At the start of the first quarter Presentation showed how determined they were to win, with points coming from four different players. Senior Aly Murakami hit a three, while Savae Harper racked up four points and Courtney Danna two. A free throw from junior Janelle Schneider put Pres up 10-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Presentation and St. Francis remained consistent with their shots through the second period. It was a challenge for Pres to keep their lead, but after a three-pointer from Danna they were able to fend off St. Francis and stay up 20-18 before the quarter ended.

The third quarter was Pres’ biggest, with 13 points spread among freshman Akilah Jennings, Murakami, Harper and Schneider, plus two frees from Danna, but St. Francis kept at their heels. Senior Elizabeth Stelling racked up more than half of St. Francis’ 12 points–five from free throws–bringing the third quarter to an end with Pres hanging on 33-30.

The tough fight was clearly getting to Pres, as the team began to falter. Despite three-pointers from Dung and Danna, a flurry of fouls against St. Francis gave them seven free throw opportunities, racking up 11 of their 19 points. With five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Presentation was still up 33-32, but it wasn’t enough to fend off a revived St. Francis, and Pres ultimately lost by eight points.

“Our game plan was to kick their butt and come out with a win, but unfortunately we got tired at the end and gave up our lead,” said Danna, who had a solid game with 11 points. “Although we lost that night, the loss gave us more determination to beat them next time and work harder in practice every day. So the next time Saint Francis plays Pres…they better watch out!”

Sports teams that are already unified can become stronger after bonding. Team bonding helps the players build chemistry on and off the field. It leads to the team being able to play well together and helps form lasting friendships.

According to a study called “Team Building for Youth Sports,” published by the Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, team chemistry “is believed to go a long way toward helping a group of athletes achieve a common goal.” This is true, the study’s authors found, in both task-oriented and social situations.

Often, at the beginning of each Pres season, the returning players will welcome the new players with quirky traditions and fun festivities. Teams focus on getting to know the newer players in a social environment to ensure stronger communication on the field or court.

While some people envision team bonding as having players do trust exercises, like falling back into someone’s hopefully open arms, Pres traditions focus more on getting a little crazy. A common practice among teams is to dress the newest players in funny and ridiculous costumes and assigning each player small tasks to perform, such as dancing in a mini-flash mob or singing happy birthday to a plant in a public setting.

For example, Varsity Soccer team’s bonding this year included the new members of the soccer team singing Christmas carols in the food court of the mall, dressing up in funny clothes and makeup, and attending Bellarmine’s Sanguine Humors Show to support a teammate in the show.

Soccer senior Megan McArthur said, “We wanted to make sure that the girls had a lot of fun while getting to know us better. Luckily for us, all the players on the soccer team were well-versed in Christmas carols and had no trouble singing in front of crowds.”

After the fun, the team will usually eat dinner together and spend the night as a team, sharing stories, playing games and eating, which brings the team together creating a solid unification.

Field Hockey player Emma Manzano, junior, said, “Our team bonding is always an event I look forward to because it brings the team closer together.”

Stacy Mallison, Athletic Director and Varsity Soccer head coach, commented on the current soccer team’s chemistry.

“I noticed that this year’s soccer team is a lot closer than teams of the years past. The team has gotten together outside of practice many different times, and I see this pay off on the field.”

All in all, team bonding brings players closer together, uniting them under common experiences and allowing new players to participate in team traditions. The memories made during these events are not only remembered throughout the season but also through the athlete’s time at Presentation.

The Voice: What is your favorite part about playing for Presentation?
MR: Seeing my teammates every day is great and being a part of the soccer team boosts my competitive nature. I love how close our soccer team is–you don’t see that type of chemistry on many teams.

The Voice: Each year the team has new players. How long does it take for the team to become bonded?
MR: Usually not long. I have been on varsity for three years and the entire team has been close from the start.

The Voice: Who is the soccer team’s biggest rival, and how do you prepare for the game against them?
MR: Mitty is definitely our biggest rival. We try not to get cocky yet at the same time we try to build our confidence. We have to prepare for a rough game.

The Voice: How do you see the soccer team doing this year?
MR: We are one of the best teams in WCAL this year. I think we will go far and do fairly well in CCS.

The Voice: What has been the greatest challenge personally for you in soccer?
MR: I’m really lazy, so staying fit is a struggle. During the season, it’s relatively easy to stay in shape, but it’s the off season when I’m faced with a challenge.

The Voice: The soccer team practices for two hours every day; do you find it difficult to manage schoolwork and sports?
MR: Yes, it’s definitely hard to keep up with both at sometimes, especially when we have away games. Sometimes I get home at 8:30 and have yet to begin my homework.

The Voice: Who has been the most inspirational person in your life?
MR: My dad, he has helped me with sports my whole life. He has always been committed to helping me grow as a soccer player.

The Voice: I hear you are going to play soccer at San Jose State. What makes you the most nervous about playing at the college level?
MR: I’m really nervous for the fitness tests and the practices in general. The level of play is much higher in college. It just seems really scary.

The Voice: If you did not play soccer, do you see yourself playing another sport?
MR: I used to play volleyball. I played on the JV team freshman year, but I decided to quit so I could just focus on soccer.

The Voice: What has been your most memorable experience as a member of the Pres soccer team?
MR: My sophomore year when we won WCAL and CCS. I was really close with the whole team, including the upper classmen.

The Voice: What specifically will you miss most about playing for Pres?
MR: I will miss the coaches and seeing my teammates every day. I have developed strong friendships with a lot of the girls on the team and it will be difficult not being able to see them next year.

The Voice: When and why did you start playing basketball?
AM: I started playing basketball when I was in kindergarten because my brother used to play and I just wanted to be like him. My parents also played when they were younger too, so it just runs in the family.

The Voice: What’s your typical week schedule like during the season?
AM: During the season we practice Monday through Saturday and we have games at least twice a week. So after school I normally go home, do homework for a few hours and come back to Pres to practice. I try not to waste time and do my best to get things done as soon as possible.

The Voice: What’s your favorite thing about this sport? What’s the hardest thing about it?
AM: I like how basketball is a team sport.  My teammates push me as hard as I push them, which is helpful. But, I think the hardest part about the sport is just being able to read the game because it takes a lot of intelligence to understand what things need to be done, especially as a point guard.

The Voice: What are you most looking forward to this season?
AM: We have a really young team this season, so I’m looking forward to helping the new players because I was in their situation four years ago. Also, I’m looking forward to having a good season by keeping the C.C.S. title and hopefully win W.C.A.L. again.

The Voice: The team lost some key players from last year; how do you feel about this and how will this affect the team?
AM: We lost nine people; eight of them were seniors. Also, four out of our five starters are gone so we’re going to have a completely different team this year and a different style of playing.

The Voice: What makes Pres’ basketball team unique from all the other teams out there?
AM: I think this year we’re really close and we work well with each other around the court.

The Voice: Who’s your biggest rival and how will the team prepare?
AM: Our biggest rival has always been Mitty. We know their style because we play them all the time, so I think we’re just going to work hard in practices and prepare on defense and offense.

The Voice: If you didn’t play basketball, what other sport(s) would you play?
AM: I think soccer because I used to play when I was younger, until I stopped in eighth grade to play basketball.

The Voice: What was your proudest basketball moment?
AM: It might have been when our team won the C.C.S. championships last year.

The Voice: What advice would you give to a person who just started playing basketball?
AM: Probably just to work hard during practices and keep learning from your mistakes.

The Voice: What do you do in the off-season?
AM: I play basketball year-round, so there’s not much off-season for me.

The Voice: If you could play one on one against one player, alive or dead, who would it be? Why?
AM: I would probably want to play against Rajon Rondo from the Boston Celtics because I think he’s a really good player and I could learn a lot from him just by playing one-on-one.

While most college students arrive on campus for their first classes around mid-September, most student-athletes have already begun training for their intense pre-season during the summer. Athletes often characterize pre-season preparation as the most extreme because classes have yet to begin, so almost every minute of their day is dedicated towards their sport.

Emma Caringello, who plays soccer for Boston University, compares her pre-season schedule to that of a professional athlete: “We have breakfast, then a two-and-a-half hour morning session, a lunch break, followed by a two-and-a-half hour afternoon session, dinner, and then a two-hour team meeting.”

However, once school starts, athletes need to balance school and their sport. A Pres alum, who plays field hockey, but cannot be named due to her school’s media policies, says that as long as she makes schedules and manages her time, schoolwork doesn’t become too unbearable.

During the season, most athletes will practice two to three hours a day, followed by a weight training once a week. However, because some athletes must travel out of state, or even cross-country for away games, college students will often miss anywhere from one to two weeks of school.

Although missing class is a huge disadvantage of playing sports in college, universities often do as much as they can in order to ensure their athletes’ academic success. Caringello says that Boston University allows its collegiate athletes to register 30 minutes before their other classmates. BU also provides a student athlete support services building that offer tutoring for athletes. Stephanie Sorg, who plays soccer for Santa Clara University says that SCU’s athletic program works hard to help student-athletes combat procrastination. “To help us balance school and soccer our athetic academic support manager makes sure that we put in at least six hours of study time in the library a week. The time set aside allows us to complete our work and get in any studying that we need. Having mandatory study hall decreasese that margin of being “lazy” and skimming on our work.”

According to Pres alumni, other benefits to playing a sport in college are the close friendships that they develop with members on their team and with players in other sports. Because athletes operate on a different type of social calendar (one that does not include alcohol) than the typical college-goer, they often spend their weekends on creative outings with their team. Also, playing a sport is a fantastic way to meet new people, they say, especially if you’re new to the school and aren’t yet familiar with the student body.

While many students readily praise the advantages of playing sports at the collegiate levels, some Pres alumni have had negative experiences. Sarah Cole, who was recruited to play volleyball for Davis, quit the volleyball program before the onset of the academic year.

“My current major is mechanical engineering with materials science, which would have been virtually impossible [to manage] during the volleyball season,” she explains. Sarah also offered some helpful advice to student-athletes who discover that collegiate sports are not what they initially expected

“My advice to student-athletes would be to treat the recruitment process like a two-way street. I think when I was talking to coaches, I acted like I was being interviewed, but really, I should’ve been interviewing them as well. You’re going to be working with them every day for the next four years, so it’s important that your values and expectations align. I don’t regret quitting the Davis team at all; if it doesn’t feel right, it’s not and it is perfectly fine to change your mind.”

Overall, while most of our alumni describe collegiate sports as much more difficult than the high-school level, they still recommended pursuing playing a sport in college. “It’s a whole different college experience; it’s difficult and something that you have to work at every day, but it’s definitely worth it!” says Caringello.

The Voice: What different styles of dance do you do and which is your favorite?

AK: I do ballet, lyrical/contemporary, jazz, hip hop, modern, and musical theater. Ballet is my favorite style.

The Voice: What do you love about dance?

AK: I love to dance because, as cheesy as it sounds, it is a way to express myself. I’m not very good with words, so I use dance and the music to get my emotions out. It’s a break from reality because if it’s for just those few minutes, you get to live in this alternate world and be someone else.

The Voice: Have you had a turning point in your dance career?

AK: After I danced for a couple of years, I quit so I could play club volleyball. As much as I liked volleyball, it never gave me the same happiness that dancing did. I didn’t realize how much I loved dance and being part of a studio until I stopped doing it. The absence of dance in my life actually made me realize my love for the art—I’ve never left dance since.

The Voice: Who do you look up to in dance?

AK: I look up to my coach Sara because she believed in me from my very first audition. I wasn’t as strong as the other girls who auditioned my freshman year, but she gave me a chance. She has really helped me grow over the past few years and has been a huge impact on my dance life.

The Voice: Who is your support system?

AK: My family is really supportive of my whole dance career. They are always asking me about my classes and what I’m teaching. They’re really involved, which really helps because it gets me excited. They’re always behind me when I try something new, like college auditions.

The Voice: How has your experience on the Pres Dance Team been?

AK: It’s very rewarding because you get exposed to so many different styles and choreographers. You not only learn how to become a better dancer, but it helps you with life and learning how to work hard towards your goals.

The Voice: When did you start choreographing?

AK: I’ve always been interested in being the choreographer of the pieces rather than the dancer. It actually started in middle school when my theater teacher let me be an assistant director/choreographer. From then on, I just really loved being a choreographer. I’ve done some choreography for the plays at Presentation, I choreographed my solo last year, and I get to choreograph for the classes that I teach at my studio.

The Voice: What kinds of dance classes do you teach?

AK: I teach six classes a week in ballet, lyrical, pointe, and jazz. The youngest girls I teach are three and the oldest are sixteen.

The Voice: What are your plans for the future in dance?

AK: My short term plans are to major in dance. In the long term, I want to open up my own company and direct my own studio. I would have all different ages and dance styles, with a competition team—a real, professional studio for serious dancers.

For every 100,000 female soccer athletes per year, 33-35 girls sustain concussions while boys’ soccer statistics include only 17-19 sustained concussions. Girls’ basketball has reported an average of 16-18 concussions per 100,000 athletes per year and the boys possess a lower statistic of 11-12 concussions.

The reasons for the higher rate of concussions within female athletes is currently unknown, but many theorize that female athletes biologically have weaker neck muscles and a smaller head mass than male athletes. Another theory for more reported female concussions is that male athletes are more likely to avoid reporting symptoms of a concussion due to their fear of appearing to be “weak.”

But whether the athlete is male or female, once he or she has sustained a concussion, why is it that when an athlete receives a head injury, fans expect a quick recovery, but if the athlete had torn a ligament they are sympathetic and understand the prolonged absence? Fans’ sympathy often directly correlates to physical symptoms, and because concussions have none, many people do not understand and sympathize with the severity of head trauma.

The brain is a soft organ that is surrounded by spinal fluid and protected by the hard skull. On a daily basis, the fluid around your brain acts like a cushion to keep your brain from banging against your skull. If the head or body is hit hard enough, the brain can collide with the skull, causing an injury to the brain.

Concussions can last for hours, days, weeks or even months. Because the period of a concussion can last for a varied length of time, it is difficult to determine if an athlete has sustained a concussion. More serious cases of concussions include the concussed person blacking out after the injury or not remembering how it occurred.

Presentation’s McKenzie Lanier, junior, unfortunately has sustained two diagnosed concussions, both while playing her favorite sport: soccer. Her first concussion happened almost a year ago when she, as goal keeper, dove for the ball during a game. One of the members of the opposing team continued to run into Lanier’s head on the ground, kicking her on the lower left side of her head.

“I did not black out or lose consciousness, but had an immediate headache and numbness in my hands and feet,” Lanier says. “I also felt nauseous and had blurred vision.”

She is currently dealing with concussion that she sustained August 7 of this year. “I was playing for my club team in a San Luis Obispo tournament and we were in the championship game,” she recalls. “I personally do not remember anything that happened or how I got the concussion, but I was told that I went up for a header off of a kick [in the air] and another girl from the other team went up for the same header. She butted my head instead of the ball.”

Athletes who sustain a concussion should not jump back into their sport until all symptoms have diminished due to the risk of sustaining multiple concussions, permanent brain damage or even death.

Symptoms of a concussion include: lack of concentration, memory loss, headaches, blurry vision, nausea, dizziness, constant fatigue, lack of balance, emotional sensitivity, increase or decrease of sleep or a lack of interest in usual activities.

Julia Murphy, Presentation’s athletic trainer, says that she sees about ten to fifteen concussions per year in Presentation athletes. Murphy stated, “Concussions range by the season, typically. Fall, anywhere from four to six, winter from six to ten, and spring from zero to two.”

Presentation, as well as many other schools, requires all athletes to take the Impact Test, which scores activities such as reaction time, memory and concentration, before they are allowed to participate on a sport team.

The test establishes a baseline of the student’s ability to do things such as count backwards while memorizing three different letters, remember line patterns, react to flashing shapes and word association with colors. After an athlete is thought to be concussed, she will take the test again to compare her baseline scores to her current concussed scores.

The goal is that at the end of the concussion, the athlete will be able to take the test after a full symptom-free 24 hours without medication and receive scores similar to her baseline scores. This means that she will be cleared to return to physical activity.

Murphy explains that the brain must interpret and process all external stimuli–such as sound, light and speech, which is why she advises her concussed athletes to avoid activities that may prolong their symptoms. “Unfortunately, the only way one can treat a concussion is to completely rest, from everything! No exercise. No TV. No texting. No computer. No school even. It’s like having a sprained ankle – if you sprained it and then kept walking on it, it would delay the healing process.”

Unfortunately, Lanier has suffered one of the few “unlucky” injuries that does not have a specific prevention. She epitomizes the common symptoms when she states, “The worst side effect is most definitely the headaches because I have them pretty much from the time school starts from the time I go to bed. Some other side effects are nausea, lack of concentration over extended periods of time, loss of memory, dizziness, sensitivity, [slow] reaction time and irritability.”

Concussions are equally as severe as any other injury an athlete may suffer and should not be taken lightly. The best way to deal with one who is concussed is to be patient and allow the brain to naturally heal and make sure that the symptoms completely diminish.

Unfortunately, that practice I became one of the 90,000 female athletes to tear my ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament.

The ACL is an important ligament that connects the thigh bone to the shin bone and has the responsibility of stabilizing the knee with the help of the posterior cruciate ligament. These two ligaments work together to prevent the knee from bending too far backwards and too far forwards.

Presentation alum and current Santa Clara student, Stephanie Sorg, holds a position on the soccer team at her college, but cannot participate due to torn ligaments occurring about six months ago.

“I knew something was wrong but I didn’t know the extent of it. I’ve hyper-extended my knee before and so I thought it was just the tendon being stretched. The first thought that went through my head was the pain associated with bending your leg backwards; it’s probably one of the worst feelings in the world.”

According to researchers, women suffer tearing of ligaments four to six times more than male athletes.

Tim Hewitt of Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital conducted a study that proved that the difference in results of puberty between females and males play a strong role in injury probability.

Hewitt states that boys get a big power burst after going through puberty, intensifying all of their muscles, while girls’ power bursts after puberty mostly concentrate on their frontal leg muscles, rather than the front and back muscles.

Hopefully it comes as no surprise that men have a different anatomical makeup than women. These differences in body type are suspected to be the culprits behind the injury rate in female athletes.

Presentation High School’s athletic Trainer, Julia Murphy, told The Voice that she sees these types of injuries every year! “It is safe to say that I see this type of injury at least once each season (Fall, Winter, Spring); and sometimes this type of injury occurs multiple times in each season.”

A narrower femoral notch, or the space below the femur in which the ACL runs through, causes the “shearing” effect on the ACL. In men, the femoral notch is not quite as narrow, giving the ACL more room.

Researchers tend to accuse the Q-angle in females to be the reasoning for injury. The Q-angle is the measure of the angle between the quadriceps and the knee cap.

After going through puberty, women tend to have wider hips for biological reasons, causing a greater Q-angle that predisposes them to stress on the muscles, usually resulting in a torn ligament if performing a movement incorrectly.

Not only are men fortunate enough to have the natural body structure to prevent these types of injuries, but they also lack the hormonal levels of estrogen and progesterone that women possess.

It is obvious that young women, especially those in high school and college, have their ups and downs with their hormones due to puberty. But is it really possible for hormone level to affect injury rates?

It has been discovered that when hormone levels are frequently changing the ACL becomes more lax than normal, increasing the risk for injury.

Often times, women injure their ACLs or other ligaments in the knee by committing an act of abrupt change in direction, incorrectly planting their foot, or even landing improperly after a jump.

Sorg explains that she is one of the many female athletes that have experienced this incorrect movement. “In a soccer game in Vegas I went to clear the ball and while in the air my knee hyper-extended. I heard a pop and then landed weird.”

Though it does not seem fair that our body types are not necessarily built for the intense level that sports are today, there are ways to strengthen knees and prevent ligament injuries.

Coaches have been picking up on the statistics of injuries in women athletes, and many have begun to incorporate neuromuscular training programs to teach the muscles to better stabilize the joints.

Murphy’s expertise agrees with the need for specialized conditioning. “Proper conditioning is key! No matter which sport one does, all athletes need a physical program that encompasses cardio, strength training, and flexibility; it’s the triad to injury prevention.”

These training programs include exercises for balance, power, jumping, and agility. There are exercises that you can do to prevent injuries, such as torn ligaments. About two or three times a week try incorporating six simple activities into your daily lives.

It is important that those who have torn ligaments do not try and return to sports too quickly in order to prevent re-tearing these ligaments. Sorg states that she will “take as much time as needed to heal completely,” and will “build up [her] muscles as much as possible so that everything is strong when [she] steps back out on to the field”.

For physical activities, begin with a warm up followed by a lot of stretching. Continue with strengthening, which includes walking lunges and toe raises, and move on to plyometrics. Plyometrics include a lot of hopping, such as lateral hops over a cone and forward/backward hops over a cone.

Each of these exercises takes about 10 minutes and then you can progress to agility drills. When doing this type of drill for about 15 minutes, try to include diagonal runs and bounding runs to strengthen and increase power and speed. Finally, make sure that you cool down with ab crunches and a lot of stretching. A great, useful stretch includes the sitting down butterfly stretch.

The Voice: How did you become interested in running?

LV: I became interested in running my freshman year—I wanted to try something new.

The Voice: How much do you run during practice?

LV: Our mileage changes depending on when we race. On average, we usually run six to seven miles a day. When we do not have a race we can run up to nine miles a day, however, when we have a race coming up we usually cut down our mileage to about three miles the day before.

The Voice: You are a member of both cross-country and track. Do you prefer one to the other?

LV: I don’t; I really like both of the sports. I like cross country because of the time of season and the hills, but I also like track because we have more races.

The Voice: How do you prepare for the cross-country season?

LV: I build my base mileage over the summer. This helps me recover from the track season and transition into cross country.

The Voice: What’s the fastest time you’ve run in your event?

LV: The fastest time I ran for three miles was an 18:10 just recently this season!

The Voice: What is your most memorable running experience?

LV: I have had many memorable experiences with my team, but I think the team trip to the Clovis Invitational last year was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to it this year. Another memorable experience was when my team placed first at the Lowell Invitational. I was really happy and it was nice to see everyone else excited too.

The Voice: How do you balance schoolwork and sports?

LV: By trying to complete the assignments on the day they were given. However, I also try to catch up on a lot of my school work when we have morning practice because then I have the whole afternoon to catch up. I also do a lot of work over the weekends.

The Voice: How has running affected you as a person?

LV: Running always makes me feel better. When I am having a bad day, running always makes me feel good.

The Voice: Do you have any advice for someone who might be considering joining cross-country or track and field?

LV: My advice for anyone that is interested in running is that you should try it! You don’t have to already be running; when I began my freshman year I had never run before and ended up enjoying it a lot. The team is very supportive and the sport is so much fun!

The Voice: Do you plan on running in college?

LV: Yes, I plan to run in college. I have sent out athletic resumes and letters to the colleges that I’m interested in. I’ve gotten a few calls from some of the coaches and have been staying in contact through email by sending them updates about my season.

On Oct. 4, the Presentation varsity water polo team went up against the pugnacious Gators from Sacred Heart Prep. After an extremely physical match between the two teams, Presentation lost 10-6 to the top-ranked SHP.

The varsity game started off with two quick goals by Sacred Heart Prep. Presentation was unable to stop the aggressive offensive attack from SHP and let three more goals in during the second quarter. Presentation senior, Stephanie Maniglia made several attempts to score on SHP. In the third quarter SHP made two goals, as well as Presentation. One of the goals was made Presentation senior, Monique Kerstens. The SHP coach was given yellow card and player Stephanie Maniglia of Presentation was taken out of the game. The last quarter was pretty close Presentation scored four goals and Sacred Heart Prep scored three.

After the match varsity player Lena Robledo, junior commented, “It was really tough playing against Sacred Heat because they had strong shooter and were a very physical team”.

The junior varsity game was similarly tough, resulting in a loss of 4 to 2. During the first quarter, Sacred Heart Prep scored two goals, but goalie, Jamie Carr, junior blocked a barrage of hard shots. Kristin Pfaff, junior attempted several shots on SHP but was denied. During the second and third quarter the Gators made another two goals. In the last quarter Presentation blocked all attempts made by Sacred Heart Prep and scored two, including a goal by sophomore Jessica Kwok and was assisted by number Kristin Pfaff.