Gunn High School.

“I don’t know how much of an effect it will have on how we play. It will get hard to use to because the volleyball lines will be obscure and weird, so that’ll be kind of hard to get use to,” volleyball player Katie Passarello (‘17) said “I think the bigger thing is that we will have zero fans because no one wants to have to drive to Gunn during traffic on a school night.”

The construction also takes a toll on the athletes in the pool, forcing them to commute to practices and play its home games at Gunn High School as well. “[Commuting] makes the logistics much harder” Winston Rosati (16) said. “It’s also much less convenient. It’s a major pain.”

The lack of a home court or pool is a huge

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inconvenience for the players having to commute to every practice. For the basketball teams, most of its practices are scheduled to be held at Gunn, but not all will be so close.

The commute to practice will surely be a challenge for the athletes to push through. Also, since Gunn is Paly’s cross town rival, there is sure to be some unwanted tension between the two schools.

“I think it will be a new challenge early in the season for the team, but with the majority of our practices going to be at Gunn, I think come league we will be ready and comfortable in the Gunn gym,” Miles Tention (‘17) said.

The construction is an annoyance for all the teams, but for the seniors it also means that they will not have a proper senior night at Paly.

“I don’t really mind,” Justin Hull (‘16) said.

“At least we are still having a senior night. It just won’t be as good.”

Statistcally “home field advantage” is a myth, but according to the athletes they feel that playing at their own field, court, or pool and having more fans makes them play better, or be ready for the game. Sports that require a gym or pool will not have a real “home field advantage” and they face the inconvenience of commuting to every practice, but the athletes feel that when their season comes up, they will be ready.<<<

GET JUICED

by MEREDITH KINNAMAN and TALIA MALCHIN

What is a Juice Cleanse?

A juice cleanse is a detoxifying process that is used as an extreme diet to cleanse the body of toxins.

What are the benefits of a Juice Cleanse?

A juice cleanse can promote weight loss, break unhealthy food habits, and improve oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mood.

What is controversial about Juice Cleanses?

Juice cleanses can provide little protein due to low calorie intake. Can lower metabolism. Side effects include dizziness and sugar spikes.

First time Cleansers: Includes six juices per day each providing different nutriets and heath benefits. These include minerals, proteins, healthy fats, vitamins, antioxidents, enzymes.

Maintaining healthy lifestyle cleanse: Includes six juices per day. This cleanse is a perfect fit for those who want a healthy lifestyle and who want to loss weight at a higher efficacy.

Experienced Cleansers: Includes six juices per day.

This cleanse is the most intense cleanse because of the lowest calorie count, aiming for maximun results in shortest time frame.

OCTOBER 2015

THE GREAT DEBATE: Our magazine is back in full swing and this issue, so is The Great Debate. Two staff members have decided to take their own sides on a controversial sports topic in the media and explain to you what they think about the issue.

NO. With Major League Baseball officials looking to make baseball more entertaining in order to attract more viewers, commissioner Rob Manfred is exploring his options.

One proposal is to implement the designated hitter in the National League in order to catalyze more offense. Here is why I oppose that solution.

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by DANIEL DOUTY

ajor League Baseball has a new commissioner. His name is Rob Manfred, and he thinks baseball is boring. At the top of Manfred’s agenda is making baseball more fun to watch.

This has led him to push several issues, specifically regarding the speeding up of baseball using timers and new batter’s box etiquette. This is all great, and there’s nothing wrong with speeding up the game, but Manfred is about to cross a line. He, along with executive director of the MLB and former designated hitter Tony Clark, is trying to implement the designated hitter rule in the National League. The first reason for the change is that runs are exciting and more true hitters means more runs. The second reason is that it is “unfair” for American League pitchers to bat, because they do not bat in most games. Now read on as I explain why the pitchers need to hit.

Tradition

Stop rewriting the rules of baseball, com-

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mish. A few years ago the passing of the socalled “Buster Posey Rule” banned home-plate collisions from the game; in my opinion one of the most exciting plays. Now he wants to change a part of the game that was intact until 1973, when the AL adopted the designated hitter. One of the most appealing aspects of the game is its consistency and sense of nostalgia and tradition. You can’t just take a position out of the equation. That would be like making the bases closer together for the fat guys because they don’t do a lot of running.

Self-Involvement

Pitchers are generally not huge fans of offense. That is, unless they provide the offense themselves. Not many things can pump up a pitcher more than providing some run support for himself. In the AL, the pitchers just pitch, with no involvement in an entire half of the game. In the NL, a pitcher can go out and help himself out with the bat.

Are you not entertained?

Enough of this talk that a pitcher provides no entertainment at the plate. Sure, they strike

LEFT TO RIGHT: Bartolo Colon, Madison Bumgarner and Rob Manfred. w w w. v i k i n g s p o r t s m a g . c o m

out a lot and most of them can’t hit their weight. But if you take away the pitcher you’re left without these beautiful things: the ever stressful sac bunt situation, the pitcher base knock, or even better, the pitcher walk, and, if you’re lucky, the pitcher home run. Look no further than Giants ace and Fall Classic hero, Madison Bumgarner. In the past two years Mad Bum has launched 9 dingers, knocked in 24 runs and has posted a not-too-shabby .246 batting average. His five homers this year are the most by a pitcher since 2006. In fact, four other Giants pitchers went yard this year, and I personally lost my voice every time. If Manfred wants to take the bat out of his hands, he better bring some backup.

On the other end of the spectrum lies 42-year-old Bartolo Colon, pitcher for the New York Mets. He is arguably the fattest and most unathletic player in the sport, and has many a time fallen on his butt on a healthy swing.

He is a joy to watch play, and run, and I would take a Bartolo Colon swing and miss over any base hit.<<<

SHOULD THERE BE DESIGNATED HITTERS? YES. The new MLB commisioner, Rob Manfred, is making changes to the rules of baseball in order to create a faster and more interesting game. One of these rules is the Designated Hitter. Read why we believe the rule should be implemented.

T

by MADDY ATWATER and BEN CLEASBY hink back to 1973 when the American League adopted a new rule: the designated hitter (DH). Although outcomes in baseball are never certain, some are a lot more predictable than others. And when it comes to baseball, what is more predictable than the outcome when a pitcher steps in the batter’s box? According to Matt Eddy’s article in “Baseball America”, pitchers were called out 86.2 percent of the time they batted in 2014.

So, should the National League adopted the DH rule? If you want to see more hits, more home-runs and a more interesting game, then you would absolutely agree with us saying that yes, they should adopt this new rule.. The first reason the National League should adopt the DH rule is that it will purely mean better hitters getting more runs, which in turn creates more excitement for the fans. Secondly, the fact that American League cannot use a rule they play with year round when they compete against teams in the National League is ridiculous. There should be consistency between the two leagues. Finally, pitchers are being paid to pitch. For them to be injured in an activity they aren’t even paid to do is unjust and absurd.

lot more likely to not only make contact with the ball, but to actually end up on the bases.

This allows a better game for fans with more action to follow. In reality, isn’t that the goal of all professional sports? Having these sports is to watch the best of the best compete against each other, therefore playing your elite athletes in what they do best. Obviously, hitting is not a pitcher’s forte.

Consistency

Can you name another sport in which the two different “leagues” have different rules?

The National Football League’s (NFL) competing conferences have consistent rules throughout the core. It makes absolutely no sense to have conflicting rules in two leagues of the same sport. When American League teams play at National League teams fields, they are not allowed to implement a DH, forcing their pitchers to hit. But, when American League teams play at home, they are allowed to follow their league rules. Logically, this whole “coex-

istence” of different rules does not work and only causes problems. Major League Baseball needs consistency.

Injuries

Pitchers already face a lot of difficulty in keeping their arms healthy enough to pitch.

Forcing them to hit only increases their chances of getting hurt while participating in an activity they technically aren’t drafted to do.

Earlier this season, Adam Wainright (pitcher for the Arizona Cardinals) was ruled to be out for the season after suffering an injury from batting according to NBC Sports. Max Scherzer was forced to miss a start after jamming his thumb at bat. These pitchers were forced to accept losses, one for a season and one for a game, because the National League is too stubborn to take the DH rule into action. This is unfair to force pitchers into, but also dangerous to place them in a situation they simply lack experience and (typically) skill. <<<

Excitement

Tell me the last time you went to a major league baseball game and watched your home team score no runs because I bet it was not too long ago. For me, it was a weekend or two ago when the Giants lost 6-0 to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Fans go to games for a thrill, a rush of excitement, and for the love of the game. The love will always be there, but with low hits-to-runs ratios, the excitement factor just isn’t there. According to Eddy, the major league-wide pitcher batting line last season was .122/.153/.153, and only looks more depressing when compared to non-pitchers averages. Having a DH hit in place of the pitchers is likely to raise the overall batting average as well as the overall scoring average. A DH specializes in hitting, therefore making him a

Image taken from

INDUCT Frank Thomas, a designated hitter, was recently inducted to the Hall of Fame.

BUNT Brandon Webb, retired pitcher, sets up for yet another sacrifice bunt.

OCTOBER 2015

Top Ten

ESPN 30 for 30 Films

by RYAN CHANG, BEN CLEASBY, DANIEL DOUTY, STEVEN MARINKOVICH, PETER SNODGRASS, and ETHAN STERN

10. No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson Allen Iverson is one of the most fascinating and awe-inspiring players in the history of the NBA. Any basketball fan has heard of him and his devastating crossover dribble. Most people haven’t heard of his conviction after a violent incident between his high school friends and a group of adults at a Hampton, Virginia bowling alley. This film tackles issues like racism and covers the upbringing of Iverson.

9. June 17th, 1994

This film stands out from the rest of the movies in the series. News clips and actual live footage is compiled to take you to the day that OJ Simpson led police on a wild chase that will live forever in infamy.

8. The Best That Never Was

Who do you think is the most talented running back ever? Emmitt Smith? Herschel Walker? Walter Payton? You’ve probably never heard of Marcus Dupree, one of the most hyped football prospects of the 20th century. Take a trip through his young adulthood and the challenges he faced on his way to fame.

7.

Survive and Advance

This 30 for 30 film takes a look back at the historic Cinderella run made by the North Carolina State Wolfpack in the 1983 NCAA Championship under the late, great Jimmy Valvano (Jimmy V.). The film also looks into Valvano’s battle with cancer and his tremendous legacy. Watch this film if you want to see one of the greatest sports stories of all time, but get ready for an emotional roller coaster.

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6.

Without Bias

Without Bias is one of the more tragic films in the 30 for 30 series. Len Bias was destined to be the next big thing in the NBA. Unfortunately, Bias passed away from an overdose two days after he got drafted by the Boston Celtics. This film shows the story of what could have been the NBA’s next superstar and his last days as a basketball player.

5.

You Don’t Know Bo

4.

Bad Boys

3.

The U

Take a look of the legend of Bo Jackson, one of the few professional two-sport athletes to walk the planet and one of the most physically gifted athletes known to man. All that is left of Bo are the myths that surround his story and an incredible history of a short stint in professional sports. We admire Bo’s story because he was viewed as a superhero by the people who followed him at the time for accomplishing the unthinkable.

Bad Boys is a documentary of the historic Detroit Pistons team that went from a mediocre squad to a historic team that won two consecutive NBA titles with a style of play that revolutionized the league. The “Bad Boys” use physical and arguably dirty play to win against players like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. This film is a must-watch because it tells the story of an overlooked Detroit Pistons team that beat the odds and showed the world that you don’t have to be perfect to win it all.

The rags-to-riches team that imbedded its story in history by changing college football’s culture.

The Miami Hurricanes created the swagger of the sport and pushed the NCAA to its limits, forcing them to make an abundance of rule changes. We love this story as it shows us how today’s college football was created.

2.

Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks

This film is about the prolific career of NBA Hall of Famer Reggie Miller and his legendary performances against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Take the time to enjoy this funny and thrilling documentary that goes through the historic city versus state rivalry between the New York Knicks and the Indiana Pacers.

1.

Run Ricky Run

This film follows the life of NFL star running back Ricky Williams who walked away from the game he loved when he received drug accusations in the middle of his career. Ricky along with loved ones tell his side of the story. This is a much-watch because it is completely different from the rest of the films.

Honorable Mentions: Brian and the Boz, Rand University, Four Days in October OCTOBER 2015

Let me get a, Vikes!

by ALYS OLMSTEAD

Over the course of the past year Paly students Matthew Seligson (‘16) (Left) and Brian Tracy (‘17) (Right) developed an app to fit Viking sports fans needs. Read on to learn about “The Vike”.

A

ll off-season Silicode founders Matthew Seligson (‘16) and Brian Tracy (‘17) have been preparing an app for the fans.

Finally, all of Paly sports teams schedules can be found within a matter of taps.

As new old textbooks are carried home, schedules are revised, and seats are assigned the new school year also marks the beginning of a new year of Paly sports. The possibilities for what off-season training, lost seniors, and gained freshman can do to a team’s season, are endless. And as the athletes have been prepping for their much an-

ticipated first game, so have the fans.

“Seeing as these sport schedules weren’t easily accessible to the everyday fan, it was apparent that making them available on your mobile device would make a big difference,” Seligson said.

With a clear goal set the two coders set out to solve the problem. Experienced in app development, many of you may remember Silicode’s release of Method To Madness last year, they began mapping out the steps they would need to take to make the app a reality.

“The most difficult aspect of the development was finding a way to create meaningful data from a Google Calendar API call so that

we could then present this data to the users,” Tracy said. “The format we received from the Google Calendar is very chaotic, and computers do not do well with chaos.”

The duo worked to sort out the game info provided on the calendar and put it into a format that would then be converted to the way the schedule is seen on the app.

“We had to find a a way to transform what was essentially gibberish into what you see presented by The Vike,” Tracy said.

After the text was figured and inputted they began to envision and bring to life the design of the app.

“My favorite part of the app is definitely

HOME Here you can see the home screen for the app with the Viking head.

PICS Here is one of the photos from the application for Grils’ Cross Country.

SCHEDULE Here is how the schedule appears on the screen when you tap.

the talking Viking head, which adds a quirky feel to the app,” Seligson said. “It was inspired

by Super Fan Dan; the Viking head gives you a random Dan quote every time you open the app.”

If the Super Fan Dan quotes have not impressed users enough, you then swipe right to find a action shot for every sport at Paly.

Many courtesy of the The Viking’s own archives.

Although, the app’s features have proved to be both beneficial and entertaining to users, Seligson and Tracy continue to look for ways to improve it.

“The biggest piece of feedback we’ve gotten thus far has been the request for game scores and results,” Seligson said. “We’re hoping to implement this in the coming months.”

With these new features, and the continued feedback being provided on the app,

the team is hopeful to see what the future will hold for Paly fans.

“We are really excited to be able to bring this to Paly fans and hope that it can continue to be used by the community for a long time,” Seligson said.

So, next time you find yourself wondering what time the game starts, search “Paly Vike” in the App Store and consider your questions answered.

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The Last Word

I hope you’ve all enjoyed this years first issue of The Viking, and welcome to my section of the magazine. I’ll be back here every issue, so be sure to come back and check out what I’ve got to say. With that quick introduction, let’s get going.

The second coming of Chryst

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by DANIEL DOUTY apologize if the title was misleading, but no, I’m not talking about Jackson Chryst (‘19). If you are a senior or junior, you watched the Viking’s stellar quarterback admirably lead an entire team. Two years ago we saw the departure of our star quarterback, Football Jesus. That’s right, Keller Chryst (‘14) has moved on to bigger and better things, namely Stanford football. That leads into the topic of my first column: the Stanford football quarterback position and how I believe it should be handled.

Currently, the Cardinal offense is operated by senior Kevin Hogan, while Chryst is a redshirt freshman, meaning he sat out last year to gain an extra year of eligibility and more playing time. If you watch Stanford football, you’ve probably gone through s o m e s er ious m o o d swings over Hogan. In my opinion he is the best quarterback in the Pac 12 at missing open receivers deep. He’s also the best at hitting Austin Hooper in quadruple coverage. He is the most

polarizing player on the team, and will leave you scratching your head with your jaw resting on your shoes regardless of which Hogan shows up that day. This year we’ve already seen both Hogans to the extreme.

In week one he had a poor showing (4.4 YPA, no TD’s, -9 rushing yards, and a pick) and the Cardinal put up just two field goals in an upset loss to Northwestern. It was ugly. Two weeks later, Hogan led his team to a huge upset win over its hated rivals down south, no. 6 ranked USC. He had one of the best games by a Stanford quarterback in years (78.3 comp%, 12.1 YPA, 2 TD’s, no picks).

Here is where my question comes in to play. Chryst is likely being prepped to become Stanford’s starting QB for the next three years, as coaches have raved about him since he joined the team last summer. Keller has been touted as an NFL-style quarterback since he was Stanford’s top recruit, and his style perfectly fits the Cardinal offense. Hogan is currently in his last season, and in college football, seniors are usually favored. There is almost no chance that Chryst overthrows Hogan as the top signal-caller, regardless if he was the more talented of the two. Teams depend on chemistry and timing, which is compromised when you bring in a new QB. These facts further show how important Hogan is to the squad: he is one of six cap-

tains (along with Kevin Anderson (‘10)), and is the natural leader of the team. Hogan gets the best play out of his teammates when the spotlight is on them (12-6 against top 25 teams).

This is what needs to happen: Chryst needs to go in late in games that are cemented wins or losses, like he did against University of Central Florida, when he completed his only pass for 20 yards. He should also go in whenever we see the ineffective Hogan, while avoiding hurting his confidence. But all too often we have seen Hogan struggle against weak competition, so it couldn’t hurt to give Chryst some field time. That being said, you wouldn’t want to throw Chryst into a big spot in a important game. The main idea here is for Chryst to be phased in slowly, so that when he presumably grabs the reins next year, he will already possess valuable in-game experience allowing the team to make a seamless transition.

I wouldn’t expect big changes any time soon, especially if the high-performing Hogan comes out to play. I also wouldn’t be surprised if you see a familiar face out on the field at times this season. <<< Image taken from

OCTOBER 2015

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