Sports

Gymnastics girls spring into new season

Leave a comment

With a new coach this year, it does not look like the girls gymnastic team will have trouble springing into a new season.

“We have new coaches this year so we are going about prepping differently. We have practice after school and there we practice the events we will compete in,” senior Erin Kilke said.

The past few years the team has been very successful and new coach, Callie Jedrzejek, hopes to continue the tradition.

“I am hoping to improve on the girls skills, create a hard working environment for the girls, create team bonding and of course, have a winning season,”  Jedrzejek said.

This year, the team’s goal for the season is to achieve a score over 130.00 for one meet.

“We want to make it to states this year,” senior Jennifer Rinaldi said.

The team’s biggest rivals include: the Solon Comets, the Cuyahoga Falls Black Tigers and the Hudson Explorers with the Twinsburg Tiger’s trailing behind.

“Our biggest rivals would have to be Falls or Hudson, but I think we are going to beat them this year,” senior Emily Hudia said.

There are a few girls to watch out for this season: Sara Kasper is a level nine gymnast, who will be putting up some big scores this season. She is especially great on the floor and vault.

Hannah Schneider is a senior gymnast and her first time on the high school team. She is a level ten gymnast and will be contributing great scores on the bars and beams.

Jennifer Rinaldi is an all around wonderful gymnast who will be the lead scorer this season.

The girls have a tough gymnastic conference and have to be prepared if they want to win.

Rinaldi said, “We’re expecting this year to be pretty successful. We have a strong returning team and a couple of new girls who will definately be great assets. I’m looking forward to the season.”

Sports

Boys wrestling prepares for victory

Leave a comment

Dating all the way back to 776 BC at Olympia’s first Olympic Games, wrestling has not only been a recreational sport, but also a form of hand to hand combat.

Dan Gable, who had a collegiate career of 181-1 once said, “Once you’ve wrestled, everything else in life is easy.”

Wrestling is a lifelong commitment for some people. Junior State Qualifier Kyle Jenkins says he has been wrestling for 12 years, ever since he was five years old.

We asked Jenkins, with the sport being so difficult, why do students continue to wrestle? He replied, “Everyone seems to have a lot of fun together. Wrestling makes people closer than anyone can imagine.”

Wrestling is a sport still growing in popularity. Since 2003, the number of student wrestling in high school has increased by 40,000.

How can such a popular sport still by growing. According to Jenkins, “The sport has great interest because it takes a lot of hard work and brings a great reward. It helps you grow as a person and is a great way to make new friends and have fun.”

Wrestling is arguably one of the toughest sports, Sophomore Joey Andrassy said, “Wrestling is a tough sport, its a grind.” He continued to say, “The season is long and having to cut weight during Christmas break is hard.”

When wrestlers cut weight, they attempt to lose as much fat as possible to obtain a higher strength-to-mass ratio. Theoretically, that should give an advantage against wrestlers at the same weight. Some wrestlers go to extreme lengths to cut weight, such as not eating for days on end and drinking only a microscopic amount of water. Then, after one weighs in, one eats a large quantity of food and liquid in a small time, only to starve it off the next day. No other athlete in any other sport can say they go through that trouble just to participate at the next match.

Jenkins said, “Last year overall wasn’t too bad of a season. It was a young team and a down year, this year should be a lot different.”

When asking Andrassy what he looks forward to this season he said, “I’m looking forward to wrestling down in Columbus (for states) at the end of the season, I want to win that state title.”

After the new year if one is looking for a way to support these hard workers, the James G. Tyree Invitational will be held in the gym of the high school on January 3.

Community

Children Enjoy Kandy Kane Express Festivities at City Hall

Leave a comment

The Kandy Kane Express Holiday Festival hosted by the Dane Foundation came to the Stow City Hall Council Chambers on Sunday, December 7. The event featured a mini christmas tree display and auction, along with cookie,stocking and hat decorating. There were characters including Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, Anna, Elsa and Olaf from Disney’s frozen, Kandy the Kandy Kane,the Ghostbusters and Rudolph made an appearance to take pictures with children. The festival also included The Elf shoppe, which had items for both children and adults. “I’m excited to see Kandy The Kandy Kane, and Santa maybe,” 11-year old Jenna said. The activities at the festival included cookDSC_0127ie making, stocking and hat decorating, ornament making and decorating.  The cookies were served and sponsored by Smith Dairy. Each activity cost a certain amount of tickets, and all the proceeds went to the Dane Foundation. To get into the festival, patrons were asked to make a donation of everyday toiletry items which included shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, paper towels, etc. All items and donations went to the Dane Foundation. The Dane Foundation tends to the unique needs of individuals with physical and developmental disabilities. Families were able to become an Elf at the Kandy Kane Express Holiday Festival. The festival also supports Project Elf. Project Elf is a fundraiser where families adopt families or individuals with disabilities and buy Christmas presents for them. The Dane Foundation also provides things that are not available through typical support services. The items include toilet paper, hygiene, cleaning, adaptive equipment and household items that offer comfort and enhance the quality of life. The Dane Foundation was named after Dane Edward Moser, who was born with multiple disabilities. His Cerebral Palsy affected his entire life, but he was said to never wallow in it and moved forward. Moser quietly passed away in August of 2009. Moser represents the successes people hope to have in their lives. His story tells of a young man who had overcome obstacles so he could inspire others. The Kandy Kane Express also supported Ms. Wheelchair USA organization on December 7. The Ms. Wheelchair USA  promotes glamour, self-confidence and community service, celebrating achievements of women with disabilities.  The Ms. Wheelchair USA organization was founded over 15 years ago as an Ohio-only competition, but has grown to national proportions in 2007 and is continuing to prosper The program provides opportunities for women with disabilities to show off their achievements and to educate and advocate others, while supplying a platform for community service and public decision. The program focuses on women’s abilities not, disabilities. The Ms. Wheelchair USA organization encourages professional advancement and require a public service. The program is not a beauty pageant, but has glamour, phases of competition including professional production numbers, entertainment and public appearances,  and with crowning on national television. The program is presented by The Dane Foundation. Lowery Lockard, President of the Dane Foundation said, “Project Elf serves five hundred people with disabilities each year.”

Feature

Elec Simon inspires students with music

Leave a comment

Every year, the high school invites someone to speak to the students. In past years, motivational speakers have included men like Marc Elliot and Jeff Yalden, but this year was like no other.

Self-taught musician, Elec Simon, spent his morning at the high school on Thurs., Oct 16.

Simon began his journey on Broadway, performing with STOMP, a music and theatrical performance combination, when he was just at the age of 22. Simon still occasionally performs with STOMP, marking 2014 as his tenth year working with the musical program. Since then, he has branched out.

Simon travels to schools to send a message to students. He talks less about an “anti-bullying” message and more about life itself.

“[Elec] really had a great message. He made us all think about how grateful we should be for the things in our lives and made us all realize that we don’t know what a person’s situation until you really get to know them,” junior Taylor Calvert said.

Simon was inspired by tragedy. When he was 16, he received the news of his best friend’s death. While his name was unmentioned, Simon says he does these presentations in honor of his friend who was bullied into taking his own life.

“Kids are mean nowadays, and respect is the number one issue,” Simon said. “Kids are dying and committing suicide, and the kids might get picked on, and they don’t tell the teacher and the next morning they wake up and hear about that kid blowing their brains out. Treat people right. It’s that simple.”

After working with STOMP full time, Simon made a decision while at a hotel in Lima, Peru.

“I left [STOMP] on my own,” Simon said. “I was like it’s time for me to go to schools and stuff like that so that’s when I left the show because I felt I had to give back and do something to help these kids.”

Simon reaches out to students with music. It is a way to get people involved and interested in what he is saying.

“I use music as bait to pull the kids in,” Simon said. “Like with the elementary kids, it’s tough…. A lot of people can come in and do assemblies, but… how can you get the kids attention?”

People were definitely intrigued by Simon’s association with music.

“[Elec] was different than any other speaker, which made him entertaining,” sophomore Gianna Flasco said.

Simon spoke about his life, telling stories and playing music. He says everyone should smile and speak nicely to others because kindness could change their mood completely.

“There’s always going to be someone mad at the world because they’re mad at their life,” Simon said.

Most students were very pleased by the show Simon put on.

“[Elec was] by far the best speak Stow has had since I have been here,” junior Taylor Calvert said.

Listening to Simon’s message inspired many of the students in several different ways.

“I think he taught us that believing in ourselves gets us extremely far and that you need to not worry about what other people think and just be yourself,” Calvert said.

Simon hopes students will remember not to “let anyone tell you can’t do anything. You want something? Go get it.”

EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM FOR OVER 90 YEARS

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started