Column: Small School

By: Martha Smith

We here at NSA are a school of eighty kids.  We all live, eat, sleep and hang out in the same building as one another most of the time.  While that may create a nice, close-knit community, it also creates something else: a lot of really weird and unavoidable awkward situations.  Here at NSA that is the exact problem we have. 

For example, try walking by the Exeter Room: Every time someone walks by the room they look in to see who is there.  And generally it’s not just a quick glance either. They really take a look in there, check the table or the windows, and if they are coming from the right direction, the cubbies.  But if someone is in there they look away, quick, because they inevitability make that incredibly awkward eye contact.

No one knows what to say, so everyone is just staring.

Both parties experience this because the people in the Exeter Room always take a quick look out the doors as well, and make eye contact.  And of course this makes the person in the room feel just as awkward, so they quickly look back down at whatever it is that they are “working” on, and try really hard to look busy.

Sometimes a student gets lucky, and there is no one that they can make eye contact with on a quick stroll by, but if the student is one of those really daring people they actually take a few steps into the room.  That trek into the room almost always ends in the walker feeling like a complete idiot.

Let me explain this for you, they begin walking by the Exeter Room and they slow down as they cross the doors in the hallway.  Quick peak in, and it looks like the room is empty.  Score.  They take a few steps in, glance around, not obviously though, because who knows who could somehow see them in that “empty” room, and walk to the windows.  Take a look outside, see if anything interesting is going on, so maybe they can go join that because the Exeter Room stroll really isn’t all that interesting.  Sure enough there is something going on.  TT and Sarah are outside throwing/catching grapes.  They watch for a little, and make the decision to go outside.  They think they are all in the clear and then they turn around to leave and wham, there is one of the skiers sitting in the corner on the computer.  And of course it isn’t one of the skiers they have actually had a few conversations with, it’s the one they hardly know.  Out of the school of eighty and the one person in the room is one of the few they’ve never said a word to.  Awesome, nice and awkward.

The skier looks up right as they are awkwardly standing in the middle of the room.  It’s time for the phone save.  Pull out the phone from the pocket, dramatically, I might add, so they “know” there is a “real” reason for whipping it out of your pocket like that.  Open it.  Stare at the little screen for a few seconds, make it look like they really are reading a text, and casually walk out.  Perfect cover up. They just managed to avoid any type of conversation, which would of made the entire confrontation a lot more awkward and just in general they saved the situation from becoming ten times more awkward.

All in all theses situations are one of the best and one the worst parts of going to school at National Sports Academy.  A plus because you can always share with your friends your latest awkward moment, and a minus because you are constantly on the lookout to avoid the awkward moments.

Column

Worst Fans In The World?

By: Kelsey Lynch 

Passionate or classless? Being classified as “the worst fans in the world,” by GQ magazine was not the first time Philadelphia fans were represented in a negative way. These die hard fans are considered to be “rude, inappropriate, and the obvious one, obnoxious by many people in the world of sport,” by the same magazine.

I believe that these accusations are false and if anything blown way out of proportion.  

As a Philly fan myself, I love the atmosphere and the entertainment that most fans bring to the game. I believe that everything a Philly fan does or says is done out of protection or loyalty. Granted, some fights were unnecessary and maybe throwing up on a small child could have been prevented, but most likely the people doing these things will not remember it the next day.

 

Thankfully, the media is watching our every move and will broadcast it for the whole world to see.

But what about the game changing energy, does the media catch that?

The crowd’s enthusiastic energy and continuous chanting creates an atmosphere that many 

opposing teams fear and Philly teams love. Seeing rally towels spinning in the air or hearing your team name cheered continuously can greatly impact the players and potentially change the game completely. There have been numerous occasions where the fans inspirational cheering has brought a difficult loss to an uplifting win.

 

Most cities typically have those crazy fans that take a loss differently from others and show their anger through fist fighting and name-calling. Although because of Philadelphia’s long history of outrageous behavior whenever there is an incident pertaining a Philly fan, it most likely will make a media headline.

Walking into any Philadelphia sports complex with an opposing team jersey is a risky move. You shouldn’t expect to get an applause or a sign of approval because most likely you will get the complete opposite. Most fans know what they’re getting themselves into as soon as they walk into the building but for those who don’t know, you’ve been warned.

Just like any other city, Philly fans are not going to tolerate any trash talking. If negative comments are made about their beloved team, then most likely they will return the favor. I’m not saying it’s appropriate to start a fight or pour beer on someone but I do think all fans have the right to stick up for what they believe.

Column: Food lacks variety

NSA food lacks variety

By: Emily Laurenzi

In the small town of Lake Placid, New York around eighty highly skilled student athletes including myself, attend a small boarding school known as National Sports Academy. 

At this sports academy we are engaged in a busy schedule and are limited on down time. Just like every other boarding school NSA has three meals a day, breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Unlike many other boarding schools, NSA’s food lacks variety.

Numerous times this year I have eaten peanut butter and jelly in my room due to the lack of variety of food that is being served. For example, if you don’t like tacos and you’re tired of having salad, because you have it everyday, then you are left with very few options.

If NSA were to broaden their variety, I think it would be beneficial for both the students and faculty who choose to eat the school lunches. Simply because if you didn’t like what was being cooked that day, you could eat a sandwich or maybe a slice of pizza. This means that everyday, there would be a place set up in the kitchen for students to make sandwiches.

NSA girls hockey coach, Kelli Vossler, has tried multiple times to survey the students in order to create a better food selection, however, it never seemed to be taken anywhere.  Her survey consisted of questions about what student’s favorite lunch and dinner meals were and asked general questions regarding the student’s perspectives on the quality of the food.  After all the hard work Vossler had put in, the only changes that had been made was the choice to use chicken as a topping on salad and NSA now has choices between whole milk and skim milk.

Undercooked french fries

In addition to the lack of variety, another problem is the quality of the food. For example, on October 13, 2011 the lunch being served was grilled cheese and what some may call French fries. However, when I took my first bite into the grilled cheese I realized the cheese had not been melted. I asked myself, “How hard is it to make grilled cheese?” I was too hungry to throw it away, and too lazy to find something else, so I decided to put the grilled cheese in the microwave. After being so upset that my grilled cheese wasn’t fully cooked, I decided to try the fries. You know when you eat potatoes and they are hard because they aren’t cooked all the way? That’s exactly how the fries were, not crunchy and delicious, but soggy and disgusting.

I believe that sometime in the near future NSA will have no choice but to have a greater selection for the students. In order for student athletes to perform at their pinnacle it becomes necessary for them to be fed properly.

Athletic Results- Boys Hockey

Junior Varsity Boys Sweep First Three Games

By: Maggie Cross

At the end of each of their three games this weekend, the NSA JV hockey team left the ice with sweat dripping from their faces and their lungs gasping for air but always victorious.

The team also managed to follow in the Varsity’s footsteps, sweeping the three game weekend against the Boston Junior Mariners to remain undefeated.



National Sports Academy’s logo





The boys dominated their opponents outscoring them by a combined total of 19 to 2. The first gamed ended with a score of 7-0. Mike McDaniel played solid in net earning himself his first shutout of the year.

When the buzzer rang ending the second game the boys racked up another win outscoring the Mariners by a score of 8-1. Alex Kwok, Co Captain of NSA lit the lamp three times for his first hat trick of the year. Stefan Demetz was a brick wall in net allowing only one puck past him.

The third and final game kept people on the edge of their seat until the every end. Despite the convincing 4-1 win the main separation between the two teams this game was what Head Coach Chris Crawford described as a strength of the NSA team “conditioning.” Jake Ruby played superb in goal only allowing the Mariners to celebrate one time.



Boston Jr. Mariner’s logo



 “Proud, very proud,” is how Coach Chris Crawford described his feelings on the team’s performance.  “We only had a week and

a half on the ice and a couple days to work on systems,” he finished.

“Our strengths are definitely our conditioning and offense,” Crawford stated, adding, “we can still work on our defensive zone coverage.”



The boys continue to work hard on the ice improving as a team and off ice improving their chemistry. The team has many games to come with opponents better than, equal to, and lesser than the team they previously faced.

“My goal for next year is to have half of my players at the ability and physically prepared to play on the varsity team” said Coach Crawford “As long as we are playing well our record does not matter” he finished.

Athletic Result Boys Hockey

NSA Continues Promising Season

By: Mattia Laudi and Martha Smith

Lake Placid – On September 23rd the National Sports Academy Mountaineers Junior A team played outstandingly against the Albany Americans, who were previously undefeated in league play.

The Mountaineers started putting their opponents under pressure from the first moment of play and after just four minutes, Tyler Watts netted the first goal of the game to put the Mountaineers up 1-0.

NSA Mountaineers

At 12:23 of the first period, Erik Halin ripped a one-time slapshot into past the Albany goaltender, then with just over three minutes remaining in the period, Zach White tallied the Mountaineer’s third goal.

After the break and the coach’s speech the Americans came out flying to start the second period, as their top scorer, Tyler Underhill, lit the lamp for Albany’s first goal.

The Mountaineers replied to Albany’s comeback bid when Devin Desnoyers sniped his first goal of the game at five minutes. Assists came from Mountaineer rookies Halin and Watts.

Underhill scored another goal shortly after, but the Mountaineers responded readily after thirty seconds when Zach Dymock that stole a vacant puck after a messy play by the Albany defenders and beat the goalie on his glove side.

The Mountaineers finished the third period with three unanswered goals, and a final score of 8-2.  “We started out with a great work ethic” head coach Rod Simmons said, “and that’s the way we finished.”

The players felt good after the game thanks to the great environment in the locker room and the good chemistry of the team: “We had a really good game” Joe Kleinhenz commented, “because we played together for the whole time as a real team.’’

Albany Americans Logo

Starting out the season as strong as the Mountaineers have is sure to set the standard for the remainder of the season. 

The games for the Mountaineers this season have been decisive wins, but Simmons doesn’t seem worried.  In the third game of the first weekend NSA was down two goals and battled back for the win. 

“There is good character on the team,” Simmons said, adding that, “in the four games [he has] not been disappointed at all [but] there are always things we can do better.”

NSA has three more games this coming weekend.  The Mountaineers  “believe in playing our systems… playing till the whistle blows [all] sixty minutes” with that in mind Coach Simmons continues to have high expectations.

NSA Luge team

By Aidan Kelly

October 10^th marks the start of another exciting season for the four luge athletes here at NSA. Tucker West and Aidan Kelly have been training all summer for the start of the season and are hoping this will be their best one yet.

One thing most people don’t know is what the Luge team is actually doing at NSA. They show up for a few weeks in the beginning of the school year, we see them a few days throughout the year then they’re back for the spring. As it turns out they are actually training during that time. Although they spend a lot of time in Lake Placid not attending school, they are working towards being the strongest team in the world.

When they are not across the globe racing in world cups they are at the Olympic Training Center lifting and cross training. Also, the boys spend an hour a day in the refrigerated start training facility. This facility is basically a giant refrigerator where three mock up “start ramps” are iced so athletes can practice start technique. If you don’t know what a luge start is, it is the only time a luge athlete can physically accelerate themselves down the track. While sitting on their sleds sliders pull off two parallel handles and paddle their way down the start ramp. If your thinking that paddling down an ice ramp wont do much you’d be correct, that is why lugers where special gloves with spikes on the tops of the fingers to dig into the ice. Though the start does not equate to much of the luge run it can give an athlete the advantage they need to get a head start.

               
                                   German sliders practice start technique in their summer training

“You can’t really win a race in the start, but you can definitely lose one there” said Tucker West. “Although it can give you a head start someone can always beat you down the track.” He finished.

Sliding down an ice track at close to ninety miles an hour doesn’t sound like much fun to most but these guys call it home. The 19 curve track of Lake Placid is one of the hardest in the world and they are glad that they train on such a difficult track because it will make other tracks seem less difficult.

               
          A slider maneuvers the Altenberg, Germany track (this is what athletes can see on their way down)
                                                      
“Sure it was scary at first,” said West, “and yeah I’ve crashed a lot, but it’s like second nature now,” he finished.

              

                            Many lugers crash on their way down but for the most part, they’re okay!

Both Aidan and Tucker have had a quite short world cup career; Tucker having traveled to Altenberg and Koenigssee, Germany as well as Igls, Austria and Aidan having only gone to Igls, Austria. This year will extend their traveling career Park City Utah as well as Calgary, Canada, Igls, Austria Oberhof, Germany and Koenigssee, Germany for junior world championships. Also on that list is the first ever Youth Olympic Games in Igls, Austria.

Top women’s pre-college hockey league in the world

Junior Women’s Hockey League

By: Emily Laurenzi and Kelsey Lynch

NEW YORK---With four years under its belt, the Junior Women’s Hockey League has developed into the top league for AAA girl’s ice hockey in the world.

The league is broken down into two divisions based primarily on location. Each year, teams from the western division and the eastern division travel across the continent to compete in league play, showcases and the year end tournament. 

All ten teams of the JWHL

All five east teams will meet five times to play a total of twenty games. While the east are competing against one another, teams from the west are as well. All ten teams will also participate in three cross-over weekends where all the east teams will go head to head with the west teams.

These eight meetings comprise most of the league schedule.   

As if traveling across the country every weekend wasn’t enough, most players feel the added pressure of often having thirty or more college scouts watching their every move.

Seven out of the eight weekends in the JWHL are played on college campuses. This gives an opportunity for  all players to tour campuses and be able to play in college arenas. It addition it creates an easier and more convenient way for college coaches to recruit.

The JWHL’s most competitive games are played in Arlington, Virginia every February at the Kettler Capitals Ice Complex. The best teams that aren’t normally in the JWHL are invited to compete in the Challenge Cup as well. There are a total of sixteen teams vigorously fighting to make it to the championship game.

The JWHL is the only pre-college girls league to play the length of a college hockey game. Each game is broken down into three twenty-minute periods.

In the past two years, The Mountaineers have placed fourteen players to D1 and D3 schools. Out of those fourteen, six players received full athletic scholarships. 

NSA goal against North American Hockey Academy

Last year National Sports academy clinched third place in the east division, battling out until the very end. With only one league weekend to go, and a team goal still left unaccomplished, the Mountaineers left everything they had on the ice, sweeping all five games they played. 

As the 2011-2012-hockey season begins, NSA welcomes ten new faces to their team. With a new team and a new year the Mountaineers are anxiously anticipating the start of the first JWHL weekend. 

New NSA student, Kelsea Williams, made the decision to transfer from a team in the west division this year.

"It is a greater opportunity for college exposure than the west division," Williams said.  "To me, the east seems to be where the heart of women's hockey is in North America."

The JWHL’s opening games take place in Boston for the start of the 2011-2012 season. Both divisions will make the trip to begin a long strenuous season. “There will be sixty or more scouts watching this weekend,” commented head coach Bill Ward. “Hopefully we will sweep the first games.”