Sports

Kickin’ it on and off the field

March 9, 2012 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Mike Sanders

Guest Writer

Sophomore Owen Grzywinski is not your average athlete.

A new student at SLA, Grzywinski made a serious impression when he used his superhuman physical skills during a soccer game to flip over an opponent and score a goal for the Rockets during a game.

“He basically flipped to avoid someone, rolled on the ground, and then kicked it into the goal,” said Sophomore Isabela Supovitz-Aznar. “The students were like “Woah, Owen!” Everybody started clapping.”

Students are impressed.

“Owen is awesome. He’s the only one I know who can do flips without hurting himself.” Said Sophmore Jeffery Schwertz. “ If I am ever in a fight, I would choose Owen to defend me.”

Where did Grzywinski learn this skill?

Every Saturday, Grzywinski attends classes at MaMas art studio in Mount Airy. There he practices Capoeira, a Brazilian-influenced martial arts style that involves fast-paced dancing and music.

This is where Grzywinski learned how to flip. But Owen has learned so much more from Capoeira than just flipping and fighting.

His mentor Mr. Raeutier taught Grzywinski not just the flips and moves to be a great martial artist, but also the discipline to achieve certain objectives.

“I don’t think I could do what I could do now without Mr. Raeutier,” Gryzwinski said.

This applies just to fighting but also in school work. Grzywinski is a home-schooled student, and this is his first year in a regular school.

Some students would fall in the first couple of months, but in his first 2 quarters he was able to discipline himself to become an A and B student.

Grzywinski is currently the starting right outside midfield in soccer. That is a position the requires a lot of stamina, becoming both an offense and defense. But that doesn’t stop Grzywinski.

Every month, he goes to a Martial Arts tournament with his classmates a MaMa’s arts studio. There he mentions that he always loves going to the tournaments to improve his skills even more.

But even though he is serious about martial arts, Grzywinski is still a fun, lovable guy. In fact, other than the tournaments, he has never been in a fight.

“But when ever I’m in trouble,” he said, “I can always flip my way out of it.”

Boys Baseball Begins Third Season

March 6, 2012 by lpahomov 1 Comment

By Heather Campbell

Guest Writer

Monday, February 6th, marked the start of Baseball’s third season ever at SLA — with a team that is hoping to return to the playoffs come May.

The team has big plans, but it hasn’t always been that way.

“The first year, we lost all our first eight games…We got close a handful of times and then we thought we were going to get one and then we didn’t.” Coach Herman recalls.

“We got to this moment when it was, do you want to play baseball? do you want to be a team? and if you wanna be a team, you gotta stop playing for yourselves.”

After multiple losses, the baseball players managed to pull themselves together as a team to end the season as a 4-8 team.

At the start of the second season, the baseball team still had yet to gain the full confidence and expectation of the school.

However, “We started the season out really strong and then all of a sudden everyone started taking notice of us,” Coach Herman commented.

The Rockets have come a long way since their first season. This year’s goal for Coach Herman and the baseball team is to win and move up and out of D division.

The focus of spring training is to prepare the players with stretching, yoga, and conditioning while promoting injury prevention, as well as developing the players skills as a team.

“Right now it’s more about fundamentals of how you use your body,” explained Baseball coach Douglas Herman.

By their first game, the baseball team is aiming to be the strongest, fastest, and best team on the field.

“What we do is we run up and down the Art Museum steps a bunch of times. We do a bunch of running workouts and then we work pretty intensely on hitting and catching and fielding.” Junior and third baseman, Abe Musselman commented.

The loss of some key players is a concern for the team.

“We lost a lot of our senior players” Coach Herman admitted. “We lost our starting catcher, so we need to replace that.”

However with the many of the returning players and new freshman, Coach Herman stated there isn’t a single position that is guaranteed. Each player will have the opportunity to step up and show their skills.

“Any negative is an opportunity for another player to step up and to show us what they have.” warned Coach Herman.

The team will have a full month of playing and training together before their first game on March 23rd.

“The reason that we won last year and the reason that we are going to win again this year is because we’ve become a family and play as such.” commented Coach Herman.

“We still have a lot of the really good players from last year and the freshman are looking pretty good.” acknowledged Musselman, “I think we are going to do great this year.”

This year the team will be actively fundraising to raise the funds to pay for equipment. They will be selling Rocket bracelets, and are hoping to be able to sell them all in order to buy new baseball bats.

This year, they also lucked out with a donation of about 40 cleats by Phillies First Baseman Ryan Howard, who made a city-wide donation to baseball programs.

Girls Basketball Makes Playoffs for the First Time

February 9, 2012 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

By Natasha Ashby

Staff Writer

This month, the SLA girls basketball team has advanced to the playoffs for the first time.

The team has shown an improvement from previous years, when the program was still building its morale and its roster.

“Last year we didn’t make it to the playoffs. We didn’t win as many games; we didn’t have as many players,” said Junior and Team Captain Dayona McNeil.“This year we communicate really well, we have a lot of chemistry and the players are passionate about playing.”

Coach Garvey also had an assistant coach this year to help her push the team and provide more support –Coach Martina Randall, who played college basketball at Cheyney University.

McNeil also attributes this year’s success to the motivation of the players.

“When the season started, my goal for the team was to make it to the playoffs,” she said. “Work hard and if you don’t want to put in 100% effort, you don’t need to be on this team.”

Basketball isn’t all about winning, it is also about having fun.

“I have a lot of funny moments while I’m playing basketball,” said McNeil. ” In one of my games the ball was rolling out of bounds and I was trying to save it. I was running full speed to get it but I didn’t realize one of my teammates was also trying to get it. When I realized she was trying to save it, she was already falling and then I flipped over her and fell, as well, and neither of us got it.”

Senior Anna Roman has been a part of the basketball team since freshman year, and has become a stronger leader, skilled player, and more confident in herself since then.

“Asking a basketball player why they like basketball is like asking an artist why they like art? Or you why you like journalism?” said Roman. “It’s all about passion.”

Each player clearly respects Coach Garvey — which includes memorizing their favorites quotes of hers.

For McNeil, it’s when Garvey says, “no walking on the court, if you walk you’re out.”

Roman says that Garvey has a particular way of getting the team’s attention.

“She claps A LOT. It’s like, “Let’s get to work *CLAP*” “We got this *CLAP*” “Move it girls *CLAP*” “Bring it in *CLAP*” “Stop walking *CLAP*” You get the picture. So it’s just kind of funny.”

The playoff game was on Wednesday February 8th, 2012 against Communications Tech, which was a close loss for the Lady Rockets.

“Losing was heartbreaking,” Coach Garvey said the day after the game. “We played the top seed from the other division and came within 3 points. We should have beat them, but we didn’t.”

Despite this disappointment, Coach Garvey is excited about the future.

“The season is over and I don’t get to see them everyday, but next year is going to be our year! I’m serious, it really is,” she said.

Elective Punishment: The Ms. Martin Workout

January 4, 2012 by lpahomov Leave a Comment

Juniors Sam Lovett-Perkins (left) and Matthew Ferry wall sit during one of Ms. Martin's after-school workouts. (They're not in class right now.)

By Jenn Wright

Staff Writer

With a P.E. class known school-wide, the teacher everyone loves but loathes as she adds 30 seconds of wall-sits, Pia Martin keeps SLA fit, trim and entertained.

“I come to work out with Ms. Martin,” Junior Matt Ferry said jokingly, “because one day I want to be as big as her.”

More seriously, Ferry said that “she really knows how to push me.”

Ms. Martin added: “and it’s a GOOD TIME!”

Beside the required P.E. class, Ms. Martin hosts a staff-friendly after-school workout Mondays and Wednesdays at 4pm.

It all started when Principal Lehmann wanted to get more in shape. Martin trained the teachers during their free bands while the rest of SLA worked diligently or was at lunch.

This year, the workouts moved to after school.

The Martin brand of workout is not unlike others in its intensity and difficulty, but she puts a special touch on the routine.

As Geometry teacher Ms. Thompson put it, “She tortures with a kind heart.”

When asked why she hosts the workouts, Martin responded, “because I am the sadist and they are the masochists.” She then laughed.

Training the SLA sports teams like Ultimate Frisbee, the after school sessions have gotten quite popular. Students get a kick out of working out side by side with their teachers.

As Ferry said, “it feels like we are all on the same level.”

The best part, however, has to be the music.

Ms. Thompson said, “I like that she does certain things specifically tuned to some songs. It’s sort of like a dance party, but a workout.”

Several attendees requested the music be promptly put back on when the songs stopped. One favorite is “Watch My Feet” by Dude ‘n Nem used for its mix of slow and fast tempo.

Combining music and creative workouts — like Ms. Martin’s use of a deck of cards with each card being a different exercise — keeps her followers coming back each week.

The Long Days of SLA Basketball

December 9, 2011 by lpahomov 1 Comment

By Ayanna Robinson

Staff Writer

At SLA, school starts at 8:15am and allowing for the special “SLA time” that can even be pushed to 8:20.

However, for a different type of student, days start much earlier.

Meet the SLA basketball teams, two groups of hardworking athletes dedicated to waking up earlier and even forgoing sleep to pursue a dream or even just a hobby.

You may find these kids sleeping at their desks or laid out in the middle of the hall and just think they’re lazy, but to truly understand why they seem less engaged during the winter months, you’ll have to live a day in their lives.

4:25am

Freshmen Allen Harmon and Kenayah Cerdan have just woken up. They need a couple extra hours in the morning to make sure they look their best not only for practice but also for the school day that lies ahead.

Showering is a must and for Allen, who lives an hour away from school, it just cant be done at night. But morning showers are a perfect way to wake yourself up that early.

6:00am

Juniors Eryn James and Andrew Chalfen both take SEPTA lines to school. Lucky for them, this means they won’t have to lose any Z’s for practice. Senior Sam Sirochman catches a ride, happy that this morning was a good morning for his mother to drive him to practice.

6:30am

Both girls and boys practice begin at 6:30am, but since the girl’s team is small there’s not enough people to scrimmage. Unfortunately, Coach Garvey knows there is enough people to run laps!

The team has mixed feelings about diving headfirst into practice this early. While Eryn excitedly begins to run, Kenayah lags behind, not nearly ready to begin. As the practice wears on she perks up and reminds herself, “Once it comes to that games, its all worth it.”

The boys’ team starts off a little slower with shooting as the rest of the team trickles in. As a senior, Sam should be used to this already, but even with his headstart in the car he still arrives at practice groggy.

Two other seniors, Tyler Hankinson and Nadif Bracey are already running around the court, forcing others to play defence on them. There’s no time to waste for a basketball senior, they have to be ready for college recruiters at every game!

Only one SLA basketball player remains sleeping. Sterling Perry is still in his bed as he takes a year off from playing ball.

“Last year the practices in the morning were messing up my grades and sleep schedule.” Sterling comments. “But I’m taking this year to get my grades back up.”

7:45am

Although girls’ practice may begin earlier, Garvey lets them out early, knowing girls need a little extra time to prepare for school. Kenayah is worn out from the work out, but she continues to remind herself what it will lead to.

8:00am

Kay uses his extra 15 minutes to do full court drills. He pushes his boys to the absolute best and holds them to the same standard he holds himself.

Finally awake, Andrew hurries to play defense on the tall upperclassmen in a drill.

When he finally dismisses them, Tyler and Nadif join Senior Rick Kinard in some teasing about their behavior in practice. They are examples of how once you let the routine become a part of you, you’ll recover from tiredness.

9:00am

Halfway into the first class we can find Allen sleeping at his table, but he knew this would happen. “I’m always falling asleep during my first class.”

10:30am

Lunch has finally come and for the athletes, this is the sleepiest part of the day.

“First period and a half you’re ballin’,” Andrew says. “At around the second or third you crash.”

“It’s a slow decline.” Sam adds. Luckily for these two they have plenty of time to regain their strength during their double lunch periods.

On a Tuesday, you can be sure to find Nadif wasting no time getting to lunch. “I’m hungry from cookin’ Rick.”

He’ll find his friends eventually, but for now its time for food.

11:40am

At the second lunch period, we find Sam and Andrew in the same place, unfortunately, with no food.

“You can get hungry at all parts of the day.” Sam groans, wondering who will be nice enough to give him a snack.

“I could eat thanksgiving dinner and still be hungry.” Andrew comments. “But whenever I’m eating, I’m doing ok.”

3:00pm

Rick and Tyler compare schools trying to recruit them. Tyler lists his plethora of schools and scholarships: Alvernia, St. John Fisher, Lycoming, and Drexel. And Rick counters with “A nice school.”

6:00pm

By this time, all the athletes should be home. For Eryn, shes just now reaching home after some extra time socializing. For Allen, he’s just reaching home after a long commute. There’s no space for the teams to practice afterschool so for now they’ll have to make do with early days and late nights.

7:00pm

While the seniors spend nights adjusting college applications and possibly talking to some neglected friends, Allen is already in bed waiting for the morning. He admits, “Sometimes I really go to bed four hours early.”

10:00pm

Finally all the athletes are tucked away in bed. None of them are even tempted to stay away. Eryn even has a statement prepared. If any of her friends try to make her stay up she says, “No. I like my sleep.”

It takes real dedication to keep up a schedule like this for three months and even more dedication to keep it up for four years. This is why our athletes are able to rise above all the other teams, the kids who make it through these four years build up a special kind of endurance that no one can compete with. But still the question remains: Why?

Kenayah: “It’s all about the gameplay.”

Allen: “I’m just really interested.”

Eryn: “It’s all about college.”

Andrew: “I don’t want to do bear crawls next practice.”

Sam: “I want to play.”

Tyler: “Ball is hard.”

Rick: “It’s a routine.”

Nadif: “I want to work hard.”

So perhaps the next time you see one of these athletes too tired to even walk to their next class you’ll remember how much harder they’re working to be barely there. Before you look down on them, ask yourself if you have the endurance to do what they will do or have done for the next four years.