Carson TurnerPanther TalesMrs. Moore

This was the first picture i took for this class, back in September. I liked this photo because it shows the runners looking toward the finish line, or it could be used for a spread, looking toward the center gutter.

Carson Turner

Mrs. Moore

Panther Tales

29 September 2014

Varsity Basketball Beat

ThePlantVarsityBasketballteamstartedoffthefallseasoninthefirstweekofSeptember.Toprepare

fortheregularseasonduringthefallandwinter,theyparticipatedintrackandweightroomworkoutsforcondi-

tioningafterschool.TheweightroomworkoutsinvolvedusingTRX.TRXisasuspendedbodyweighttraining

programthatusesadjustablestrapsandropestodevelopstrength,balance,flexibilityandcorestability,simulta-

neously.Thetrackworkoutsinvolvedrelays,indianruns,sprints,andmileruns.Theseexerciseswillincrease

endurance,agility,andspeedforthebasketballcourt.

MichaelSlonaker,alsoknownasCoachSlon,istheheadcoachoftheVarsityteam,abovetheassis-

tantsJohnnyGrantandJesseRepay.CoachSlonseemsconfidentinhisteamtomeettheirexpectations.“The

expectationsfortheseasonareprettyclear.Wehaveawell-definedculturethatwewanttoliveuptoevery

night.Wehaveabunchofguysthattrusteachotherandtheprocess.Ifweplayuptoourstandardeachnight,

thegoalswilltakecareofthemselves.”Headdedaboutweaknesses,“Overthesummer,acertainstyleofplay

exposedsomeourweaknesses.Bythebeginningoftheseason,Iexpectourbiggestweaknesswillturnintoone

ofourbestadvantages.Wewillthriveasourballmovementimproves.Ifyoucometoagameandseeusover

dribbling,youcancountonmenotbeingveryhappy.”Iaskedhimabouthisproudestmomentinhiscoaching

career,“Theproudestmomentofmycoachingcareerisnotonemoment.Ilovethemomentswhenanindivid-

ualplayerhasaspecialmomentormemory.IamproudofeachguyIhavecoachedandalltheirmemoriesare

differentandunique.Ifeelfortunatetowatchthemdevelopandachievetheirpersonalgoals.I’mjustgladto

bealongfortheride.”

ThebeatIwroteforSeptemberwasmyfirstlearningexperienceforactuallycoveringasport,althoughIdid

havepreviousexperiencefromJournalism1.

I learned how to photoshop a picture of Quay Meck-ley on the Plant Varsity Basketball team. I used a blur effect to focus on him passing the ball.

I was disappointed that my logo is not the official Plant Yearbook logo, but i had fun making it. Luckily, I found a hand in the shape of a “Y” on the internet, and I colored it in black and outlined yellow.

I attempted to do a radical blur, but it turned out pixelated and didn’t focus on Jalen Wil-liams’ face. I could of used a higher quality or used a different blur effect.

Carson Turner

Mrs. Moore

Journalism 3

31 October 2014

Panthers Continue to Improve

The Plant Varsity Basketball team finally took the basketballs off the rack to start practicing plays and

scrimmaging, finishing off the fall conditioning program. Now that they have improved their strength and

speed during the offseason, Coach Slonaker believes they are ready to begin their regular season. “These

guys worked hard to become faster and stronger through our conditioning program, and now they are

ready to hit the courts and kick off the season.”

Slonaker has implemented new plays into the offense that the team is working towards. During the

month of October, they held practices twice a week.

Each practice starts out with the usual warm-up: lay-up lines, flanker shots, and the Georgia close-out

drill. Next, the starting five players run through all of the plays, followed by the bench players. For defense,

they do the shell drill. The offensive players surround the perimeter and pass the ball around, while the de-

fense works on help defense and communication.

Now that that the drills are over, it’s time to apply the skills into what Slonaker likes to call a “con-

trolled scrimmage.” The players are free to run the plays and defensive sets they want, but coaches correct

them when they need to. Coach Slonaker said, “Overall, I was impressed with how our team is working

together. We have improved dramatically since the beginning of the summer, and I am excited for our first

tournament during Thanksgiving weekend.”

For my October beat, they were practicing right before tryouts, but I couldn’t cover tryouts because it was the next month. I ended up recieving a B because I needed to focus more on my photos.

This is a good angle of Sam Schobbon hitting a three- pointer, but I had my digital camera with me instead of a better camera with variable shutter speeds.

Carson Turner

Mrs. Moore

Panther Tales

9 January 2015

DecemberCopy

InThursday’sleagueouting,thePlantPanthersedgedthevisitingBloomingdaleBullsbyamarginof

twopoints,finishingwitha47-45victory.ThePanthersnowrisetoa5-2recordwithhelpfromleadingscorers

JalenWilliamsandPeterConnelly.

CoachSlonakerchosea2-3zonedefenseduetotheopposingteam’sbigmaninthepaint,Logan

Crouse.ChipSternhadablocklateinthesecondquartertoholdtheleadat23-19goingintohalftime.Slonaker

said,“Weexecutedourzonedefensethebestwehaveallseason.”

Mid-thirdquarter,Bloomingdale’sToddKaiserhitathreeandtheBullsfellintoazonepress,which

broughtthePanthersdown37-32.However,Plantpickedupthepaceinthefourthquarterwithbigthreepoint-

ersfromJalenWilliamsandSamSchobben.

“Ourcutsandpick-and-rollswerekeywhenbothteamswereexhausted,”Slonakersaidregardingthe

fourthquarter.Witheightsecondsleftinthegameandleadingbyonlytwopoints,Bulls’coachJoeWilliscalled

atimeouttodrawupthefinalplay.WhentheBullsinboundedtheball,Kaisercameuptothekeyoffanup

screen,dribbledrightoffanotherscreenforathreepointshot.TylerBealerespondedimmediatelyandswatted

thethreepointerastimeranout,clinchingthedistrictvictory,forcingBloomingdale’sfirstlossinthe8Adivi-

sion.

ThiswasoneofPlant’sclosestgames,soI’mgladIcoveredit.Iusedmaxpreps.comasaresourcefor

thefirsttime,whichhelpedmygetstatsandmakemybeatmoreinteresting.

Carson’s Baller Life Carson Turner’s basketball goal is plain and simple: win tournaments and make it to states for AAU. He has tournaments about once a month and practice once a week. The SEBA Panthers are an AAU team that formed when he was 11. This season, they started off rough in May because of injuries. Once the players recovered and were cleared to play, the team won three tournaments in a row. Currently, they SEBA Panthers are in a Summerfield League getting ready for states. Coach Pat for the SEBA Panthers said,”Our team is making great progress from the beginning of the season, and we are on track to make it to states.” Carson has played basketball his whole life, starting when he played the church basketball league, Upward basketball. In the fifth grade, he joined an AAU travel team with his school friends and has played travel ball ever since. “Playing travel basketball has really helped me practice for school basketball,” said Jack Hammer, who is on the JV Plant Basketball team. Carson made the JV Plant Basketball freshman year and had a record of 10-2 in district games. Over the summer of 2014, the JV team prepared for the fall season my lifting weights and conditioning on the track. Johnny Grant, head coach of the JV squad said, “Our team is in better shape than ever, but we are still looking on things to improve on.” Carson is very occupied with having both school and travel ball, but is looking foward to going to the states tournament for AAU.

1) Carson Turner playing defense in the Plant-Leto JV game. They won by a blowout. “We won the game which we deserved. We beat a team that we are clearly better than.” -Coach Grant, Plant2) Carson on offense in the championship game against the Knights. “This was clearly a mental game. We won thhis game because we were focused on the game.” -Coach Pat, Panthers3) Carson dribbling up the court in the Panthers-Knights game. They executed the ball well to pull off a win. “Our passing was excellent and we handled the ball better than we ever have.” -Coach Pat, Panthers

1

2

3

Me spread Reflection: My All About Me Spread was a fun learning experience because it was my first time making an InDesign spread. I could have used four areas of my life instead of three.

This was part of my December beat. I got a good angle of Peter Connelly making a free throw with the Bloomingdale player about to box him out.