The Viking: Volume 7, Issue 1

“Steve possessed the most cherished of human traits: compassion, generosity and

kindness. He loved sports and was an exceptional ath-

lete. He strove to bring out the best in himself and

in others while reflect-ing the highest ideals of

sportsmanship. This equip-ment is a gift in honor of

Steve.”

BRINGIN

G THEIR

A+ GAM

Epg. 4

0

- the Steve Aaron Silver memorial plaque in the Paly weightroom

October 2013Volume VII Issue 1

THE SILVER LININGpg. 32BY ALEX MURRAY

KICKOFF

ZOOMS

The Viking Magazine would like to thank our sponsors...

GoldZoom Systems

Kaiser PermanenteThe Kinnaman FamilyThe Bhargava Family

SilverValencia, Wilberding & Tompkins

BronzeSusan & Bert Bell

OCTOBER 2013

LINEUPVolume VII Issue 1

SHORTSIndecent Exposure

KICKOFF

HELL WEEK

10 Questions

Fight or flight

Splash down

Last line of defense

DRIVING FOR SUCCESS

CALENDAR

KILLER INSTINCTS Claire Dennis (‘16) records a kill against the Los Gatos Wildcats. The Vikings went on to beat Gatos 3-2.

Michelle Xie (‘15) co-captains the newly formed girls’ golf team.

Paly athletes start their fall season facing a long week of vigorous mornings practices.

THE SILVER LININGSteve Silver’s (‘78) athletic legacy inspires those

who remember him to live life to the fullest.

by ALEX MURRAY

October 2013

ZOOMS

by HAYLEY POORE and MADDIE KINNAMIN

by PRISCILLA BELL and ZOE BHARGAVA

COLUMNSCrisis mode?

CIRCLING THE PODIUMRaul Arias (‘14) may seem like any other Paly athlete but com-petes on the national stage of

track cycling.by ROWAN McEVOY

BRINGING THEIR A+ GAMEPaly’s teachers sare their experiences competing in

high intensity sports.

by ANNA DUKOVIC and IDO GAL

10

12

13

14

15

16

24

26

30

28

46

4

6

8

3618 21

32

of Justin Rittman (‘14)

45

with Keri Gee (‘14)

ON THE COVERphoto courtesy of Madrono (‘78)

40ph

oto

by P

aul B

iena

imé

Inside the Mind

Hot or not

Where are they now?

Staff view

The last word

by PAIGE BARA

Viking Tries: Lawn Bowling

Grosser than you think

Davante Adams

by SHEILA SUBRAMIAN

by AMI DREZ

by MEGAN VALENCIA and JULIA SAUL

by GILLIAN CHRYST and KATIE FOUG

by CHRIS SMITH

It’s on youby ZACH RIZK

Ethan Look (`14) narrowly avoids a submerged Gunn player’s reach for the ball. The boys’ varsity water polo team went on to lose to Gunn, 14-7.

photo by Tara Lawrence

ZOOMFIGHT OR FLIGHT

Cornerback Connor Scheel (`14) picks

off the San Benito quarterback in the Vikings’ end zone.

The Vikings went on to beat the

Haybalers, 28-7.

photo byTara Lawrence

ZOOMLAST LINE

OF DEFENSE

Girls’ water polo cap-tain Emma Wolfe (`14) avoids a foul while defending a Burlin-game Panther. The girls’ varsity water polo team went on to lose all four games in the St. Francis Invitational.

photo byBob Drebin

ZOOMSPLASH DOWN

10 | T H E V I K I N G | w w w. v i k i n g s p o r t s m a g . c o m

Staff AdviserR. Michael McNulty

From the editorsDear readers,

The VikingPalo Alto High School

50 Embarcadero RoadPalo Alto, CA 94301

650-329-3837Email contact: [email protected]

Advertising and Sponsorship Contact:[email protected]

Letters to the editorThe 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 VikingThe 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 [email protected] Printing Services

2,000 copies of The Viking are printed, six times a year by Fricke-Parks Press in Fremont, Calif.

Editors-in-ChiefPippa Raffel

Josh Stern

Design EditorJulia Saul

Managing EditorsAudrey DeBruine

Ami DrezChris Smith

Photo EditorsPaul BienaiméTara Lawrence

ColumnistZach Rizk

Multimedia EditorPaul Bienaimé

Business ManagersTara Lawrence

StaffPaige Bara

Priscilla BellZoe BhargavaGillian Chryst

Tori DeStefanoAnna Dukovic

Katie FougIdo Gal

Clara HarringtonMaddie Kinnamin

Rowan McEvoyAlex MurrayNiall Patrick

Hayley PooreOlivia Scola

Sheila SubramaniaMegan Valencia

Sincerely,Pippa and Josh

We’d like to start off by welcoming you to the sev-enth year of The Viking, Palo Alto High School’s very own sports magazine. We are excited for the upcoming year and can’t wait to bring you all of Paly’s sports news. We have a very talented new staff and would like to praise them and our returning writers for their hard work throughout our first production cycle. Their am-bition and improvement in sports journalism is greatly recognized, and we are excited to work with them throughout the rest of the school year. In this issue we will be covering several points of interest. We examine the impressive collegiate career of Paly graduate Davante Adams (‘11), Paly’s own potential Olympic cyclist Raul Arias (‘14) and the athletic experiences and histories of various faculty members. Furthermore, our featured cover story, “The Silver Lining,” travels back in time examining the tragic sto-ry of Steve Silver (‘78), a Paly multisport athlete held in high regard by the Palo Alto athletic community.

We also encourage you to read our staff view that examines the controversial topic of Paly’s Hell Week. Representative of our staff’s opinion, this short ad-dresses where the line must be drawn in the intense practice setting and what should be expected of each athlete at the high school level. Finally, we would like to thank our new adviser, Michael McNulty, for his efforts and contributions to our staff. With past Viking adviser Ellen Austin, mov-ing on as Director of Journalism at the Harker School, Mr. McNulty will be only the second adviser in The Viking’s existence. His efforts do not go unnoticed and we are extremely appreciative of his commitment to this publication. We wish you all the best of luck on the upcoming school year and look forward to providing you with another great year of The Viking. Go Vikings!

OCTOBER 2013

Staff view:The Paly preseason style of practice known as ‘Hell Week’ has become problematic and hectic for many Vikings, posing academic and health predicaments.

Pippa and Josh

With the new school year in full swing, fall sports are upon us. As they have every year, fall sport athletes at Paly must readjust to manag-ing their course load, homework and extracur-riculars on top of practices and competitions, which all vye for large chunks of precious free time.

With practice sessions that approach three hours in length and multiple practices in one day, some athletes are left wondering: How much is too much?

California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) and Central Coast Section (CCS) bylaws say surprisingly little about how athletic practices must be regulated. According to CCS bylaws, “[a]ny single practice shall be no longer than 3 hours in length” and “[t]here shall be a mini-mum of 2 hours between any two practice ses-sions in a single day.” There is no cap on the maximum number of hours a team may prac-tice a week, nor is there a maximum number of practices a day a coach may hold.

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) bylaw 17.1.6.1 sets the maximum number of hours of “countable athletically re-lated activities” for Divison I athletics at four hours per day and 20 hours per week.

It the term “student-athlete,” student always comes first--and this is how the two should be prioritized. In order to preserve this, the staff of The Viking believes that CCS should place restrictions on the maximum number of hours a team may formally meet per week. This lev-els the playing field for all teams in the section and would provide a healthy guideline for how athletics should be prioritized in the grand scheme of high school.

Twice-a-day practices multiple times a week take their toll on athletes in a multitude of ways, including less time for homework, other extracurriculars and family time. For many athletes, when practices cut into their outside time, sleep is the first thing to go -- especially when their alarms are set for the wee hours of

the morning.Though extensive practices may seem ben-

eficial in terms of improving conditioning and skills, when they cut into other areas of an ath-lete’s life, the benefits gained by practicing more become outweighed by the consequences. High school is all about learning to balance the dif-ferent aspects of ones life, but this balance is often thrown out of whack by lofty expectations on the part of athletic coaches

The Viking recognizes that for many Paly student-athletes, their athletics are a top pri-ority and may be a tool they utilize to get into college. The regulations set forth here are in no ways meant to hinder this. These rules do not prevent an athlete from practicing on their own or in informal settings within CCS guidelines. They are simply meant to provide a framework for which high school athletics remain just that -- a fun extracurricular for high schoolers that does not negatively detract from a high school-er’s main focus: school. <<<

News brief: First boys’ lacrosse head coach, Craig Conover, leaves team to pursue alternate opportunities

On Monday, Sept. 23, Craig Conover, head coach for the boys’ lacrosse team, announced that he will not be returning this spring. This will be the first year that the Paly boys’ lacrosse team will not have Conover serving as head coach and would have been both Conover’s and the Paly lacrosse team’s fifth season. Conover messaged the team via Facebook stating that he had recently accepted a position at a startup company in San Francisco and was therefore no longer able to continue the strenu-ous commute he had endured in past years in order to keep coaching the Palo Alto squad. Ending his final year with a 15-6 overall re-cord, Conover led his team to two consecutive Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL)

semi-finals, Conover had numerous success-ful seasons with the Vikings. Four years ago, in their first season as a team, the Vikings won SCVAL. “It will change the team dynamic, because he was pretty laid back but was still very strong in the way he coached us,” James Harrison (‘14) said. “He made us all determined to work hard-er while at the same time have fun.” The boys’ lacrosse team will look for a replace-ment head coach to lead them during their 2013-2014 season, starting on January 31st, 2014. <<<

To read more sports coverage and news, visit www.vikingsportsmag.com/

Craig Conover, 2009-13 boys’ lacrosse head coach

by CLARA HARRINGTON and OLIVIA SCOLA

Keri GeeThe Viking asked Paly volleyball player Keri Gee (‘14) 10 questions about herself and then com-pared her responses to that of her coach David Winn, teammate Becca Raffel (‘14) and boyfriend Josh Totte (‘14). Read on to discover who knows Keri best!

40%

Pre-game snack?

Favorite TV show?

Best part about being a senior?

Dream date?

Guilty pleasure movie is....

Most excited for what Spirit Week day?

Favorite pump-up song?

Beach or mountains?

Favorite class?

Best part of volleyball is...

Skittles or kit-kats

The Bachelor

Shots - LMFAO & Lil Jon

Mountains

The Last Song

Liam Hemsworth

The deck

Toga

AP Psych or APES

Getting a pancake

Cookies

AP Volleyball

Big games with herteammates

New Girl

Beach

Despicable Me 2

AP Psych

Beach

JT (either one)

Senior citizen

AP Psych

Making close friends

Questions Becca RaffelTeammate

David WinnCoach

Josh TotteBoyfriend

Here Comes Honey Boo Boo

Skittles

Don’t Stop Believin’ - Journey

Justin Timberlake

Despicable Me High School Musical 3

Drummer from Goodnight Argent

Looking forward to college

She doesn’t have time

90’sSenior citizen

The team

Beach

as told to Clara Harrington

Images taken from

10with

Questions

0%

Keri GeeVarsity volleyball player


Skittles

The deck The deck

Shots - LMFAO & Lil Jon Shots - LMFAO & Lil Jon

40%

Questions Where are they now?Kimberly FlatherSan Diego State > Lacrosse Former Paly lacrosse player Kimberly Flather (‘12) is a sophomore at San Diego State University. Flather plays attack for their Division I lacrosse program. Flather fin-ished her first season with her team this May. “We got to play teams like Stanford which was really cool because I grew up watching them play,” Flather said. She finished the season with two goals, one against Stenson and the other against Saint Mary’s. In her Paly career, Flather was named Outstanding Attacker of the

Tyger PedersonDodgers > Baseball

Maddie KuppeUniversity of Connecticut > Volleyball Maddie Kuppe (’12) is currently a sophomore on the Division I volleyball team at Univers ity of Con-necticut. “Going into your freshman year playing a Divi-sion I sport, you go into imagining its going to be hard but once you get there even then you don’t re-ally realize how much commitment it takes,” Kuppe said. “It was difficult to get used to something dom-inating your life.” Kuppe’s commitment to the team has earned her a starting spot on the court. “But at this point [volleyball is] such a part of my life that I can’t imagine being in college without it,” Kuppe said. Kuppe is an outside hitter for the Huskies. “I was lucky enough to get to start right when I came,” Kuppe said. “It was really exciting

Tyger Pederson (’08), previous three-sport athlete at Paly, graduated from University of the Pacific this year. After playing baseball for the Tigers for four years, Pederson was picked in the 33rd round of the Los Angeles Minor League Baseball June amateur draft. Pederson is the third member in his family to be drafted by the Dodgers.

“[Getting drafted is] a dream come true,” said Ped-erson. “A lot of hard work is paying off and it made ev-erything worth it from when I started playing baseball

when I was five. All of the hard work was meant for something so it was really rewarding.”

He is planning on playing second base for the Dodgers.

“Right now I am training in the offseason and do-ing baseball workouts in LA up until Spring training which is right around February-March,” Pederson said. “Then I’ll go back out to Arizona for Spring training with the Dodgers, then go from there.” <<<

Year by Santa Clara Valley Athletic League and was also nominated a US All-American player. “Paly prepared me by teaching me time management,” Flather said. “I had to figure out how to schedule every-thing around practice and school [at San Diego State University].” Flather is now training with her team in the offseason to prepare for the spring. <<<

photo courtesy Tyger Pederson

by PAIGE BARA

photo by Grant Shorin

photo by Matt Ersted

to put on my jersey for the first time and then immediately get to see the court.” Kuppe works hard to maintain her spot on the court. “But college teams are really competitive and ev-eryone that’s on the team earned their spot,” Kuppe said.She totaled 131 kills, 41 digs and 22 blocks her first season at University of Connecticut. She is now training with her team for her second season. “I’d say our biggest game this year is when we play Louisville; it’s going to be televised which is really exciting for us,” Kuppe said. “We played them last season and it was a close game so we’re excited to get revenge.” <<<

OCTOBER 2013

NOT14 | T H E V I K I N G | w w w. v i k i n g s p o r t s m a g . c o m

HOT

Images taken from

W H A T D O P A L Y A T H L E T E S S A Y ?

Kian McHugh (‘14)Water Polo

Claire Krugler (‘16)Volleyball

Andrew Frick (‘14)Football

Favorite fall activity?

Netflix

Sarah Tayeri (‘15)Tennis

Cole Hechtman (‘17) Cross-Country

Most excited to watch...

Coffee or tea?

49ers or Raid-ers?

Miley Cyrus is...

Raiders

Enjoying the fall weather

Iced coffee

Cakey

Volleyball games

49ers

Fantasy football

Coffee

Bald

Walking Dead

49ers

Biking

Neither

Ugly

Volleyball

49ers

Caramel latte

No longer my idol

New Girl

49ers

Going to football games

Coffee

Crazy

The Voice

The op ulture GridP C

Fantasy Football: Fantasy football started up on Thursday, Sept. 5, alongside the beginning of college football. Paly students are getting together their fantasy lineups and hoping for good luck with their selection. Players to watch include Adrian Peterson and Payton Manning.

Oakland A’s:For the second year in a row, the A’s have won the American League West. Representing the Bay Area after the Giants failed to make it to the playoffs this year, it’s been made clear that the moneyball mavens have tri-umphed again.

NFL “Bag Ban”:The NFL has created a new rule banning almost every bag at all exhibition games. Their list of unapproved bags includes backpacks, binocular cases, diaper bags, purses, and camera cases. Un-less you’re carrying a clear NFL plastic bag or a 1-gallon Ziploc bag, looks like you’ll have to find another way to bring your stuff into the game.

iOS 7 for iPhone:Although the new operating system for iPhi-nes has a lot of new features, it also has a lot of flaws in the design. Resembling the Droid operating system, draining any phone’s bat-tery life and taking up almosts 3 GB of space makes iOS 7 less desirable.

Justin RittmanInside the mind of

The op ulture Grid

On Twitter page“J Ritt Dom is a lifestyle, it’s where I can refer in third person. It’s some-where I can go and be my self and make people laugh.”

On nicknames“I usually change my name on

Twitter and it usually incorporates J or Ritt. Right now it’s Ritt

Carol. It’s been DomKippur, J Ritt from State Farm, J Ritt

four hunnid.”

On Dom“Dom is this Youtube guy who made some weight lifting video that we thought was pretty funny when we were sophomores. I used to do an impression of him. Everyone thought it was funny and I kind of just made an Instagram and called it J Ritt Dom and made my twitter the same thing.”

On being in a relationship

“It’s pretty fun. I really like Rachel. She’s fun to hangout with, so it’s pretty cool. In a

relationship be yourself, make people laugh. That’s the only

way you can live your life.”

On Earl Hansen“He’s a great guy, he’s

blue collar, he’s old school. That’s what I

like about him.”

On being ‘college bound’

“I’ve been talking to Stanford, UCLA, Nevada, and USC. Hopefully if all goes well I’ll be playing at

Stanford next year.”

“We usually just go to Chipotle, and Tony Awaida (’13) gives us some extra meat because he works there, and then we just kind of sit around my house. Sometimes one or both of us falls asleep. We just sit around and do nothing.”

as told to Olivia Scola photo by Paul Bienaimé

Justin RittmanAKA “J RITT DOM”

Inside the mind of

On bromance with Keller Chryst (‘14)

OCTOBER 2013


Let’s be honest. It isn’t very often that you see a water polo player, swimmer or diver not walking around in their revealing at-tire at practice. It’s simple: these sports have made us increas-

ingly comfortable with fewer clothes on. Com-monly known as a “deck change”, more and more aquatic athletes wrap towels and parkas around their bodies to remove or put on a swimsuit while on the pool deck. It’s a custom, a lifestyle and a swimmer thing. Deck changing has been witnessed at all lev-els whether it be high school, collegiate or even at the Olympic trials. Yes, you read that right.

Even the magnificent Ryan Lochte does it. For all aquatic sports, especially swimming and water polo, stripping down and changing in and out of a swimsuit in front of others has been considered acceptable. Despite the popularity of the seemingly harmless method of changing, it is against CCS (Central Coast Section) rules. Years ago, CCS created a rule prohibiting deck changing; however, it has never really been enforced until now. According to the CCS Swimming and Div-ing Rulebook, “Deck-changing will NOT be allowed at the Meet venue. This will be consid-ered as UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT

under Rule 3., Section 5., Article 1. of the NFHS Swimming & Diving Rules. Any partici-pant in violation of this rule will be disquali-fied from further competition.” If the official rulebook only prohibits ath-letes from deck changing in competition set-tings, then why are my teammates and I pro-hibited from doing so at practice? I wanted to see if others shared my sentiments on the mat-ter. “I think [deck changing] is unnecessary and [athletes] are going to have to get used to it this year that they cannot do it and it can cost them a game. ... The players know it, the coaches know it,” athletic director Earl Hansen said.

STRUGGLES Coach Brandon Johnson observes varsity water polo players Kian McHugh (‘14), Sheila Subra-manian (‘15) and Omri Newman (‘14) struggle as they deck change in order to be timely for practice.

Indecent Exposure:

by SHEILA SUBRAMANIAN

Swimsuit EditionJoin Sheila as she challenges the crackdown of the highly controversial“deck changing” rules enforced by the Central Coast Section.

jured. In essence, by not deck changing, we’re more at risk of injury! Truth is, deck changing should not be deemed a serious concern. How many swimmers, water polo players, divers, etc. are really phased by seeing an-other’s changing under a towel, when they see their teammates half-naked everyday at prac-tice? Though it’s not what many want to hear, we aquatic athletes are all used to seeing each oth-er in tiny speedos and tight sports bikinis. It’s the harsh reality and it doesn’t seem to bother anyone. It’s not just female aquatic athletes that feel this way either. “I feel frustrated because this CCS rule is

enforced my senior year and as cap-tain, I would like to be in charge and do what I be-lieve is okay,” N e w m a n , co-captain of the boys’ wa-

ter polo team, said. “I try to enforce the rule and lead by example, but it’s definitely hard to change with the time-crunch before and after water polo and swim practice.” In the end, sure, deck changing can at times be slightly revealing for those who are not used to seeing athletes in swimsuits. But classifying the harmless act as indecent exposure or sex-ual harassment takes it to a whole new level- a level that is simply over-the-top and unneces-sary. <<<

OCTOBER 2013

“It’s like streaking; some people are offended by it.” Varsity swimming, girls’ water polo and div-ing coach Danny Dye echoed Hansen’s opin-ion and reasoning against deck changing. “I am in favor of the rule. It has been a rule for 20 years and people that want to argue about it are people that do not want to follow rules. ... It’s considered sexual harassment and it should not be done,” he said. “We as coaches should be pushing all CCS rules whether it is at games, meets or practice. It’s all about de-cency.” The athletes themselves, however, hold a very different opinion on the matter than coaches. How can deck changing be placed in the same category as streaking? We aren’t ‘showing off ’ our naked bodies. In fact, swim-mers cover more of their bodies with a towel or parka than when in the pool in speedos/swimsuits. Both a swimmer and a water polo player my-self, I understand the benefits of deck chang-ing and the amount of time it saves athletes. What’s the point in rushing to and from the crowded locker rooms to the pool deck to get ready, when it is easier to just slip on a suit and dive into the pool a couple of feet away? The locker room floors become wet from the water being dragged in, which poses a threat to ath-letes who are at risk for slipping and getting in-

We as coaches should be pushing all CCS rules

whether it is at games, meets or practice.

-Danny Dye

“”

Percentages based on votes from the Varsity Girls’ Water Polo Team.

PALY PULSE

COVER UP Sheila Subramanian (‘15) is horrified as Omri Newman (‘14) and Kian McHugh (‘14) race to change into speedos on the deck.

Emma Wolfe 47%

Olivia Scola 27%

Tess van Hulsen 20%

Other 6%

photo courtesy of Bob Drebin

Who has the FAST-EST shot on the varsity girls’ water polo team?


Who will be Paly’s next Olympian? An ob-vious response for many people won-dering this question would be to scour Pa-

ly’s numerous sports teams for big name ath-letes or to look on prestigious local club teams for Paly students. The answer, though, may lie in a far less obvious and somewhat unexpected location. The answer to this question may lie in Raul Arias (‘14). Arias is a track cyclist. Like track runners, track cyclists race around an oval for various

distances with certain rules that guide them. Although the sport is less well known than many others, Arias’ success in it could take him to the Olympics. This past summer, Arias competed at the Junior Nationals, taking first in the points race. The points race consists of around 60 laps, depending on the size of the course, and takes around 30 minutes to complete. Points are given to the top four riders every ten laps during sprint laps and are also awarded to any rider who manages to get a lap ahead of the main group of competitors. The person with the most points at the end of the race wins.

Arias additionally placed second in the scratch race, another name for a basic race where the person who finishes first wins. Finally, Arias placed fourth in the omnium, an event that totals the point scores from six different races. Arias’ success at Junior Nationals took him all the way across the Atlantic Ocean with the U.S. national team to the Juniors Track World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. The Ju-niors Track World Championships, held once a year, are the amateur equivalent to the Olym-pics. Although Arias did not win anything in Glasgow, participation there signifies good things to come.

unsuspecting competitor competes outside of school on the national stage in

by ROWAN McEVOY

Circling the podiumsAt first glance, Raul Arias (‘14) may seem like any other Paly athlete, but this

a completely different element.

AROUND THE BEND Raul Arias (‘14) chooses to compete in track cycling over team sports offered by Paly. Arias has competed in both the Junior Nationals and the Juniors Track World Championships.

SPEED RACER (Above) Raul Arias (‘14) leans into a turn during a race. Arias races almost every week, either locally agaist team-mates at the Hellyer Park Vel-lodrome or in more prestigious ones around California.

VELODROME (Below) Cyclists ride around the Hellyer Park Velo-drome in San Jose while prepar-ing for a race late in the afternoon. Raul Arias (‘14) trains and races there during the week as part of an intense workout routine.

“Every year that he rides until he’s 25 he’s go-ing to get significantly stronger,” Arias’ coach David McCook said. “He’s going to get a lot stronger and a lot more race experience. Over-all, I think he has a really good shot at going to the Olympics.” The surprising part about Arias’ success is that he has only been track cycling for two years. This seemingly impossible rise to the top, however, was set up by years of cycling growing up. “He first started riding around the neigh-borhood,” Fabiola Arias-Lopez, Arias’ mother, said. “Then he got really into it and started do-ing real races.” Although Arias started riding a bike at a young age, it took him a while to find passion. Before he ever started track cycling, Arias rode a fixie, or a fixed gear bike. A free wheel on regular bikes allows the rider to coast without pedaling, but on fixies, the pedals are moving at all times. In addition to riding a fixie, Arias also rode BMX, mountain biked and participated in what he called street races. The races took place throughout a few different cities and test-ed a participant’s riding skills as well as their problem solving. “They would give us checkpoints like Jamba Juice in Palo Alto,” Arias said. “We’d have to go there as fast as we could and [use] whatever route we wanted to take. Somebody would be there, and they would sign a paper. Then we would go to the next one and the next one and the next one. You had to complete all of them and then go to where you started and whoever got there first won.” For Arias, street racing only encompassed about a year. Much of his early riding consisted of riding with his friends in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was during one of these rides that Arias was told about track cy-cling by professional road rider Martin Acosta.

OCTOBER 2013

[When I’m riding], all the stress and everything I’m going through just goes

away. I’m in my own little world up in the mountains; I just feel free.

“”

PACK MENTALITY Raul Arias (‘14) vies for the lead against his teammates at the Hellyer Park Velodrome. Arias’ success in track cycling has the potential to take him to the Olympics in 2016.

Arias and a couple of his friends were out riding on their fixies in the foothills and were heading home when they ran into Acosta and a few of his friends. Acosta took the whole group to a steep hill and they all raced up to the top. Surprisingly, Arias and his friends, despite having fixies, beat Acosta and his friends’ road bikes up the hill. The extra gears should have given Acosta and his friends an advantage, but Arias and his friends beat them nonetheless. At the top of the hill, Acosta turned to Arias. “He [said], ‘Man, you should start racing track...On Tuesday I’ll take you to watch,’” Arias said. “I went, and I liked it” After that day, Arias’ cycling career was never the same. While watching races, he met a few guys at the track who per-suaded him to join the San Jose Bicycle Club. That was two years ago, and ever since, Arias has been training, racing and making a name for himself as a junior cyclist. Arias’ weekdays are filled with cycling. Practices and races en-compass nearly every day of the week. Besides a race on Wednesday or Friday of most weeks, Arias uses almost every other day for training purposes. Training constitutes a few different routines. Mondays are often easy rides or rest days, but Tuesdays and Thursdays are spent at the track. On the weekends, Arias goes on long rides of six or seven hours in the foothills. When races approach, motorpacing becomes a key part of training. Motorpacing consists of Arias keeping pace with a motor-cycle going at race pace or slightly above for

spans of 10-15 minutes. This simulates racing and prepares Arias for the actual competitions. Arias trains at the Hellyer Park Velodrome in San Jose. Velodromes, or tracks for cycling, like the Hellyer Park Velodrome, have steeply banked sides to allow the cyclists to ride at top speed without flying off the course. Cyclists ride fixed gear bikes without brakes around an oval track. Arias uses the Hellyer Park Velo-

drome for both practicing and racing. After practicing, Arias heads home. With long sessions of his day taken up by cycling, fitting in everything else is often difficult. “I train for four hours, come home pretty late, eat and try to do my homework,” Arias said. “Sometimes I don’t finish it because I’m tired from training” Arias’ mom agreed that her son has a busy schedule. She noted that he often does not have time to hang out with friends. Addition-ally, she mentioned the changes that Arias’ cy-cling career make to her family’s life. “This is something new for our family,” Arias-Lopez said. “It’s more busy when we’re going here and there to different places, but it can be exciting and fun.” Track cycling also serves a restorative pur-

pose. School, family and friends may some-times put stress on Arias’ life, but cycling has always been an outlet for him to get away from his problems. “[When I’m riding], every stress and every-thing I’m going through just goes away,” Arias said. “I’m in my own little world up in the mountains. I just feel free.” With many high school students trying to

find ways to keep their stress levels down, Arias seems to have his locked down completely. This love of riding translates to racing, where Arias uses his intense desire to win and love for the sport to fuel himself. According to

McCook, Arias’ greatest weakness is overall physical strength. Since Arias has been train-ing for a mere two years, other cyclists current-ly have an advantage over him in this aspect. The good thing about this weakness, though, unlike many others, is that training can solve it single handedly. Arias’ mental composure, on the other hand, is much more difficult to learn. “He is very strong hearted,” McCook said. “In order to push yourself as hard as you need to, you have to have that will to win, and he definitely has that.” Arias’ will to win should keep him on track for the rest of his cycling career. Where he goes with his talents, only time will tell, but one thing is certain: With the Olympics coming up in three years, Paly’s next Olympian may be racing towards the spotlight. <<<


-Raul Arias (‘14)

Last year’s co-ed Paly golf team left Michelle Xie (‘15) wanting more. This year she has high hopes for the all-girls team.

by MADDIE KINNAMAN and HAYLEY POOREphotos courtesy of Michelle Xie

At first glance, Michelle Xie (‘15) looks like any other Paly student. However, she has a special talent: Xie is one of the best golfers at Paly. She is currently ranked 126 out of the over 2000 girls ranked

on the Junior Golf Scoreboard. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Xie is the first avid golfer in her fam-ily, and she is attaining more and more success with each match she plays. Xie is co-captain of the newly established girls’ golf team, whose inaugural season started this fall. Xie has been playing golf for close to half of her 15 years. She began playing golf when her mom decided to sign her up for a summer golf camp at

Driving for Success

You don’t have to be the stereotypical ath-lete. You don’t have to be very physical or any-

thing. It’s a lot of a mental game.

“”

the Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course when she was eight years old. Xie learned that she enjoyed playing golf after taking the camp and decided she wanted to continue to play. After starting her golf career at Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course, Xie still practices and competes there every week for the Vikings. “Well, originally, my mom kind of just put me in a sum-mer camp, but after that it was mostly me wanting to play,” Xie said. Following her experience at camp, Xie start-ed to pick up the game more and more and began practicing at the Palo Alto Hills Golf Course, where she still practices, and plays on the summer team. Xie’s passion for her sport shines through when she talks about golf. She enjoys the men-tal aspect involved in playing the game along with the game’s competitiveness. “You don’t have to be the stereotypical ath-

lete. You don’t have to be very physical or any-thing. It’s a lot of a mental game,” Xie said. Xie has received much praise from both her coach and her teammates, not only for her dedication to her outstanding golf career so far, but also for how well she handles herself both on and off the golf course. “She’s motivating because she tries her best,”

co-captain Annie Chen (‘14) said. “She’s al-ways at the top of her game.” Girls’ golf coach Doyle Knight echos Chen’s praise, adding that Xie helps to inspire the rest of the girls’ golf team to do the best that they can. “When she was a freshman she was very quiet,” Knight said. “Now I see that she is a

little more outspoken and she’s a great leader because she’s such a great player”. Xie is extremely dedicated to playing golf, practicing five to six times a week. She ad-mits, however, that school can interfere with her practice schedule. She competes in golf-ing tournaments located mostly on the West Coast, but has started traveling to tournaments

cross country recently. Last year Xie traveled across the coun-try to compete in tournaments in both Wash-ington, D.C. and Pennsylvania. Xie’s dedica-tion to golf often takes away from

her practice time with the Paly golf team be-cause of a scholarship agreement she has with the Palo Alto Hills Golf Course that requires her to practice at their course. Despite this, she still makes the effort to go the extra mile as a leader for the girls’ team when she attends Paly practices. One of the largest obstacles for Xie to over-

MID-SWING Xie takes her first shot of the hole off the tee. She participates in both local and cross country tournaments on her own as well as playing on the Palo Alto High School golf team.

-Michelle Xie (‘15)


come during her time as a golfer has been her battle to return from surgery last year that forced her to take a four-month leave from her competitive golfing career. “I had surgery on my knee last September and I had to stop golf for four months and that put me behind my competition a lot,” Xie said. “Coming back into the season I really wanted to do well and put myself back up there.” With the goal of returning to her pre-surgery status as a competitive golfer, Xie rehabilitated her knee and made a strong comeback during Paly’s co-ed golf season last year. Even so, she returned from surgery to face yet another ob-stacle she had to overcome. During last year’s season Paly only entered the boys’ Central Coast Section (CCS) championship, not allow-ing Xie to compete individually in the tourna-ment. Despite this disappointment, Xie admits

playing against the boys throught the season had its perks, as she was able to challenge her-self to work her way back into the game follow-ing her recovery from her knee surgery. “It was good for me playing on the boys’ team,” Xie said. “Coming back from my sur-gery I had somewhere to go, I had somewhere to just start again. Starting at small matches and working up, that really helped me.” Xie has come a long way as a golfer since she first played at a camp when she was eight years old, and now has aspirations of continuing on and playing golf at a Division I school. As the first season of girl’s golf progresses, Xie plans on continuing the success she has had thus far and doing even better during the fall season. She has set high goals not only for herself but for the team as a whole. While Xie hopes to continue her golf career post high school, and

has already started to look at different possible universities, she is focusing on the immediate future for now. With the season of girls’ golf well underway, Xie has high hopes for the all-girls’ team. <<< ON THE GREEN (Upper left) Xie sets down the ball before taking a shot.TEAM PHOTO (Top right) The 2013 co-ed Paly golf team at Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course. SWINGING (Bottom left) Xie takes a swing out on the golf course.LOOKING (Bottom right) Xie looks ahead to where she wants to place her shot.

OCTOBER 2013

Constantly passing by the sign that reads “Free lawn bowling lessons,” down Churchill Ave-nue on the corner of Churchill and Waverley, The Viking de-cided to look into the sport

and club that the Palo Alto community had little to no knowledge of. They decided to try it out and share their experience in The Viking Tries for the Paly community. The Viking con-tacted John Hickson, professional lawn bowler and president of the Lawn Bowls Club, for some insight and lessons on the historic sport. Upon arriving, just a few block away from Paly, we rolled up to the club. Located next to Gamble Gardens, the location was quaint and peaceful with a few men playing a nice game of lawn bowling. Inside, next to the bowling green, was a club house with all the equipment and a lounging area. Knowing little to nothing about the sport, we had no clue what to expect. Luckily, Hickerson was able to give us back-ground and insight on the sport. For those who have no knowledge of lawn bowling, it’s not bowling or anything remotely similar. It’s a bowl, varying in sizes, depending on the size of your hands. After selecting a set (four bowls), we learned the rules and objective of the game. The gist of the game is to get your bowls as close as possible to the jack (a smaller bowl rolled by the winning team). The tech-nique is to swing your arm in a swift smooth motion while taking a lunging step forward (picture above). However, one side of the disks is heavier and will gradually turn the way of the heavier side. This causes you to make pre-cise placement on your toss towards the Jack. Ami, Chris, and Paul each got a chance to try bowling. After mastering down the technique,

Learn more about The Viking’s day spent at the Gamble Gar-dens Lawn Bowling Green and their bowling session instructed by coach John Hikson.

by AMI DREZ

TICK-TOCK Ami Drez threw her first bowl with guidance from prefssional lawn Bolwer John Hickson. Hickson reccomends to swing in a tick-tcok motion while taking a lunge.

tries

... a relaxing, therapeu-tic sport that can easily be

picked up“

”

low. If you’re ever in need for some good wood, stop by the club on Sunday’s for free lessons to enjoy some relaxing, therapeutic lawn bowl-

ing among some wise men, where you will gain in-sight on the sport and

perhaps, on life. <<<

they (including Hickson) tried a more compet-itive round, following one another after every attempt. In a close tie between the professional lawn bowler and ama-teur Drez, Drez was closest to the Jack and won the point! Overall, The Viking felt lawn bowl-ing was a relaxing way to spend a nice afternoon, and is a sport that can easily be picked up with a few of our tips be-

Lawn Bowling

photos by Paul Bienaimé


TIPS:• Swing arm in a “tick- tock”motion back

andforth• Beconsistentinthemotion• You want just enough power behind your

swing.Nottoohard,nottoosoft• Aim foraspot that is skewed to the leftor

right to give enoughmargin for the heavierdiskturning

• Takealungeinaswiftmotionforward• With every throw keep in mind what you

couldhavedonethelasttimetogetasclosetotheJackaspossible

• Don’tforgettomakesuretheheaviersideisontheinnerpalmofyourhand

• Andmostimportantlyhavefun!

Lawn Bowling

BOWLING GARDEN Located on the corner of Churchill and Waverley, the bowling green is set in a beautiful loaction next to Gamble Gardens. BOWLING RINK The bowling lawn is perfect on nice sunny day with grass freshly cut to perfection, making for the ultimate lawn bowling experi-ence.CLUB HOUSE Inside is an air cond-tioned lounge where you can sip a cold glass of lemonade and relax af-ter a nice game of bowling.PRO-BOWLER John Hickson, profes-sional lawn bowler and preisdent of the Palo Alto Lawn Bowls club give The Viking a lesson on the well-de-fined sport.

OCTOBER 2013

GROSSERthan you think

Due to the recent outbreaks of Staphylococcus aureus (staph) infection in California high school athletic facilities, The Viking decided to conduct a test determining how clean the Paly ath-letic facilities really are. After swabbing the weight room bench-press barbell, wrestling mats and boys’ locker room doorknob, the collected bacteria was placed in petri dishes and left in an incubator for 12 days to culture. Shown on the next page are the petri dishes photographed at five, eight and 12 days.

Benchpress barbell

Locker roomdoorknob

Wrestling mat

26 | THE VIKING | www.vikingsportsmag.com

by MEGAN VALENCIA and JULIA SAUL

GROSSERthan you think

Wrestling mat

Benchpress barbell

Locker room doorknob

Although Paly athletic facilities are cleaned daily, it’s up to the athletes to help keep the equipment clean and the school infection-free. Here are some tips:

Day 5 Day 8 Day 12

Day 5

Day 5 Day 8

Day 8

Day 12

Day 12St

ay C

lean

1) Wipe down the athletic equipment after use2) Wash hands regularly3) Always cover open wounds

OCTOBER 2013

by CHRIS SMITH

Despite a near victory in last year’s Super Bowl, the 49ers have not had a promising start to the ongoing NFL season. As the season con-tinues, the niners are look-

ing more like Mark Sanchez and the 2012-13 New York Jets. Once Colin Kaepernick seized the start-ing quarterback job from Alex Smith midway

through the season, he instantly turned the once-conservative 49ers offense into one of the most explosive and high-powered units in the NFL. With a more experienced Kaepernick at the helm of the offense, complemented by a defense patrolled by Patrick Willis, Navarro Bowman and Justin Smith and company, the Niners looked to be unstoppable coming into the 2013-14 season. The 49ers had set almost unreachable expec-

tations after last year’s amazing performance; anything less than a 3-0 start to the season would have been a failure. Although they argu-ably had the most talented roster in the NFL, the Niners disappointed their fans and came out flat against the Seattle Seahawks on the road and the Indianapolis Colts at home. The 49ers have lost their last two games by a combined score of 56-10. Fault lies in both the offense and the defense, and this is the first

Crisis Mode? Code Red and Gold


HOME FIELD The San Francisco 49ers franchise contend for its sixth Super Bowl title in its final season at Candlestick Park; the Niners will be moving to Santa Clara for the 2014-2015 season.

time the Niners have been below .500 under coach Jim Harbaugh. To make matters worse, defensive end Al-don Smith, who recorded 19.5 sacks last sea-son, was recently arrested for his second DUI in two years along with illegal possession of illegal substance and sent to rehab for an in-definite amount of time. The 49ers general manager Jed York cleared out Smith locker af-ter the Indianapolis Colts game and Smith was ordered to leave the facility. Harbaugh’s decision to play Smith despite his arrest just two days before the game was widely questioned. If I was Harbaugh, I would have benched Smith to send a strong message to the team. By allowing him to play, it sends the wrong message that even if team and feder-al laws are broken, no penalty will be enforced. If less impact players like kicker Phil Dawson or backup running back Anthony Dixon were involved, Harbaugh would have probably han-dled the situation differently. Today’s sports era is all about winning and of course Harbaugh is going to start Smith be-cause he is one of the best pass rushers in the league. For this reason alone I understand why some fans don’t condemn Harbaugh for the move but it overall conveys a bad characteris-tic of the team and its fans. There are also other off-the-field issues for the Niners that have caused distractions for the

team. Linebacker Ahmad Brooks hit a team-mate on the head with a beer bottle in a June incident. Kaepernick’s favorite target Michael Crabtree suffered a potential season ending Achilles injury during preseason workouts. The Niners cannot afford such incidents this season if they want any chance at their sixth Super Bowl championship in franchise history. For the first time under Jim Harbaugh, the defense looks vulnerable. The niner defense

has always been the heart and soul of the team, and despite the 49ers’ offensive struggles in past years, the defense has been able to carry the team. However, due to the loss of Aldon Smith, and All-Pro linebacker Patrick Willis

with a groin injury, this hiccup in the usually impenetrable Jim Harbaugh defense may be harder to overcome than one may think. Along with these losses, the largest problem the 49ers have on defense is that they are on the field for too long, as their offensive is unable to sustain any drives. The offense has been absolutely abysmal. Af-ter lighting up the Green Bay Packers to the tune of 412 yards, 3 TDs and no interceptions,

Kaepernick has thrown for a combined 277 yards, 0 TDs, 4 INTs and has fumbled twice. One major problem that the 49ers are hav-ing is their inability to protect Kaepernick. He has faced constant pressure, which has led to inaccurate and ill-advised throws. Secondly, the 49ers’ rushing attack, something they rely on heavily, has been much slower this year. The Niners have averaged only 101.3 rushing yards per game (20th in the NFL), which is down from 165.5 ypg (tied for best in the NFL) last season. As more teams are focusing on stop-ping the run, more pressure has been placed on the right arm of Colin Kaepernick. Despite a horrific 1-2 start, the 49ers’ season is not over. Do not panic, Niner Faithful. Niner football is still at an all time high. The season is not over. The read option that was so highly utilized last year is still effective even though more defenses are adapting to the new style of play in the NFL. In order for this style of play to be effective, offensive coordinator Greg Ro-man must establish the read option early while also mixing in an air raid passing game. This NFL offseason has been one of the most hectic ever. Shockingly, the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs have both started out 3-0 while the Washington Redskins, New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings have started out 0-3. Any team can beat anyone and there are no clear-cut favorites to represent each re-

RUN IT Running back Frank Gore celebrates his first TD of the year.

spected conference in the Super Bowl. The 49ers still have one of the most talented and complete rosters in the NFL, and have enough weapons surrounding Kaepernick to solve the puzzle on offense. If Coach Harbaugh and offensive coordina-tor Greg Roman can jumpstart the offense, it will take enough pressure off the defense to transform this mess of a team back into a Su-per Bowl contender. <<<

OCTOBER 2013

The lights are brighter. The stakes, higher. All eyes are on him.

Palo Alto High School gradu-ate Davante Adams (‘11) is no stranger to success. Adams, one of the top college receivers in the country, has had his share of hardships. This year Adams

looks to prove just how talented he really is. Adams started playing football his junior year in high school. Now a junior at Fresno State, he is currently on the watch list for the Biletnikoff Award, given each year in college football to the top receiver. Adams is among several great players competing for this award. Past recipients of the Biletnikoff Award often

become high draft picks in the NFL. As a sophomore in high school, Adams watched the football team practice every day craving to play the game. Sidelined because of a serious arm injury he had sustained in Pop Warner, the threat of an amputation lingered over his dreams of the football field he was born to play on. Davante, now 6’2’’ and 216 pounds with a 4.46 second 40-meter time, was a two-sport high school sensation. “He played basketball freshman and sopho-more year,” former Paly head basketball coach Peter Diepenbrock said. “Somewhere in there

he just took off ... he was a great varsity basket-ball player. He was the star of the team.” Adams averaged 15 points and eight re-bounds a game and was heavily recruited. De-spite his success in basketball, it was football that he would choose to pursue. Head football coach Earl Hansen recognized Adams’ potential, but had no idea how good he would be. After all, it was his first year ever playing in a high school football game. In Ad-ams’ initial football season he had a total of 29 receptions for 484 yards and 7 touchdowns. “I knew he was an extremely talented athlete right away, it was pretty obvious. He just kept

DAVANTE ADAMSthe Pride and the Passion

by GILLIAN CHRYST and KATIE FOUG

photo courtesy of Davante Adams

FLEX Davante Adams (11’) is quickly rising to the top as he has become one of the nation’s best receivers.


“THE CATCH” Adams catches the hail mary pass agaisnt Archbishop Mit-ty to win the CCS quaterfinals 13-10, and they went on the win state.

getting better and better,” Hansen said. Adams had a superb junior year, but as a se-nior his statistics doubled, with 64 receptions for 1,094 yards and 11 touchdowns. “He was really part of the big picture,” Han-sen said. “He was part of the whole team that was special. They had a ton of im-pact. He was just one of them. He was a matchup terror as far as the other team. They didn’t know what to do with him and Maurice Wil-liams (‘11) and then TJ Braff (‘11) and Michael Cullen (‘11) then the two running backs. We were a nightmare to play against.” Adams’ performance in the Central Coast Section (CCS) division game against Arch-bishop Mitty was a turning point in the Vi-kings’ road to the state title. “It was pouring rain. If he didn’t catch it the game was over and we were out of it, but he made the catch,” Paly teacher and football an-nouncer Mike McNulty said. “It’s one of those things that you always hear about but you don’t think you are ever going to see.” The score was 10-6 Mitty, with 36 seconds left in the game, it was fourth and goal 21 yards out, the quarterback, Christoph Bono (11’), dropped back in the pouring rain and found Adams in the endzone for a miracle catch to win the game 13-10. “It was the biggest catch of my life. Bono threw a great a pass. The officials were making sure I had two feet inbounds. I had three. We’re a team of destiny.” Adams told the Palo Alto Daily Newspaper immediately following the game. Adams’ legendary catch is still echoed throughout the Paly football community to-day. Bono still credits Davante for making that season so special. “I definitely have to thank him for most of that season and for making that catch,” Bono said. The “catch” may have been the greatest mark he left on Paly football history; however, his at-titude was something that defined him every day. “He never ever showed attitude,” Hansen said. “ He had to really buckle down senior year second semester. He had to get an extra class to be eligible to have a scholarship to Fresno State and he did it. He was still lifting weights, he did it all. When it came to crunch time he was able to do it.” Adams’ hard work both in the classroom and on the field have paid off. “He will probably go the farthest from all the players that have come through Paly,” Hansen said. It would be fair to say that Hansen’s predic-tions have been more than accurate. Adams is regarded by experts as the number eight re-

ceiver in the 2015 NFL draft class should he decide to declare at the end of his junior year. “He is on everyone’s draft list already,” Han-sen said. Adams redshirted his freshman year, but one year later he was named Mountain West

Freshman of the year after he led the confer-ence in receptions, yards and touchdowns. He received a honorable mention from Sports Il-lustrated to the red shirt freshman watch list. This year Adams already has 4 touchdowns and 289 yards in only the first three games; his hard work has caught some major attention, helping him receive numerous awards. In his most recent game against Boise State

he had 12 receptions for 110 yards. His one touchdown catch marked the 11th consecutive game where he has scored, nearing the NCAA record of 18. Adams was named to the 2013 preseason Mountain West all conference team, 3rd and

4th preseason Al l -Amer ican team, and Col-lege Football P e r f o r m a n c e Awards [CFPA] wide receiver

trophy watch list. Adams’ athleticism paired with a competi-tive attitude are what have brought him so much success in so little time. “He is a very proud individual. He does not like to fail,” McNulty said. “That is one of the main reasons why he was so successful here and a huge reason why he is doing so well in Fresno.” <<<

He will probably go the farthest from all the players that have come through Paly.

- coach Earl Hansen“ ”

photo by Allie Kershner

OCTOBER 2013


Looking around the walls of the weight room, anyone would find things they would expect in a gym: posters detailing the perfect tech-nique for doing shoulder presses, the names of some recent and not-

so-recent students who have benched about 300 pounds, even mirrors for spotting the flaw in your bicep curl. But a certain plaque has a bigger story behind it. A story that has meaning and purpose. A story that remembers things that have since long passed by, a story that one would not know unless they stopped and read the plaque. Under-neath the buildup of dust, they can make out the words: Captain Steve Silver. Paul Gullixson (‘78) probably knew Silver (‘78) better than most. “We grew up in Crescent Park together, we went to Crescent Park Elementary,” Gullixson said. “I knew Steve, probably since kindergarten.” Going to the same schools since you were five

Steve Silver’s (‘78) athletic legacy inspires those who remember him to live life to the fullest.

by ALEX MURRAY

photos courtsey of Paul Guillixson and Robert French

ON THE LINE Silver playing against Gunn. The Viking would win the City Cham-pionship by beating Gunn and Cubberly.

SilverLining

OCTOBER 2013

The

THE JORDAN DOLPHIN Silver at Jordan Middle School in 1974.

LITTLE LEAGUE Silver (2nd row, far left) and Guillixson (1st row, far right) on their championship-winning Pacific Coast League (PCL) team.

He was always willing to take on new adventures. Steve never wanted to be afraid to try something new.

“

“- Paul Gullixson (‘78)

allows you to learn how people change over time: how their friends change, how they change, how their interests change. But for Steve, it was always about sports. Before iPads or PS3s were the go-to source of entertainment, kids filled their days with fierce competition in sport. Silver, Gullixson and the rest of their friends in their neighbor-hood were no exception. “What I remember the most is that we would ride around Saturday and knock on friends’ doors to go to play a baseball or bas-ketball game and Steve was always eager to come out,” Gullixson said. “We spent a lot of time outdoors.” Silver’s love of sports first came to fruition in

1971, when he, Gullixson and the other boys from the Crescent Park neighborhood won the Pacific Coast League Little League Champion-ship. It would be something that had a lasting impact on all of the boys on the team, espe-cially Silver. “Steve was always a terrific athlete...Steve played third base mostly as I remember, which was his personality,” Gullixson said. “When playing sports, he always wanted to be in the thick of things.” Eventually, the Crescent Park boys grew


up and found themselves at Paly. They were older, but their love of sports remained. They still enjoyed the thrill of sliding into second in a plume of dust, dribbling on concrete courts until their hands were black with dirt and toss-ing last-second game-winning touchdowns to each other. Silver played varsity football in 1978. He was still in the thick of action, and, according to Gullixson, he was someone you would not want to play against. “He was not the biggest linemen, but he was very competitive,” Gullixson said. “He was the nicest guy in the world, but when you got him on the field, he was a tough competitor.” After 1978, the Crescent Park men went

their separate ways. Many headed off to col-lege, Silver, however, would join the Air Force. “ I was very proud of him when I heard he became a pilot,” Gullixson said. “He was al-ways willing to take on new adventures. Steve never wanted to be afraid to try something new. That’s something I admired about him.” As the years wore on, the men all wanted to meet up. They wanted to share the good mem-ories that they had with each other and catch up. By then, Silver was out of the military and had become a flight instructor.

He was still an avid athlete, and had become a biathlete. Naturally, what brought together all of his friends was their love of sports. He sent out mail to all of his Crescent Park friends, inviting them to play a game of touch football. They would play during the holiday season, when they came back to Palo Alto to visit their family. Year after year he sent out mail, and year after year his friends came. They continued to play the annual game un-til 1991, when the unthinkable happened. Sil-ver was flying to Tahoe, attempting to teach yet another student how to fly. Little did he know this would be his last flight ever. Silver and his co-pilot crashed. “It was devastating for everybody involved,”

Paly football coach Earl Hansen said.Silver’s family and friends wanted something to remember him by. His entire life had re-volved around sports and living life to the fullest, so it was fitting when those who knew Steve donated gym equipment to Paly. Gullix-son believed it was the right thing to do. “My senior year, he was always in the weight room,“ Gullixson said. “He did everything he could to improve his strength.” Silver’s friends still play the annual football game, but it is now named the Silver Bowl. It

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS Silver (#60 shown in the third row) on the 1978 varsity football team that captured the City Championship.

BACK IN THE DAY Silver’s senior year-book picture at Paly in 1978.

OCTOBER 2013

VIKING FOREVER The plaque dedicated to Steve Silver that hangs in the Paly weight room me-morializes his ath-letic and strong spirit. Captain Sil-ver’s friends and family donated the gym equipment that resides in the gym. Pictured on the plaque is a pho-tograph portraying Silver in a biathlon, something he had picked up after his athletic campaign as a Viking.

from. Charlie Stephenson (‘16) and Zach Kirk (‘16) both use the equipment, but when asked if they knew who Steve Silver was, they both replied: “No”. Maybe it’s fitting, in today’s world where professional athlete’s demand multi-million dollar contracts and are expected to appear at red-carpet events, Silver’s pure love for sport is a refreshing reminder of why we play sports:

because it is what we love. And that’s impor-tant, because he still inspires his friends and family today, who carry a piece of Silver with them. “He was never in a bad mood and he always had a smile,” Gullixson said. “I never had any-thing bad to say about Steve. I wish that I could grow old with him.” <<<

is an appropriate name, reminding the players of who inspired them to play back when they were ten. “I always remember he was ready to play something,” Gullixson said. “We used to play sunny or rainy, it didn’t matter. He was always ready to play.” The gym equipment is still there, though those who use it do not know where it came

by PRISCILLA BELL and ZOE BHARGAVA

As fall sports at Paly begin their seasons, players grum-ble about setting early alarms on the weekend, having to be at school twice in one day and running countless laps

around the track. This is hell week - the re-turn to school sports from an easy summer. It works to get players into shape so they can take on the new season without facing the possibil-ity of tiring out. Hell week is unique to the fall sports of foot-ball, volleyball and water polo, and typically takes place a week or two before the start of school. Practices, which are often long or early in the morning, focus on strength and condi-tioning in order to get athletes ready for the long seasons ahead of them. Previously, these practices fell in the week leading up to the first day of school, allowing multiple, rigorous practices in one day to be less early in the morning and more manage-able. However, this year, hell week was forced to be during school due to the fall sport start date of August 16 set by the Central Coast Sec-tion (CCS). Though the CCS date has never before served as a problem for fall sports, the early shift in Paly’s schedule last year became an issue with this year’s regulated start date. Because of this, school and sports started at the same time for fall sport athletes. For coaches, this meant that their pre-season schedules had to be shortened.

An infamous week full of conditioning and morning practice whips fall athletes into shape before they can take on the season.

SUNRISE SWIM The girls’ water polo team swims at their regular season morning practice. They had 5:30 a.m. practices during hell week.

photos by Zoe Bhargava

ONEHELLOFA WEEK


“This year was quite unique because we did not get to start before the school year started,” girl’s water polo coach Danny Dye said. “I did not do a traditional hell week.” In years past, all three sports have had in-tense hell week practices, but with Paly’s new schedule and legal practice starting the day after school did, only water polo continued to run something similar to a “regular” hell week. “[Hell week is] a pretty big tradition here at Paly,” varsity water polo player Tess van Hulsen (‘15) said. The water polo schedule has always been long and demanding of players’ time, even this year with the schedule change. “Our first practice was 6:00 a.m. on Friday and then again at 3:45 p.m. that day,” varsity water polo captain Omri Newman (‘14) said. “And we had a Saturday practice 9:00-12:00, and then the whole next school week Mon-day through Friday we had a morning prac-tice from 6:00 a.m. - 7:30 a.m. And then had [two hour practices] every afternoon that week.” In comparison to water polo, volleyball and football had less intense hell weeks than usual due to the early start of school. Both volley-ball and football had only one double day on the Saturday after the first day of school - a much less time intensive training than that of the water polo teams. Their preseason day was focused solely on fitness.

OCTOBER 2013

“In hell week we do a lot of conditioning, so we go on the track and usually run 400s, 200s, 100s, and it’s just all conditioning, really,” var-sity wide receiver Eli Givens (‘16) said. Volleyball had a similar experience. “It’s a lot of running, and a lot of pretty much just nonstop around the track and core and bleachers,” varsity volleyball player Claire Krugler (‘16) said. During their hell week, water polo also tries to build up their stamina by spending the ma-jority of their week focussing on purely swim-ming without working on skills or ballwork. “During hell week, the first couple days are just swimming; you don’t even see or touch a ball,” Newman said. “It’s all just much harder. The legwork we do is way more intense; it’s way harder. You’re trying to build muscle; you’re trying to get [back] in shape.” Getting into shape is what all the sports fo-cused on in their hell week, no matter how long. A high fitness level leads to a beneficial season coming right off of summer. Later is when coaches can work on skills and the game. “You’re trying to get a strong cardio built, so you’re doing more cardio wise, and you’re hit-ting them kind of hard so they get a base built about two weeks in, then you can go from that base from there on out,” Dye said. Throughout the years, water polo’s hell week has long been recognized as a very rigorous set of practices, and now even more so that play-ers were balancing school work and two prac-

tices a day, because of the clash between the CCS start date and school start date. Despite coaches having to recognize that school was starting as well as hell week, practices were still long and intense. “It really impacted how much sleep I got, when I had to go to bed, when I did my home-work and all of that,” varsity girls’ water polo player Izzy Kelley (‘17) said. “So, it was [a hard adjustment].” The balance between getting in the neces-sary practices and giving the student-athletes enough rest to manage their work was a situ-ation that the coaches faced for the first time during hell week.

“You hope that you can do the right amount,” Dye said. “You have to balance it out between how are the kids’ aches and pains, and how is their mental stability, how is their class work load, are they ready to be fried. And so you do the best you can.” With the shortened schedule teams look op-timistic towards their seasons despite irregular preseason training. “I think our team will be fine,” Givens said. “I think we’re going to be pretty good this year, so I don’t think that [having less practices] will affect us.”

The volleyball team still managed to get in conditioning without a whole week of double-days, and is already starting their season off strong. “When we had [hell week] for a week, it was all the activities spread out,” varsity volleyball player Jade Schoenberger (‘15) said. “[This year] was just everything on one day. I think either way you have to be ready [for the work].” While preseason hell week practices often serve as the first mental test of the season, they are also a very difficult physical test. It shows what the fall sport athletes are capable of and what they can achieve in their upcoming sea-son. Only a week long hell week shows the

teams are still ready for the season. “Teams are teams because they want to work hard and they want to succeed,” Dye said. “I think this is a good group of girls. I think they want to suc-ceed, I think they want to play hard. I don’t think

it’s going to be a deterrent at all.” By building up stamina and cardio in the time they have, coaches can then focus on get-ting players’ skills up. Players recognize the beneficial part of hell week, despite the exten-sive time and effort needed to put into it. They know that it will help for the season in the long run. “I think [hell week] is a necessary part of a fall sport,” Newman said. “It may suck during it because it is very painful, but it is the only way to get in shape after a very long summer.” <<<

It’s all just much harder. The legworkwe do is way more intense ... You’re trying to build muscle; you’re trying

to get [back] in shape.- Omri Newman (‘14)

“”

JUST KEEP SWIMMING The water polo teams spend the majority of their hell week conditioning in the pool swimming a multitude of laps. Unlike the rest of the season, the focus is not on ballwork or skills.


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[Bicycle motocross] taught me that I am responsible for myself and how people see

me; If I wanted to do something, I could do it. All I needed was to work hard and to be hon-

est with myself.

Sitting in a small wooden desk in a Paly classroom listening to a teacher, one would normally focus on the words coming out of the teacher’s mouth. A student might focus so

much energy on doing well in a class that they take little time to think about who their teach-ers really are, and who they were. Looking up at a teacher, a student may find it hard to pic-ture their teacher as a teenager, harder yet to imagine that teacher as an accomplished ath-lete. However, Paly is full of teachers who one did and still do participate in competitions. From a BMX racer to a ballroom dancer, it seems that Paly teachers have done it all. But one important question remains: “Who are Paly’s teacher-athletes?”

At a young age, Paly English teacher Craig Bark participated in a sport that not many kids play. Bark was involved in bicy-cle motocross (BMX), or racing

20 inch BMX bikes around a dirt track. “I started when I was 11 years old,” Bark said. “I had ridden on bikes my entire life and I had a friend who started racing. I went with him, realized I was good and kept going.” A big part of racing back in 1983 was getting sponsorships from various bike shops or fran-chises to support travel to global events and to build up a name for oneself. “I started rac-ing with no spon-sors, then a bike shop wanted to give me parts and discounts if I wore their jerseys,” Bark said. “I was eventu-ally sponsored by big factory teams, such as GT and Torker, once I got really good.” Bark competed in almost every state in the country, as well as in Holland, Germany and Australia. Bark credits his parents’ support as a key to his suc-cess in BMX. “My dad would work extra jobs just to get me money so I could travel,” Bark said. “The

company did pay for a lot but I did need spending money for food and things of that sort. They did it as long as I kept a B average.” Bark was able to excel and stand out in the

amateur racing world mainly because of one important race in Morgan Hill. “There is this one weekend in my life where I became famous,” Bark said. “I was racing for Robinson [an original BMX company]. I was doing well. Then I started doing really well. I started winning national events, which is where people from all over the country come and race.” Bark’s improvement in his racing sparked the attention of GT, who approached his fa-ther, informing him that if Bark performed well in Morgan Hill, he could have a spot on the team. Bark did just that, which took his career to the next level.The more successful Bark became, the more opportunities he had

“

”

to travel for competitions. “When I was on GT we had to go to bike shops. We had to make appearances over the summer tour. We had to be in a certain city

on a certain day. I had a schedule...I had to sign auto-graphs, prac-tice, race, and go back to the hotel.” I n 1983, Bark traveled to Australia at the age of 13 and became the

world champion for his age group. Two years after this, Bark decided to quit motocrossing. “I stopped because I didn’t love what I did and I didn’t want to ride my bike every day,” Bark said. “After becoming an English major I realized I wanted to be an English teacher and I wanted to work for the best school possible. That is why I came to Paly.” Bark credits motocrossing with teaching him many valuable life skills, including how to handle finances and negotiate with companies. “It made me confident,” Bark said. “It taught me that I am responsible for myself and how people see me and if I wanted to do something I could do it. All I needed was to work hard and be honest with myself.”

GAME DAY Craig Bark (number 11) races alongside Mike Miranda in 1982. Bark raced bicycle motocross for four years, traveling across the country and internationally for competitions.

-Craig Bark

IN THEIR ELEMENT Craig Bark (top left), Michelle Steingart (top right), Melissa Laptalo (bottom left) and Shirley Tokheim (bot-tom right) are among many Paly teachers with competitive ath-letic pasts.

Craig Bark

OCTOBER 2013

Even though Bark does not race anymore, he still keeps up with the sport. “I go to the BMX hall of fame every year,” Bark said. “I’m not in it but most of my friends are, I didn’t race long enough.” His experience in racing also helps him connect with his stu-dents. Bark is understanding of the commitments that students make for athletics. “The amazing athletes here remind me of my high school experience.... their sports are im-portant to them,” Bark said. “As a teacher I re-ally respect those athletes and try to give them leeway to enjoy their sports, and push them academically as well.”

Biology and chemistry teacher at Paly, Michelle Steingart was a col-lege runner for Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Ste-ingart began her running career at

Saint Francis High School. “I first started track in high school,” Stein-gart said. “I ran hurdles and short sprints up to 400 meters starting my sophomore year.” Steingart was a competitive athlete in Cali-fornia, placing fifth in the 400 meter dash in the state her junior year of high school. Her senior year, she made it to the state champion-ship; however, she did not perform as well due to an injury she sustained earlier that season. “The shoulder dislocation—I still remember the date—it was my senior year, April 17,” Ste-

ingart said. “I wish I could take that day back because my shoulder has never been the same.” She had to rest the shoulder, missing a criti-

cal meet against Los Altos during that season. Stephanie Downey, one of Steingart’s main competitors from Los Altos, was upset when she found out Steingart would not be running in the meet. “She’s my nemesis, so I was a little bummed,” Downey said in a beat, Downey and Los Altos down St. Francis by Andy Nystrom. As it turned out, Downey had many more opportunities to run alongside Steingart at Brown University. Steingart, recognized for her academic achievements, received a $2,000 college scholarship award that only went out to 10 student-athletes in the state that year. Addi-tional praise came from her high school coach, Roberta Chisam. “Michelle is the type of athlete you wish ev-erybody was,” Chisam said in the article. “She’s dedicated, a leader and cares about her team-mates on and off the field.” Although Steingart entered college healthy, she struggled with injuries over her next few years.

I enjoy exercise because it makes my body feel really good. I like sweating and I like that feel-

ing you get after working out.

“ “I had shin splints and stress fractures my freshman year,” Steingart said. “Then I had mono. I took some time off and I came back,

but it was never the same.” Despite being injured, Steingart did what she could to stay in shape. “I found different ways of exercising,” Steingart said. “It was about running in the pool or doing laps, or doing intervals on a bike.” As she transitioned out of college, the length of her work-

outs transformed. “After college it is hard to sprint for fun,” Ste-ingart said. “I started running longer distances and I tried to run about three to four times a week.” Steingart continues to run long distances now, but her job and her kids don’t allow her to run as often as she would like. “Before kids I did some half marathons and some 10K’s, but since having kids I don’t really have time to start training longer,” Steingart said. “When I have more time again I do want to compete in a half marathon again. I have some goals there as far as times and pushing myself to get better.” The reason she runs and the reason she hopes to run more in the future is because of the feeling running brings her. “I enjoy exercise because it makes my body feel really good,” Steingart said. “I like sweat-ing and I like that feeling you get after working out.”

”

THE LEAPING LANCER Michelle Steingart (left) clears a hurdle in a race while competing on the St. Francis High School team. Steingart continued her track career at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Michelle Steingart

- Michelle Steingart


When most Paly athletes want to get in shape, they run for a couple miles - nothing too long, just enough to get in a good

workout. They head out, meander their way around their neighborhood for a bit and then return home. Taking an entirely different approach to-wards running, Shirley Tokheim, an English teacher at Paly, chose to compete as an ultra-marathon runner. Ultramarathons are races that are longer than marathons. She first began running in graduate school nine years ago. “I met someone who ran 100 milers and suddenly it felt like a fun thing to aspire to,” Tokheim said. “I was running twenty minutes a day, a couple miles a day. He said slow down and you can go a lot farther.” Competing in a 30K at first, she then went on to run a marathon. Increasing the distance in her races, she then ran a 50K, followed by a few 50 milers, and a 100K. She also attempt-ed a 100 mile race; however, painful blisters caused her to stop 30 miles short of the end. Blisters were not the only problems Tokheim faced when running. “When I ran the 100K it was really hot,” Tokheim said. “It was 90 degrees and it was up and down hills. I had trained really well, but sometimes your stomach doesn’t al-ways work. You have to manage your body, make sure you don’t get dehydrated. You have to make sure you take enough salt in and make sure you eat enough.” To prevent problems from occurring, lots of preparation was put in for each race. “When I was train-ing for the 50 milers I would do back to back runs, so I would run 22 miles one day and the next day when I was still tired, 20 miles,” Tokheim said. For the 100K and 100 mile run, the entire day was spent running. “The races are super long,” Tokheim said. “You get up and start at five or six in the morn-ing, you eat along the way, you talk to people and it is this whole deal. It is not this fast race where you are running really fast and you get tired. It is an endurance race.” Instead of worrying about her times and her placement compared to other runners,

Tokheim mainly focused on crossing the fin-ish line. “It’s all about pacing yourself and going aid station to aid station, which are typically seven to 10 miles apart,” Tokheim said. “You break it up into little chunks in order to finish the long thing. It’s like writing a paper. You break it up into little parts and then its something that you can do. As opposed to sitting down and writing a paper.” Even though Tokheim does not have enough

time now to train for races with work, she still manages to run once a week. “I don’t run as much now,” Tokheim said. “My runs are much shorter, but I always run on trails, so it’s always beautiful. It’s nice to feel like you can set a goal, work towards it, and then accomplish it.” Tokheim sees herself running races in the future, but is unsure of the distance she wants to compete in. “I would like to say that it is on my list to finish a 100 mile, but the reality is that the amount of time it takes to train, I wouldn’t be

able to work,” Tokheim said. “I would need lots of time to train. Maybe the next race I’ll run will be 50K and that will be long enough.” Tokheim benefited from running and all the training she put herself through. “It showed me that if I stuck with something long enough, I could accomplish something big,” Tokheim said.

Many people can remember be-ing placed into dance classes as small chil-

dren. They often decide to move onto other sports and activities, but Melissa Laptalo, Palo Alto High School English teacher, stuck with it since she was a little girl and now competes regularly as a ballroom dancer. “I started when I was three years old,” Laptalo said. “I grew up doing jazz dancing. My first lesson in ballroom danc-ing was when I was in college. I took this class where the instruc-tor was a competitive ballroom dancer, and asked me to be his

partner, and I got swept up really quickly into this world and I’ve been doing it ever since.” Laptalo and her husband compete locally in the Bay Area four to five times a year. A competition usually spans an entire weekend, where eight or nine pairs dance every round and are ranked. To prepare, Laptalo and her husband practice four different routines three days a week. “Minor changes can make a major differ-ence,” Laptalo said. “At practice, we do a lot of work on what things are supposed to look like, we drill it a bunch of times because the way

You break [ultramarathons] up

into little chunks in order to finish the long thing. It’s like writing a paper.

You break it up into little parts and then it’s

something that you can do.

“

”

Charles Taylor

Charles Taylor, senior guidance counselor at Paly, was a two-sport athlete during his time at Vanderbilt University Taylor participated both in football and track and field for the Commodores as a wide-receiver and 100 and 200 meter sprinter. He also competed for the team as a long jumper. Taylor attests that life in college as a two sport athlete can be challenging especially when juggling academics. His experience, in fact, led to his future as a school counselor. “I was fortunate that I had a great counselor to work through sport and school work,” Tay-lor said. “He was dedicated just to helping ath-letes. He helped us put together study sched-

ules and how to max out credits.” Regardless of the athletic versus academic challenges, playing football and running track still resulted in a positive outcome for Taylor. “Traveling was awesome,” Taylor said. “You get to see a lot of places and stadiums and we you get to meet a lot of new people. Also the level of the level of competition was awe-some.” Taylor’s athletic experiences and past con-tribute to his development as a professional. “It taught me how to be disciplined and bal-anced,” Taylor said. “Pushing yourself men-tally can help you with anything.”

- Shirley Tokheim

Shirley Tokheim

Melissa Laptalo

Logo taken from

OCTOBER 2013

you look in dance matters a lot.” In dancing, both partners must perform well in order to succeed. For Laptalo, dancing with her husband has its pros and cons. “You have a lifelong partner,” Laptalo said. “Dance partner-ships break up often because people have dif-ferent schedules, different levels of commitment and different things going on in their life. Also, there’s no jealousy. If you’re dancing with someone else that plays a factor. It can be a little upsetting watching your spouse touch somebody else.” Laptalo acknowledges the challenges to dancing with a spouse. “Sometimes you get too comfortable,” Lap-talo said. “We get distracted a little too easily. If you have a problem at home, it’s hard not to bring it up on the dance floor.”

Laptalo emphasizes that she and her hus-band complement each other by bringing dif-ferent strengths to the dance floor.

“I can pick up choreography faster,” Laptalo said. “I’m more into the showmanship, things on the surface level. My husband is very good at the technical side of dancing; he has more knowledge. He helps me with the smaller de-tails.” Together, they balance time between their jobs, practice, and competitions. “The main challenge is time,” Laptalo said. “We practice one to two hours and there are

only so many hours at the end of the day. Often times, a struggle is having all my grading done and having my dance lessons.”

In terms of her dance future, Lap-talo is open-mind-ed. “When we choose to start a family, we won’t dance competitive-ly,” Laptalo said. “We might just do show dances, where you’re not competing against anyone.”

Regardless of Laptalo’s future with dance, it will always be a big part of her life. “Dance is kind of like therapy,” Laptalo said. “It’s expression; it’s pushing myself in a way that I’m not sure I can achieve. it helps me un-derstand who I am. I picture us as old people dancing together, it’s always going to be a part of my life, whether it’s competing or just danc-ing around the house.” <<<

I picture us as old people dancing together, it’s always going to be a part of

my life, whether it’s competing or just dancing around the house.

“ “

By

the

num

bers

: te

ach

ers

EDIT

ION

$2,000 198390

3

Amount Michelle Stein-gart received in academic scholarship money

Year Craig Bark traveled to Australia, capturing the World Championship in BMX racing for his age group.

Degrees Shirley Tokheim had to com-pete in during her first 100K race

Age that Melissa Laptalo began her dancing career

- Melissa Laptalo

2 Number of sports Charles Taylor partici-pated on at Vanderbilt University

5 Ranking of Mi-chelle Steingart in the state of California


OCTOBER 2013

PALO ALTO ATHLETICS

CALENDARWatch Palo Alto’s excep-tional athletic teams take on SCVAL and out-of-league teams as they com-pete for various CCS titles.

sunday MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY saturday

1 2 3 4 5

7 8 9 10 11 12

19181716151413

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

2131292827

6543 7 8 9

OC

TOBE

R

NOVEMBER

vs Monta Vistavs Lynbrook @ Paly 3:30vs/@ Monta Vista 3:30

vs/@ Lynbrook 6:45

FootballVolleyball

Girls’ Tennis B. WaterpoloG. Waterpolo

Girls’ GolfX-Country

vs Los Gatos @ Paly 3:30

vs Saratogavs/@ Mountain View 6:45

vs/@ Monta Vista 3:30vs. @ Fremont 7:30

vs/ @ Monta Vista 6:45vs Los Altos @ Paly 3:30vs Los Altos @ Paly 6:45

vs. Saratoga @ Paly 3:30

vs Lynbrook@ Los Altos 6:45 vs/@ Gunn 6:45

vs Gunn @ Paly 4:45

vs Wilcox @ Paly 7:30

vs. Wilcoxvs Gunn @ Paly 6:45vs/@ Los Altos 3:30vs/@ Saratoga 6:45

vs Lynbrook @ Paly 3:30SCVAL @ Sunnyvale Bay-

lands 3:00

vs. Homestead@ Homestead 6:45

vs. Gunn @ Paly 3:30vs. Los Gatos @ Paly 6:45vs. Los Gatos @ Paly 4:45

@ Saratoga 7:30Monterey Bay Invitational

@ Salinas 3:00

SCVALSvs St. Ignatius @ Paly 5:30

vs/@ Lynbrook 3:30vs/@ Mt. View 3:30vs/@ Saratoga 6:45

City Championships @ Gunn 3:00

vs. Mountain View 6:45vs. Monta Vista @ Paly

3:30vs. Lynbrook @ Paly 4:45vs. Monta Vista @ Paly

6:45

vs. Milpitas 7:30Lincoln Invite

Varsity SpikeFest

@ MilpitasLincoln Invite

CCS Finalsvs/@ Monta Vista 6:45

vs/@ Saratoga 3:30City Championship @ Crystal Springs 3:00

Tournament @ Poppy Ridge

vs Milpitas @ Paly 3:30

@ Mountain View 7:30

vs/@ Gunn 6:45SCVAL Championship 1:00

vs. @ Los Gatos 6:45Stanford vs. Oregon

6pmvs. Los Gatos @ Paly 7:30

Stanford vs Washing-ton 7:30

Artichoke Invitational

Stanford vs. UCLA

SCVAL Semis & Finals 1:00

vs. Hillsdale @ Paly 3:30

vs. Los Altos @ Paly 6:45vs. @ Mountain View 3:30

vs/@ Los Altos 6:45vs/@ Los Altos 4:45

Spikefest 2 Tournament @ Independence

League Championships(Nov 4-9)

6

Images taken from

vs Gunn

As the football season kicked o!, so did several head-lines around the NFL community. None have hit more at home than the news of San Francisco

49ers’ Aldon Smith’s substance abuse issues. On Sept. 20, the praised “Smith Brother” was arrested for possession of marijuana, unspeci"ed pills and driving under the in-#uence, registering a blood alcohol content of .15. A devastating loss to an already un-stable 49ers team, Smith has not only hurt himself, but disrupted his team’s dynamic. Despite playing a part in San Fran-cisco’s 27-7 loss to Indianapolis, the Nin-ers franchise announced Aldon Smith’s inde"nite suspension regarding the sea-son. According to Smith, it appears he’ll be in control of his own suspension until he can clean himself up as he enters rehab Putting a part his irresponsible behav-ior, I credit Smith for confronting his issue, “It’s something that I will get "xed,

Columns: The Last Word

It’s on youIn the end it all comes down to you and your own decisions, and there will be no one to blame but yourself

and that I’ll do everything in my pow-er to make sure that this never hap-pens again,” Smith said to the the press. Adding to his disappointment, this is the second time Smith has been charged with a DUI. With this news, $e 49ers’ already dis-appointing start to the 2013-2014 season will be further diminished, but the San Francisco loyal should know that there is plenty of prom-ise in store for their beloved defensive end. Taking responsibility and admitting that he does indeed have an issue that requires "xing is the "rst step to Smith’s road of redemption. Having the ability to confront his is-sues, apologize and take full responsibil-ity for such behavior in front of the press is no feat to be undermined. In a world that seems to be riddled with egotistical cow-ards, Smith’s apologies are a testament to his true and commendable character. Yes, Aldon Smith’s actions are nothing but disheartening. I’ve always admired Smith’s ability to come o! the edge striking fear into opposing quarterbacks. In only two years

of being a Niner he’s made major contribu-tions to the bruising Niners’ defense. I for one will miss him, I mean the 37 sacks he’s racked up since 2011 is unreal, isn’t it? It’s unfortunate to see that Smith has yet to cor-rect these character issues. As unfortunate as it is to see that Aldon has to go so far as re-hab, I believe there’s enough promise in store for #99 and for the Niner faithful as a whole. By leaving the team Smith has set him-self on the right path to bettering himself. I’d rather we an NFL player follow Smith’s example rather than see another Von Miller who, a%er being charged for violating the league’s substance abuse policy, was later found guilty of corrupting his drug collector. It’s pretty pathetic to see that Miller couldn’t face his mistake and acknowledge that he’s got an issue at hand that needs correcting. As a result he’ll have to face even larger conse-quences. Aldon’s situation seems better, right? So Paly community, my message to you is this. We’re all humans. We’re all going to screw up at one point or another. Some of us, more o%en than others. But it isn’t the num-ber of mistakes that speaks to who you are. Or even the the magnitude of our errors. Instead, what will determine what our char-acter is about, is how we address our issues. $ere are two types of people in this world folks: $ose humble enough to address and correct their mistakes and those who cower behind excuses. Don’t “pull a Von Miller” and "nd yourself in a deeper hole. Whether you failed that test, didn’t pass that class or didn’t receive the starting spot on your squad, all your failures can be traced to your own past decisions. Excuses will only keep you further from correcting your is-sues and taking the step to bettering your-self. Being able to humble yourself and to accept critique pays dividends in the long run to improving yourself. $e next step re-sides in your actions and attempts to change. As the great Gandhi once said, “Manliness consists not in blu!, bravado or loneliness. It consists in daring to do the right thing and fac-ing consequences whether it is in matters social, political or other. It consists in deeds not words.”

by Zach Rizk

MY BAD My inability to invest an adequate amount of time towards my English studies proved consequential.

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Over the Line

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If you are the parent of a young athlete, you may be concerned about the demands of their training, and you worry about the potential for injury or permanent damage.

For over forty years, Palo Alto High School has trusted the sports medicine experts at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation – including current team physician Dr. Colin Eakin – to help its student athletes stay in the game.

The Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s Sports Medicine Department is nationally recognized for its non-surgical and surgical approaches to adolescent sports injuries. They are committed to helping young athletes prevent future injuries, and they’ll be the first to tell you when there is a better alternative to surgery.

Learn more about how your student athlete can stay in the game at pamf.org/sports.

Sports Medicine SpecialistsFrank Chen, M.D.Colin Eakin, M.D.Sally Harris, M.D., MPHWarren King, M.D.Amol Saxena, DPM

Kirsten Conrad, MSN, N.P.Sean Cutright, P.A.-CMelissa Fought, R.N., N.P.Laurel Greenfield, P.A.-CBeth Ogelvie, P.A.-C

Palo Alto CenterClark Building

795 El Camino Real, Palo Alto650-853-2943

PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICTPALO ALTO HIGH SCHOOL50 EMBARCADERO ROADPALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA 94301

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Documents

The Viking: Volume 7, Issue 1