Tag Archives: Sports

Homework, on Homework, on Homework

Teachers all around Dodd Middle School are questioning the idea of giving more homework to their students. Personally, I already think they are giving enough homework and sometimes too much. I do not think that any student should be staying up late to finish all their homework, but it happens a lot. Not only are kids staying up too late due to their homework, their lives are becoming more stressful. More homework should not become an option.

The amount of homework given in middle schools are making kids more stressed than ever before. With keeping up with schoolwork, friends, sports, and family, homework makes everything harder. For the kids who play sports, their life consists of going to school, going to practice, and then doing homework. This leaves no time for friends and family. For example on Thursday’s I go to school, and then have basketball practice right after until 5:00 p.m. Once I get home from that, I have to eat and then do homework for an hour. Since I play on two teams, I have to go to another basketball practice and I get home at around 9:45. Usually I would be in bed by then, but I have to complete all the rest of my homework. If teachers didn’t give all this homework, my life, and many other teenagers, would be very less stressful and just give us time to be kids.

~Allison Leonetti

School is….. longer?!

Guess what?! Some states are starting to consider longer school days! And about five others have already been starting an hour earlier! In the article, “5 states to increase class time in some schools,” It says that five states are going to make learning time for students longer by adding 300 hours to the school year in 2013. The five states that are doing it are Colorado, Massachusetts, New york, Tennessee, and yes, Connecticut. The site says that the reason that states are making school times longer is because they want to boost student achievement and make U.S. schools more competitive on a global level. This will affect almost 20,000 students in 40 schools. They are hoping to expand it to more schools. But that is up to the teachers and parents on whether or not they want to make the school day longer, add more days to the school year, or both.

My opinion on this issue? My opinion is that we should not have a longer school day because we already spend enough time in school! We barely get to see our parents! If anything, the school day should be shorter. Also, some of us kids are not morning people and it is a struggle to wake up in the morning. If we have to get up even earlier, we may get sick from lack of sleep! And if school was an hour or more longer, some people would not be able to do the after school activities that they enjoy most (ex. soccer, lacrosse, karate etc.)  Lastly, even though we are kids, we have lives outside of school, senate people!!!!! And I think that if you ask any other kid, they would agree with me.

~Erika Markowski

Lance Armstrong: Hero or Zero?

The UCI has just decided to erase world famous cyclist Lance Armstrong from the record books. That means the seven tour de France victories are to be forgotten, the plaques changed to blank and the years of cheering for a man in yellow left  forgotten. Not only that but, any chance that he had to get back into the record books is gone because the UCI made sure that he was also banned from the sport of cycling. Along with on Friday 10/26/12 the UCI will meet to discuss going after his 2000 Olympic Bronze medal. Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme wants Armstrong to also pay back the prize money he won in his seven Tour de France wins. To top it all off, Livestrong renounced its affiliation with Armstrong.

But, who will forget possibly the most famous man in cycling history?  I know, his fans will not forget him and any of the cyclists that raced with him sure won’t. Although the way they remember Lance Armstrong may not be the kindest. Some will remember him as an athlete, others for his story but, most will remember him for doping his way to victory and being erased from cycling history. A man who was onced a praised champion all over the world is now, nothing more than a soon to be forgotten legend.


~ Quentin Arai

Is Competitive Cheerleading a sport?

 

Competitive cheer is not an official sport. It is considered    a championship sport. People have been pushing for competitive cheer to become a sport but it hasn’t happened. It is divided by age groups: tiny, mini, youth, junior, and senior. It is also divided up by levels 1-6. It may look easy, but it’s not.

In my opinion, competitive cheer should be a sport. You work hard, build strength, and lift people! A sport is “An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others.” In competitive cheer you use physical exertion, and skill consisting of flips and flexibility  which not many people can do. Also you compete against other teams. So why can’t competitive cheerleading be a sport?

~Iliana Samsel

The Rise of the New England Patriots

The New England Patriots football team is an association that was founded in 1959  by Billy Sullivan and originally played in the AFL. In the 1970’s the Patriots were moved to the NFL and put in the AFC East. In 1985 the patriots made it to the Super Bowl where they lost to the Chicago Bears 41-10. Again, in the late 1990’s the Pat’s made it to the Super Bowl but were to lose yet again; this time to the Green Bay Packers. Finally in 2000 the Patriots decided to take a gamble on Bill Belichick, a young coach fresh out of the New York Jets Association. This was an automatic success and there was a bond between Tom Brady and the new coach that was unlike any other in the league. The patriots went on to win 3 Superbowls in 4 years. They also went 16-0 in the regular season of the ‘07-’08 season.

I believe that as of now the Patriots are the best team out there. They have one of the best QB’s in the league as well as the best tight end and a stellar receiving crew. They have also devoted most of the 2012 NFL draft to defense. They took their first round pick out of Alabama, Dant’a Hightower, as well as a d-end named Chandler Jones and other upgrades in the secondary. Although the Patriots lost the Super Bowl in 2012 to the New York Giants it shows that they still have it in them and are expected to make the Super Bowl this year. The Patriots dominated their first game against the Tennessee Titans, winning 30-13 and shaking off the pre-season rust. The Patriots are the the best team in the league, I have no doubt in my mind that they will have a great season this year.

~Adler Demac

Cheerleading: A step above the rest

Most of you know what cheerleading is. Or you think you know what it is. You’ve already formed your opinions of how they’re just mean girls in short skirts, but it’s more than that. If you have ever gone to a real cheerleading competition you know that it actually takes skill. But you probably don’t know this: cheerleading is the second MOST dangerous sport in the world, next to rugby. For a cheerleader to hear this it’s like well, no duh, but you’re probably like, yeah how is sitting on a sideline saying “Go Team!” going to kill you? Well think about when you’re in a basket toss and your bases throw you 10-12 feet in the air and your spots decide not to catch you and you fall to the ground straight on your neck it’s not going to feel good. Check out the picture above, imagine falling backwards from this wouldn’t be too much fun. That would leave more than a couple scratches. It may sound stupid, like why would they not catch you, what are they doing? But you would be surprised at how often it happens. And as a flyer (girl being thrown) you gotta love being dropped!

So I hope you have been convinced of cheerleadings difficulty a little bit. Now I ask you, in your opinion is cheerleading a sport? If you just answered that question no, well don’t even go there! I somewhat agree that next to football and basketball cheerleading isn’t totally a sport but competition cheerleading is is just as much of a sport as anything else. At a cheerleading competition you show up and perform the routine that has been practiced for months and then watch the other teams. After that there are awards where they present trophies and prizes to the winners. Doesn’t that sound like a lot of other sports? So what truly makes it so different from every other sport. I believe one reason is just because it’s mostly a female sport and since people think women are inferior to men, cheerleading isn’t as professional and challenging. Maybe that is just my opinion but I don’t see any other reason for it not to be a sport. I once heard this old saying “Athletes lift weights, cheerleaders lift athletes.” This just proves how great cheerleading is and how much skill level it takes. So now do you think cheerleading is a sport?

~Kendal Frazier

The Softball Story

http://www.edinasoftball.com/images/softball_bat_glove_ball_homeplate.jpg

I love softball !! I’ve been playing since I was 8 and have spent most of my nights and weekends playing or practicing ever since. I Like the game of softball because there  is thinking as well as playing. You have to always be ready for the next move . You need to know all the rules and what’s happening next.

I’ve learned so many things from softball. I learned that no matter what the score is you always give your all because you could still come back.  I also learned that you always need to support your teammates because you are part of their softball  family and they are part of yours. Bottom line you are a team, think like a team, play like a team, be a team and you’ll always have a good season.

~Brianna Hunt

Is Gymnastics A Sport?

 

Many people argue, saying that a true sport is football, or soccer, or even lacrosse. As soon as I bring up gymnastics  to the argument, people say “That’s not a sport.” Well, if it’s truly not a sport then why is it in the olympics?! Or it irritates me that in gymnastics everyone thinks we do absolutely nothing! Last time I checked a football weighs about  10-15 ounces. Us gymnasts are tough, we go AGAINST the force, to flip our ENTIRE body weight over. In my opinion, in football all you do is tackle guys to the ground, and fly after a ball.  In my case I think that gymnastics should be  considered  a sport.
Gymnastics is made up of four events: beam, uneven bars, floor, and vault. Each event acquires a different skill.   Beam requires balance, vault requires speed, floor requires strength and flexibility, and the uneven bars requires concentration and upper body strength. Football requires mostly speed, and strength. Also in gymnastics you get judged for how well you can complete your events. Judging is from  a 10.0 score, and you get deductions for missing a step, being out of form, falling, “messing up.” In football your only score is about how well your team plays to make a score. In addition men do gymnastics, and still can come out just as strong as football players. I think that it’s unfair to have a great sport such as gymnastics not even be called a sport. Gymnasts all around the world get offended, that what they are doing is just an activity, where as we also compete, just like football.
I know I’m picking on football, but usually my arguments come up with football players, because they think they are better. I’m not saying gymnastics is better, I’m just saying that gymnastics is also a dangerous sport, just like any other sport, and it isn’t a weak sport only because a lot of girls are into it.

~Jennifer Grubov

Dance, Is it a real sport?

It is just like the argument about whether dogs or cats are better, or whether the chicken or the egg came first. Is dance a sport? Most jocks would say no. But, if they really knew what they were talking about they would answer in a different way.

The stereotype for a dancer is a grown girl with a body of a seven year old boy. Another common thing that people say is that dancers just run around on stage with a pink tutu on, and it could never be a real sport because it is to easy and takes no athletic ability. Well this could not be further from the truth!

Most dancers start their training at about three to five years old. Then, it takes about ten years to master the basics and move up and possibly do pointe. Personally, this was the case for me. Also, a step could take five minutes to learn but five months to master and make it look flawless and effortless. Another, subject on dance that people do not understand is how we gain muscle and become extremely flexible. We have to train and practice for hours on end just to get close to our goals. So just think is dance really “girly?”

~Sydney Korman

Girls can too!

Many kids enjoy playing sports, whether for a team or not. But, some people don’t think that girls can play the same sports as boys. I think that girls can throw footballs as well as guys can and don’t need any special treatment. Girls have proven many times that they can do these things. We can hit a ball with a bat as well as a guy can. We can catch lacrosse balls, too. We’ve already proven those people wrong. So, why don’t they think we can?

I hope we can soon figure that out. But, I know and you SHOULD know that girls CAN TOO! So, if boy can do it, we can too! We’ve just got to believe in ourselves and try as hard as we can. Anyone can do it! Just remember one little thing, don’t give up and keep on trying!

~Georgianna Matcheson