SPORTS

BREAK POINT BREAK POINT Coming off back-to-back state finals appearances, the girls tennis program is looking to start West High’s newest dynasty with a blend of experience and young talent.

While Gross plans to retire from coaching in the near future, head coach Amie Villarini and the girls tennis team are just getting started.

Villarini, a ’97 West grad, took over the girls tennis program in 2013 from guidance counselor Kay DiLeo, eager to enhance her players’ mental approach to the game.

“I was just trying to come in and maintain that winning tradition, if anything maybe adding to it a little more,” Villarini said. “Some of the things that I’ve added which we’ve never done in the past … is actually taking videos of the players and their matches and using Hudl and doing video analysis.”

Watching film is just one part of what Villarini refers to as “commanding the court.” In singles matches, being a strong and confident player is crucial in order to dictate the style of the match, something newcomer Ella DeYoung ’23 has been working towards for her freshman season.

Being confident with your game is something I’ve really been trying to work [on],” DeYoung said. “Just playing my game and being aggressive, coming up to the net and things like that.”

With DeYoung and the rest of the varsity team playing club tennis, Villarini places a lot of her trust in the hands of the Academy’s instructors to prepare her players for the season. The team also benefits from the availability of the Academy’s indoor courts for practice when the weather is inclement.

“I usually stay away from the technique because [the Academy is] coaching the players in their private lessons and stuff,” Villarini said. “I’ll tweak certain techniques things if I notice them, [but] I’m really focused on strategy and the mental side of the game.”

Since Villarini’s hiring in 2013, the program steadily rose in production, culminating in a team state championship in 2018. Captain Jessica Moonjely ’20, who scored the final winning point, and juniors Caroline Chandler and Audrey Koch remember that championship feeling and are certainly eager to reclaim the title in 2020.

“It was a really great feeling, and it was also the year that I was on the same team as my sister Emma [Koch ’19],” Koch said. “A couple of the girls on that team I had grown up with, so [that] BY JOE GOODMAN

definitely made it super special. Having that feeling definitely gives you something to work for.”

Unlike Gross’ dynastic program, few fans outside of West expected the Women of Troy to win the title over Ames in 2018, and even more were surprised to see the team return to the state final in 2019 for a rematch with their top player injured.

After back-to-back finals appearances, Villarini’s well-kept secret is out now. With three talented freshmen accompanying DeYoung on the varsity team, the rest of the state will be put on notice soon enough. This team has talent, experience and, most importantly, they know they belong.

“I think we have pretty high expectations for ourselves, especially after falling a little bit short last year to Ames and it came down to tiebreakers,” Koch said. “I definitely think we have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder.”

Unfortunately, the girls may have to wait until next season to make their statement at the high school level. Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, all spring sports have been suspended until further notice.

With the West tennis courts closed, the girls have been advised to stay fit and ready for a season that may or may not be played.

“These are just really unprecedented times, historic times,” Villarini said. “We’re learning a lot about ourselves as humanity, about what’s important and what we take for granted.”

Villarini, sitting at home with the team’s uniforms and balls still in boxes, is still hoping for an abbreviated season, one that would be appreciated in any form by both the players and coaches.

“I’m trying to be optimistic that we’ll even have a season, [but] I’m preparing to not even have a season as well,” Villarini said. “I miss the team, I miss bonding, you just miss the family connection with your team.”

“I USUALLY STAY AWAY FROM THE TECHNIQUE BECAUSE [THE ACADEMY IS] COACHING THE PLAYERS IN THEIR PRIVATE LESSONS AND STUFF. I’LL TWEAK CERTAIN TECHNIQUES THINGS IF I NOTICE THEM, [BUT] I’M REALLY FOCUSED ON STRATEGY AND THE MENTAL SIDE OF THE GAME.” -AMIE VILLARINI, HEAD TENNIS COACH

REMODEL THE MODEL MINORITY

The model minority should matter to you, whether you’re Asian or not.

We all know the common Asian stereotype: super smart, math geeks and perfectly quiet. Asians have achieved more success than any other minority and are therefore the model to follow, otherwise known as the model minority.

Sounds like a compliment to Asians, right? You’d be wrong.

Imagine that someone assumed you were smart based solely on the color of your skin. Forget the hours you spent crying over one math problem or the fact that you didn’t have perfect grades. They’re still going to copy your homework because hey, being Asian must mean you’re a genius.

Well, where the heck is my individuality?

Growing up Chinese American, my self-image was always a misty cloud, trying to find the clarity between what I actually loved doing versus conforming to the model minority stereotype. Being one of the only Asians in choir and theatre, there was always some sort of subconscious shame that I wasn’t in math club or school orchestra and instead, sung and acted.

Questioning the model minority origin, I wondered if this internal urge to fulfill it had anything to do with an immigrant’s goal of the American Dream or something grand. Did a wise Asian God spin divine wisdom and will it to be?

The term was actually coined by a William Peterson in a 1960s New York Times article. Cue the disappointment.

Nevertheless, after digging deeper, I was surprised at the darkness of its history.

Decades before the model minority existed, the complete opposite was an echoed sentiment throughout America, bringing with it a wave of hate crimes and the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was the first law of its kind to completely ban an entire race from immigrating over.

Following Pearl Harbor, all Japanese Americans were forced into internment camps. They weren’t American, so they couldn’t be trusted, could they? They were still foreigners. BY JENNA WANG

Twenty years later, William Peterson arrives. He types up a Japanese American story, and a success story at that. Barely two decades have gone by, but Japanese Americans have “risen above prejudiced criticism better than any other group in our society, even above native born whites.” The model minority is born.

Originally meant to describe just Japanese Americans, the term began to spread to all Asians, expanding until people couldn’t be bothered to tell the difference.

When the Immigration Act reversed the laws banning immigrants from Asia in 1965, the term became so mainstream that the law only allowed professionals like doctors to come in.

And, to my surprise, I discovered that the media had severely overlooked the civil disobedience that Asian Americans had done in protest of unfairness throughout history. As a community, we’re often treated as constant foreigners despite our long history. Ingrained with the notion that Asians were submissive, the model minority led me to believe that Asians were never activists. I couldn’t remember when I last saw an Asian in a protest, but perhaps, that was the media socially manipulating me to believe so.

It turns out, the model minority has everything to do with all minorities, not just Asians. The term was made to insult black and Hispanic people, used as media propaganda to drive a justification — to say, “If Asians can become so successful and able to overcome past events like the internment camps, then why can’t you? This proves that racial discrimination and disparities don’t exist.”

It essentially drives the idea that blacks and Hispanics are inherently bad, and that their past hardships mean little at all, which is ignorantly untrue.

This article isn’t meant to say that the model minority is completely false. There is truth in numbers, which show that generally, Asians are more socioeconomically successful. However, when you examine individual ethnic groups, a clear disparity forms.

According to AAPIData, one out of every seven Asians are undocumented, or about 1.5 million people. The reason you don’t hear about this on the news? The model minority plays a big part in keeping them from coming out and seeking help. They have to internalize their struggle and are expected to display a stable appearance.

Not only do undocumented Asians do this, but many Asian Americans as a whole. We are far less likely to seek mental health resources than white people, afraid to crack our external image. I distinctly recall being surprised when I heard just how many of my white acquaintances had weekly therapy meetings. The notion was practically unheard of in the Asian community.

However, just because something can’t be seen doesn’t mean it ceases to exist. According to the American Psychological Association, suicidal deaths are 30% higher for Asian American women than their white peers.

So why is it important that you learn about the model minority now? It’s because in such an unprecedented time of social distancing and increased racism not just against Asian Americans but all minorities, the world needs to come together now more than ever.

We need more stories and more representation to change the status quo.

Asians are still heavily underrepresented in areas like sports, politics and the media. A recent study by the University of Southern California’s Inclusion Initiative showed that Asian Americans only represented 1% of all leading roles in Hollywood, even though the census reports that Asians make up 6% of the population.

When was the last time you saw an Asian romantic lead, or an Asian running for president before Andrew Yang?

Often, Asians hit a bamboo ceiling where they find that top level spots are mostly filled by white people and that they’re only seen as supporters and workers, not leaders. We’ve been socially conditioned to not speak out about racism, minimize it and not complain when it happens to us — when we should be doing the opposite.

The model minority erases uniqueness and the issues greatly affecting our communities. We must be conscious of our words and uplift each other, no matter how chaotic the world may seem momentarily.

We must remodel the model minority.

It’s a Sunday afternoon, and my dad returns home with a load of groceries after a trip from the store. With a sullen look etched on his face, he sets the bags on the kitchen countertop. I ask him about his day, and he responds with nothing but a dispirited smile. After repeatedly imploring him for an answer, he replies with a puzzling question, “How can people think that it is right to see others as nothing but a virus?”

While shopping at a local grocery store, my dad had been suddenly stopped by another shopper. She stared in disgust while she approached him in a rather aggressive manner. With both arms crossed she said, “Aren’t you forgetting something? Gosh, just put on a mask.” Sadly, this interaction depicts the brutal reality of the world today as racism and bigotry towards the Asian race becomes increasingly normalized in our society.

In the past few months, a massive outbreak of COVID-19 has engulfed the globe with a wave of panic and hysteria. Originating from an initial outbreak of a respiratory disease first detected in China, COVID-19 is a zoonotic virus that is part of a large family of coronaviruses such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). As of April 9, coronavirus cases have almost reached 1.5 million around the world and surpassed 450,000 in the US alone. As this new disease spreads, so does extreme racism and discrimination towards people of Asian descent. BY SOOMIN KOH The coronavirus is not an excuse for xenophobia and racism.

Starting in January, many more cases of the coronavirus had been confirmed, showing that the spread through person-to-person contact was possible. However, due to the origin of the virus and many east Asian countries being affected, social stigma and xenophobia against Asians became widespread. Although anxiety towards a new virus is normal, the extensive spread of derogatory language and hate have been popularized through racialized media coverage and social media.

The prejudice against Asians has been brutal. From America’s leading news sources such as The Wall Street Journal titling an article “China is the Real Sick Man of Asia” while explicitly targeting Chinese people to teens creating new trends mocking Asians on TikTok, the coronavirus has become many people’s justification for racist remarks.

Everyone from teenagers to the president has taken part in the xenophobia surrounding the situation. President Trump recently referred to the virus as the “Chinese Virus,” ignorantly downplaying the severity of the outbreak. While misleading and racially offensive, this label puts Asian Americans at risk of being targeted for further abuse. Blaming and falsely accusing one race as the sole cause of a pandemic should not be tolerated.

The abuse following the discrimination is not just verbal, however.

In California, a 16-year-old Asian American boy was rushed into the emergency room after being physically assaulted by his classmates who accused him of having the virus. In Illinois, a man was brutally attacked, spat on and told to “go back to China.” In New York City, a woman wearing a mask was attacked in a Manhattan subway station before being called “diseased” and beaten with an umbrella.

These racially motivated incidents targeting Asians have sparked acts of protest on various social media platforms. Viral hashtags such as #WashTheHate, #RacismIsAVirus and #IAmNotCOVID19 have been created to fight back against the hate caused by the virus. Movements such as these have gained support from people all over the world, generating empathy and increasing awareness toward the situation.

Despite social media movements advocating against these hate crimes, racist ideas have spread and these acts of violence simply cannot continue. Fear of a virus can no longer allow people to be prejudiced and hurtful, nor can it give justification for racialized media coverage to normalize hate. This only reinforces racism, a much bigger and uglier enemy. In this world of uncertainty that we find ourselves in today, it is crucial that we come together and overcome our shared hardship, not divide ourselves further.