6 October 2005
orts
the stentorian 1 ncssm
Wellness program supplements course
selections with Physical Activity electives
BY Sara Wise
BY Jamie Winslow
r ltimate Frisbee has al
ways been a popular
hobby of NCSSM stu
dents. Yet this year, some stu
dents will actually be receiving
a grade for showing off their
Frisbee skills.
Ultimate Frisbee is just one
among many new electives that
has been added to the Physical
Activity and Wellness program
at NCSSM. The revised pro
gram also offers weight train
ing, self-defense, and sports
medicine classes.
The expansion of PA elec
tives is part of an on-going ef
fort to improve the quality of
student life. In 2001, the South
ern Association for Colleges
and Schools, known as SACS,
arrived at NCSSM as an outside
organization. They critiqued
the school and offered sugges
tions for improvement.
In response to the SACS as
sessments, Dr. Joan Barber, the
Senior Vice President of Student
Life, and Eileen Witt, the Ath
letic Director, have been work
ing to open up opportunities for
students interested in pursuing
a more active lifestyle.
The first step was to devel
op a Physical Activity curricu
lum. Prior to 2001, PA classes
were not in the daily curriculum.
Students took a physical fitness
test at the beginning of the year
and were re-tested at the end of
the year in five different com
ponents of physical fitness.
Coach Brian Gonyeau noted
the drawbacks of this system,
“Most students never took the
time to work out and improve
on their own time. And they
weren’t learning anything
4mm
Ultimate Frisbee has become an integral sport at NCSSM.
foreign language and a few oth-
about life-time sports or physi
cal fitness,” Gonyeau said.
The requirement for students to
take one trimester of Physical
Activity was a big step in turn
ing physical wellness into a pri
ority. Another development
was the addition of the fitness
rooms three years ago.
The opportunities for stu
dents continue to grow. The
tennis courts being built will
provide another activity for stu
dents. They should be fully op
erational within a few months;
electrical issues involving the
lighting have caused delays.
Several other plans for elec
tives are underway. Golf and
archery are both being consid
ered. Fitting these courses into
the schedule is not easy.
“We’re always advocating
for more programs, but we are
in competition with other cours
es. We share the PA block with
Women’s tennis team shows
optimism for current season
BY Hattie CiiuNG
T he women’s tennis team
is composed of nine girls
this year - juniors
Maggie Baker, Wendy Hua,
Lauren lannotte, Lalitha
Kundura, Pam Liu, Christine
Nguyen; and seniors Heather
Faircloth, Molly Jones, Amee
Patel, Susannah Small, Eliza
beth White.
These girls seem very en
thusiastic about the season.
Senior Heather Faircloth, No. 1
seed, commented, “I just really
enjoy this year - everyone gets
along so well and makes the
team fun.” Faircloth is
from West Brunswick and
has been playing for five
years, including experi
ence on her previous
school’s Varsity Tennis
Team.
On the other side, jun
ior Pam Liu shows the
broad range of experience
found on the team. She
has never played tennis
before, but the athlete ap
parently has a natural tal
ent for it.
The girls on the team
are very optimistic about
their participation on the
team. “1 don’t think about
the team as realty compet
itive, but more like play
ing for fun with my
friends,” said Hua. Junior
Christine Nguyen agreed,
“No matter now much we
whine about it, it’s fun.”
The girls have played
quite a few matches al
ready. The first was
against Cresset Christian
on Sept. 8'\ where the
er classes. But luckily, the stu
dent life class covers topics
that relate to wellness, which
helps to foster the program,”
Gonyeau said.
Although PA meets once a
week, the elective courses gen
erally meet two times a week.
Much planning was done with
the registrar, Kathleen Allen, to
work the electives into the
school day.
Coach Gonyeau encourages
all students to consider taking
PA electives.
“We try to make it fun. Al
though we’re reinforcing basic
skills, we also want to show stu
dents something new, like an
advanced skill. That is going
to make it more interesting and
rewarding,” said Gonyeau.
Ihis year the men’s var
sity soccer team has
kicked off the beginning
of their season with a bang. The
elite squad of talented juniors
and seniors has been dominat
ing the field since the first game.
After opening up their sea
son at an away game against
Carolina Friends, they dashed
past the opposition to win the
game 4-0. At their first home
game on Thursday September
8*, the Unicorns conquered
Cresset Christian with an as
tounding score of 7-1. Keith
Grose wore out the rival team
with three goals, acrobatic Mark
Owolabi t&ew in another goal,
and Mike Tipton, Carter Crawl,
and Matt Ball also netted one
goal apiece.
“I am glad to be a part of this
talented team and hopefully I
can exceed my expectations this
year,” said junior striker
Owolabi.
It looks as though Owolabi
has had a great start. He also
scored the sole goal for their
third game against Durham
School of the Arts with a ball
that he headed into the goal on
a comer kick. Both games that
have been played on S&M
home turf have proved to be riv
eting from the starting whistle
to the end of the second half,
with most of the action string
at the opponent’s end of the
field. The strikers, wings, and
mid-fielders stay busy, but
whenever the ball does cross
over to Uni territory, the strong
defense is there to meet them
and crash their hopes of scor
ing. On the occasion that the
opponent is able to pull off a
shot, senior goalies Scott
Bowen and Martin Locklear are
in position to slide, dive, or boot
the ball out of the scoring area.
Coach Gallagher has
done a fabulous job of trans
forming this talented group of
individuals into a rock-solid
team of soccer stars. Support
the NCSSM Unicorns on their
way to a winning season.
The men's soccer team stands awaiting their next warm-up
Cross country team makes changes,
predicts domination over competition
Ben Bogardus provides an inside look into cross country^ ’s season
and push-ups on our own time. KC: What are the
team walked away with a total
victory, completely shutting out
the opponent, 9-0. However,
they got to “experience both
end^s of the spectrum” [Hua]
when they lost to Chapel Hill
the following day, 0-9.
The schools that the team
will play against will be Cresset
Christian, Durham Academy,
Chapel Hill High, Ravenscroft,
St. Mary’s, Cary Academy, Ra
leigh Charter, and North Raleigh
Christian.
The team is staying optimis
tic about its season despite all
the hard work that goes into
being a member of the team.
Tmeslollfully returns a hit
BY Kevin Chen
finished with my last class
I for the day, I entered my
room thinking about
homework. Just as I was about
to crack open the books, a blast
hit me from outside the
window—“C’MON! DON’T
CUT THE CORNERS!” 1 peered
out the window and saw a
bespectacled man with his arms
folded and a look of intensity
on his face. It was Rick
MacDonald, the new head
cross-country coach. I could
hear the cross-country team
panting to keep up with the
unrelenting pace around the
soccer field.
My curiosity aroused, I
decided to talk to Ben
Bogardus, a returning senior
who was one of the elite runners
last year.
KC: How are you guys
preparing for the season?
BB: The summer was a sort
of cross training period for
some people, a chance to stop
exercising entirely for others,
and for the very proactive it
was a time to keep in shape and
even improve on times. Most
people favor either the cross
training or the laying around,
whieh isn’t necessarily bad
considering track and cross
country wear them out. Since
tryouts, there has been a gradual
increase in the time we run
each practice. There is a warm
up on soft ground, which means
no sidewalks. Following, we do
stretches starting from the
head and working our way
down. Coach has us do some
strides to work on our form, and
then sends us out to run. He
strongly urges us to do sit ups
He has been strategically
choosing people to lead
stretches, paying more
attention to their role on the
team rather than to their
running expertise.
KC: How is the new coach?
BB: Rick Macdonald has been
coaching for a very long time,
and in several fields of sports
including basketball. He takes
his responsibility to produce a
"After Coach
instills in us the
strategic parts of
running a course,
we will swamp
the competition"
Ben Bogardus
main
KC: What
events?
BB: The main event is a five-
km race, which is approximately
3.1 miles. However, this race is
over rocks, trails, and jagged
terrain. There is much burning
of the calves on the up-hills,
and no feeling rivals the
exhilaration felt at the sight of a
finish line. Recently, we had a
time trial for a two-mile course.
One of the people who stood
out was Lucus Lankford, head
of the body builder’s club and
a recent participant in cross
country. He had a mile time close
to six minutes, or maybe even
less. I expect that we will be very
successful in not only achieving
individual goals, but perform
outstandingly as a team. A team
is only as good as its worst
player.
KC: How do you guys plan on
improving from last year?
BB: More stretching. I keep on
trying to encourage people to
stretch more after practice, and
also while Coach is speaking.
In addition to imr
good team very seriously, and
seems more like a football coach
than a cross-country coach. He
has already had us fill out goal
sheets so he will be able to track
our progress and handle any
concerns that may pester
athletes. He makes sure his kids
get to the cafeteria on time and
that the>i know their level and
their ability to improve. The
assistant coach, Arayano
Bush, is a long time coach in
cross-country and track. He was
a student at NCSSM, sporting
a ‘fro in his younger years.
physical fitness through imigue
exercises, mental toughness has
been emphasized.
After I had exhausted Ben
with several questions, I got
down to the meat of the
conversation. The hunger to
win practically glowed from
Ben’s face when I asked him to
predict how well the team would
do. “After Coach instills in us
the strategic parts of running a
course, we will swamp the
competition. The drive to
succeed, which comes from
attending this school, will
enable us to reach our full
Runners respect his positive potential. And with coach’s
attitude and his concern for a help,
runner’s condition. right time
aelp, the team will peak at the