Final Portfolio By: Lucas Sylvester
Titans wrestle with injuries Wrestling is an intense sport where the athletes get banged up every time they set foot on the mat. Often, the team is plagued with injuries, from small strains up to season ending leg injuries. Many of the wrestlers get injured due to the various strenuous activities of the sport. Sophomore Carl Mohr began his season with an early injury and continued to wrestle while injured. “I had a hairline fracture in my ankle at the start of the season,” Mohr said. “We were all learning a move and another wrestler I was working with twisted my ankle the wrong way. Since it was early in the season, I was able to wrestle at our first tournament at Clash of the Titans.” Although many of the wrestlers are able to continue to wrestle through their injuries, some injuries can take the athletes out for many months at a time. “I broke my clavicle about 10 months ago,” sophomore Zack Hirst said. “I was out for six months, allowing it to heal before I was able to wrestle again. I have wrestled through various broken fingers, toes, and ankles but this kept me out of action.” Coach Matt Weaver does everything in his power to keep the wrestlers from being injured. Weaver tries to keep the team as healthy as possible with many precautions in order to avoid injury. “In order to avoid injury, we warm up, stretch, get it shape and strengthen ourselves,” Weaver said. “All of these precautions help us avoid injuries.” Although the wrestlers continue to fight through various minor injuries, it is not normal for students to get injured to the point of having to sit out. In a report taken in 2008, there were 387 major injuries from 166,279 wrestlers nationwide. “If I counted how many wrestlers get injured in wrestling on our team, I would say maybe three or four a season, at the max,” Hirst said. When a wrestler sustains an injury, it not only physically affects the wrestler but it also takes a mental toll on the athlete. A wrestler may have doubts about what they can do and how they can do it, dependent upon the injury. “An injured wrestler may be hesitant on the mat due to their injury,” Weaver said. The University High wrestling teams puts everything on the mat, whether it is in practice or at a tournament. The wrestlers fight through various injuries and continue to have high placing finishes at their tournaments.
Titans wrestle with injuries: Self-Analysis I am extremely proud of this article because it brings light to a part of wrestling that many of the students and parents don not know about. Those who do not know the wrestlers do not see how often they are hurt and injured and continue to wrestle through the various injuries. I was very happy with the points i made about the wrestlers fighting through fractured ankles and broken fingers, toes, and ankles. I was able to show the heart of the wrestlers and the injuries that plague the wrestlers while they fight to become the best. The article shows great journalistic skills starting with the quotes. The quotes are all informative and add insight to the struggle of injuries that the players face. The piece was written flawlessly in LQTQ style and included the quotes in the correct places. The entire article is also properly written in AP style with no AP flaws. Looking back on this article, I would’ve added information on how the schools student training staff helps the athletes at their events and keeps them healthy through the season.
Titan athletes prepare for winter season University Titans athletes are preparing for the winter sports season to start. The soccer, basketball, wrestling and girl’s weightlifting teams are all going through the last minute preparations for the upcoming season.
Winter sport athletes have practiced extremely hard in the offseason for the upcoming season, looking forward to a new season, and with it, new opportunities for a playoff berth. “I have been mentally preparing myself more than physically. I feel very confident that this is my season,” said senior Joe Hammerle. Coaches as well have been preparing themselves for the upcoming season watching videos and learning how to prepare their athletes to the best of their abilities in their respective sports. “I have been studying film and tweaking any of my coaching techniques that I feel necessary,” said wrestling coach Matt Weaver. The new season gives teams and athletes a new opportunity to redeem themselves from past seasons’ performances. After a rough 5-17 record in the 2014-2015 for the boys’ basketball team, the Titans are looking to have a bounce-back season after a disappointing season, losing all nine road games last season. The Girls soccer team is looking to match their performance from the 2014-2015 season, where they made a playoff appearance. Junior Tori Springer said, “I feel we will be very successful this year and I feel if the team works hard together and bonds, we will be able to win a district title.” After a long offseason of training, the girls weightlifting team is also looking to have a successful season.
Titan athletes prepare for winter season Self-Analysis I am proud of the overall coverage I was able to bring to the winter sports tams as they prepared to start their season. The winter sports teams do not get much coverage due to their seasons being in their prime and ending when the spring sports are starting their preseason preparations. I am proud that I covered all of the winter sports and was able to use facts and quotes to talk about what is expected to occur in their upcoming season. The students at UHS were able to learn about the winter sports and how they were preparing for the season due to this article. I am also proud that I was able to quote a variety of different players as well as coaches to add insight to the article based on the different sport. The article shows great journalistic skills because it properly follows AP style and has great insight for the reader to learn about the upcoming season. The article follows the LQTQ formula properly and also hits all of the other AP style requirements. Also, the content gives a great preview for the upcoming season through unique quotes that add insight to the topic. Looking back, I wish I added more information on the weightlifting teams, as they rarely ever get any time in the spotlight on our campus.
Florida welcomes the worlds largest paintball tournament The National Xball League (NXL) brought the world’s largest paintball tournament to Kissimmee Florida on Oct. 14-Oct.18. Over 360 teams competed in the event, all of which participated in 12 different formats and divisions. The NXL is the newest paintball league to tour the United States and has been a huge with paintball players across the nation. With levels of play starting with players new to tournaments leading up to a 16-team professional division, the NXL has provided tournament paintball for thousands of players across three events in the 2015 season. NXL brought the largest paintball tournament on Earth to Kissimmee, Florida with the NXL World Cup. The event took place across from Gaylord Palms Resort in Kissimmee, Florida. The location provided great weather the entire weekend and beautiful, luscious grass for players to play on. Keith Devit Jr, who played for semi-pro team L.I.F.T said “I enjoyed that they (NXL) brought more life into the venue and provided a fresh taste to the scene.” The event was centered in the heart of town where thousands of drivers road by the event, wondering what was going on. Many passerby’s even stopped by the event and discovered how big paintball was. Even young kids were found walking around the event, learning about the sport thousands around the world call their life. When asked how the event brought youth to the sport, Devit Jr. stated “the new look brings new faces into the venue and learn about the sport I love.” The event provided one of the best venues of the NXL season and also had many new product releases. With a five month break before the 2016 season starts, companies begin releasing products at the end of the season for offseason hype and sales increases just a couple months before the 2016 season. The NXL World Cup was a massive success for the sport of paintball and all of the players that participated this past weekend. San Diego Dynasty won the prestigious World Cup in the pro division, winning $10,000 dollars. Houston Heat came in second-place, going home with $5,000 dollars. Seattle Uprising, who has dominated the semi-pro division, won their second event of the three event season at World Cup, helping secure the 2015 Semi-Pro Series Championship. Photos provided by PaintballPhotography.com
Florida welcomes the worlds largest paintball tournament: Self-analysis I am extremely proud of this article for the difference in topic and the exposure it gained for paintball. Not many students or parents are able to read about the sport of paintball in a normal newspaper and I enjoyed being able to educate those with this article. The event that took place was a world famous with teams coming from over 35 countries and all states of the United States. I loved being able to educate the UHS community about what is happening in their backyards. My article shows great journalistic skill because it follows AP style properly and allows the reader to understand what is going on at the event. I make sure that I follow all the elements of AP style which allows the reader to easily read and understand the article. I was able to implement all of the key information about what occurred at the event and how one of the players felt this event affected the paintball community. I made sure that the reader would understand how many different things were going on at the event, what the teams were playing for, as well as the placings of the top two divisions. I feel I could’ve improved by having two more people quoted in the article as well as quotes from a variety of different people.
How technology effects modern life Spending hours sitting in my room on my Playstation 4 while listening to music off my phone that is connected through my Astro A40 headset mixamp. 3 hours of posts and messages on Facebook with hundreds of dollars being instantly sent through PayPal. Sitting at dinner with my family members, without any electronic devices leads to one of the only times in the day where we sit and speak to each other without distraction. Every second of my life is somehow effected by the innovation of technology. Whether it is the ability to speak and play with friends from all around the world, to selling items on Facebook with instant payment, down to the family dinners every night, technology affects the daily life of me drastically. Technology has allowed me to have the leisure time on my PS4 that connects me with friends all over the world through online servers. This time spent connects me with my friends and family throughout the world that I rarely get to speak or interact with due to the distance we live from each other. This advancement in technology takes up many hours of my week when I get to simply sit and relax and forget about the stress that school brings me. The advancement of the console and headset advancements makes my relaxation a time where I can easily interact with others and listen to my music. The advancements in the console has allowed parties of up to 18 people to interact with each other and can be connected form anywhere in the world. My headset from Astro allows me to plug my phone into the mixamp and listen to music, make phone calls, and hear all of the in-game sounds as well as my party. This advancement allows me to do multiple things at once, which keeps me in my leisure time. Technology affects my life in an extremely positive way that allows me to enjoy personal time. Technology has also allowed me to make thousands of dollars over the past month due to only money services and social media forums. I can sit down and make 15 posts in buy/sell/trade forums and know that within a few hours I will have money in my bank account. Selling paintball gear on Facebook has become my job of sorts. My team has me sell all of their gear on my listings as well which is where I acquired my team bear name “Hustler Bear�. I have sold over 100 items all across the United States and Canada, which has brought in about $8,000 for myself and my team members. I wouldn’t be able to do this without the advancement of PayPal. When I sell an item, the buyer sends the payment through a website called PayPal. PayPal allows money to be sent instantaneously and then transferred to a bank account. I cannot sell any gear if I do not have a way of getting the money from the buyer, which is why I am extremely thankful for PayPal. I have been able to purchase a car, go to paintball practice that is 3 and a half hours away every other week, and play tournaments all across the United States. Facebook and PayPal have both changed my life drastically and both have been put together due to recent technological advancements.
Although I can enjoy hours of leisure time and make money due to technology, it has also affected me negatively. The time spent in our house often involves our technological devices, which reduces our time spent together. Often the only time we have together to talk is at the dinner table, where even sometimes my sister is still having her headphones on listening to her YouTube videos. This reduced time spent with family can cause some strain with each other and we often don’t know what we are doing. This is the negative side that many families throughout the United States face because kids are glued to the screens of their phones, tablets, gaming devices, and televisions. The time spent with families has been reduced, which is the case for my family as well. I have spent hours during the evening and night without speaking to my family members because I was playing a gaming tournament on my PS4. Recently I have worked around this and have tried to spend more time with my family, which is an issue that technology has brought into my life. I have spent hundreds of hours of my life with my face buried in my technological advices, which has had many positive and negative effects. I have been able to enjoy leisure time that allows me to clear my head and worry about very little things. Being able to have a short life reset of sorts is something that has helped me a lot in my life because it has allowed me to make life decisions without other variables that sway my decision. Spending hours on my phone has brought in thousands of dollars because of Facebook and PayPal, which allows me to continue my hobbies and even purchase a car. Although I have been positively changed by technology the time is takes away from my family time has been negative to my family relationships. Technology has given us many items that take my time and attention away from my family, which is something that has caused miscommunication issues with my family. Overall, technology is something that affects my life in every second of the day.