Volleyball

The end of an era. I played volleyball for all four years of high school so knowing that it is over is like foreshadowing for the end that is near. This one season is one of the many things that will end this year. I am going to continue to play volleyball, but I will never get to play with this team again. I love playing volleyball, even if I am not that good at it. Freshman and sophomore years, I was so uncoordinated and unbalanced, but I still tried my best. It wasn’t until junior and senior years that I was on varsity and was able to play with the more experienced players. I improved so much from last year and I am still improving each day, I wish I had one more season to play. But, being a super senior isn’t that cool. Senior night was so bittersweet, it was such a fun time while I was playing, but the menacing prescence of it being the last game was always looming over my head. I almost cried so hard but I didn’t want to ruin my make up so I held it in. I am sad that I won’t ever play high school volleyball but I am excited to see where I play next!

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Volleyball

This year the volleyball team decided to do one big varsity team instead of varsity and junior varsity. I think it worked out okay because we all got closer to each other, and our team spirit was great. Every game, the players who weren’t playing would support by cheering loudly. Even though we didn’t win a game, I think we still tried our best and did the best we could. There were some downsides to having one big team. When we had away games, we couldn’t bring the whole team to travel with us, so we would have to leave some players behind. It set us off track a bit, but I think overall we worked well together. As the season went by, each one of us improved in one way or another, whether it was getting better at serving overhand, hitting, and even team spirit. A flaw we had this year was losing motivation when we had a bad play, but all it took was one motivational talk in our group huddle, and we were back at it. It was a fun season, and I think everyone tried their hardest to do well, even if we doubted ourselves.

Volleyball blocking. September 2022“/ CC0 1.0

Heat, and trying not to get beat

Baseball, America’s favorite pastime, is a sport normally played in the spring and summer. Through the sunshine, the little white ball is hit, thrown, and caught. But for me this fall, I had to beat the heat of Scottsdale, Arizona, and also try to pitch my way to not get beat by the #1 ranked team in Arizona.

It was Saturday, 8 am, the game was just about to start, and it was already a brisk 88 degrees in Scottsdale, and my coach had given me the nod to pitch against the #1 team in Arizona, Swarm Red Elite. With me already shaking in my boots and beaming with sweat, it was already an uphill climb. The game started out hot with me picking up a quick out on 3 pitches, but then giving up a 2-strike single to the next batter, but I came out with no runs.

The bottom of the first was a huge inning for my team as we put up 3 runs with only 1 out. The game progressed, and I only got better until I gave up a huge 2-run single to their 3rd hitter, who was a big lefty. In the 4th inning, it was 3-2 us, and we haven’t gotten a hit since the first inning. When I went out to pitch, missed calls from the umpires and a couple of mental mistakes put a runner on 2nd base with no outs. I got a huge flyout, which advanced the runner to third. Runner on third, 1 out, and a 3-0 count, the batter pops the ball up to right field. The right fielder catches, throws to the cutoff, who throws the ball away, letting the runner score with ease, tie game, 2 out. I strike the next batter out.

I went on to finish the entire game, throwing a great game against a very good team that scrapped together another run on a sacrifice fly to left field. They kept us hitless from innings 2-6, which ended the game when we got no hits in the last inning, which happened to be the 6th due to time.

What was a great game for me turned into a devastating loss for the team, which took us out of bracket play for the weekend.

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Golf

Lately, I’ve been really focusing on my golf game, and I can feel the improvement! I picked up golf during my sophomore year and, although I’ve played on and off, I’ve really dedicated myself for almost a year now. When I first started, I was shooting around 120 with a 33 handicap. Fast forward to today, and I have managed to bring that down to a 23 handicap. It might not be pro-level, but I’m proud of how far I’ve come. During my vacations, I’ve been training with my coach almost every day, working hard on my form. It’s made a huge difference, I’m also excited to be playing for my school again this Spring season. My next match is on April 2nd at Soule Park Golf Course. Hope my short game improves, especially chipping and putting. It will be crucial for me to at most 2-putt every hole to keep it under 100 in 18 holes. I will also need to be working with my driver on the slice it has gone better compare to the beginning but still got lots of space to work on.

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Clippers game

On Saturday, I went to an LA Clippers game with my school, and it was an unforgettable experience. I think it was my sixth Clippers game, but this one felt different because I was surrounded by my friends and classmates. As we arrived at the arena, I could feel the excitement in the air. Our seats were not the greatest, but the view was actually way better than I expected. We were lucky that most of the Clippers’ players were not injured besides Ben Simmons. It was a neck-to-neck game against the Sacramento Kings. I think there were 12 ties in total in the game. Kawhi Leonard ended the game with a left hook buzzer beater. the crowd went crazy when he hit the left hooker and won the game for Clippers with score being 111-110. After the game, we all went down onto the court after the workers had cleared out the court for us. We were all able to shoot a free throw. It was an amazing experience even though we still had school the next day, and we got back to the dorms late too. But that day will be an unforgettable moment.

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Spring sports

As the winter sports season ends, the spring season has started. At first, the school allowed me to do both Golf and Track and field. However, they changed their mind and thought it would be unfair for the golfers since I would just be taking their spots in the league final while they work hard to earn the spots. Therefore, I have switched back to golf and left track since there will be a bigger chance to win the league final champion in golf. Last year, we took back home 2nd place, we were 1st place after the first 9 holes, but lost in the back 9. Track was great, with the new coach that broke multiple records for his college and coached many athletes to all-American and D1 offers. I was planning on running 100 meters since I was the fastest among the sprinters. There won’t be as many track meets this year, since the coaches have to go to a camping trip during the 2 track meets, so I preferred golf since I will be playing more.

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Basketball

After the first league basketball game against Westmark, I wrapped up the match with 4 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. It was a solid team effort, and we came out on top with a convincing victory, 46-27. The game started a bit slow for us in the first quarter, as we struggled to find our rhythm. However, the team stepped up together, and we tightened our defense significantly. One of the highlights was our incredible performance in the third quarter, where we managed to shut down Westmark completely, not allowing them to score any points. By the time we reached the fourth quarter, we had established a comfortable lead. This allowed our freshmen players to get their first playing time in the season, gaining experience and confidence. Overall, it was a satisfying start to the league with a record of 1-0, and I look forward to building on this momentum in our upcoming games since it is always great to start the season with a win.

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basketball

For basketball this week, it was short. Since we had a game the week after we returned from Christmas break. The practices were painful since I hadn’t moved much during the break. However, we played against Highland Hall and Summit View School. After both games, we still remain undefeated. I didn’t get to start in the starting lineup because I forgot to wear a tie since the coach asked the team to wear it before the game. However, during the game, I still got some decent minutes, but they were limited due to the weak calls from one of the referees. I had 3 fouls in the first half, which is surprising since I usually was never in foul trouble when I started in the starting lineup. But now that I got benched that game, I started the game with 3 fouls and ended the game with 4 fouls and 1 more foul from being fouled out.

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school and soccer

Okay so I think I was right about soccer, riding and school being too much. I have been feeling so run down lately and I literally have no time to do anything. I also just sprained my ankle at soccer so now I might not be able to ride or do soccer but I’m pretty sure I still have to go to practices and just sit there. Hopefully that will make it easier for me to catch up on school. It is so weird because for the first month of school I felt like I had no work to do and now it feels like it just doesn’t stop. But if I don’t practice then I won’t be playing in our games next week and seriously hate just sitting and watching my team lose and not being able to help. I also have  a feeling we’re going to get a lot of fouls because I don’t think most of the tema know how to do a throw-in or what offsides is. I’m praying we don’t get obliterated by nordoff. 

Weekend

This weekend was a long weekend with 4 days off because of family weekend. I started each day with running pie everyday to get in shape with an average pace of 8 minutes per mile and the total time of 22 minutes. There weren’t that many trips this weekend besides the collection on Saturday night and Universal Studios on Monday. On Friday I watched the World Series with a few friends. Freddie Freeman’s walk-off was crazy. It was a really relaxing weekend. I finally got a good rest and am getting ready for the school next week. On Saturday we went to Dick’s sporting goods to get some basketball equipment such as compression shorts and KT tape for my knee. We also got some golf stuff like the new released Taylor-made golf balls, TP5X. We went to get food at the Korean barbecue place for dinner afterwards. Today we went to Universal Studios, we went on most of the main rides except Jurassic park because it was closed. However, It was a fun trip especially with all my friends together too.

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