~~I will be writing in the Sports section on our class page.
I was chosen to write about our school crew team. There will be updates on the team's progress, which freshman make the varisty squad, how they will do/did in the ergathons, and predictions of how the team will do in the future. Our coach said that our boats look like they will have a great chance in nationals and expects to see some medals around our necks.
Some other things I will be able to write about are the new boats that our team is going to purchase. This will lead to helping me write how the great boats will affect our team. Since the old boats were getting a little scratched, the new boats will be a great addition to the team.
~*~Things I know for sure~*~
~>The crew team will be attending an erg sprint in Febuary.
~>The team will be attending a national race in Tennesse.
~>There is not much that can be said right now becuase the crew season hasn't started!
~~A list of potential sources for my story
~> Myself (since im on the crew team)
~> The coach
~> Avid supporters of the team
~> Other members of the crew team
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Is the team still going to Canada at some point?
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Controversy: Does the crew team have the right to charge its members so much to participate (do we really need new boats if the older ones are only scratched, and not even that old?) Why don't they just request to become school-sponsored, like other sports? Also, are parents too into their children's competitions?
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~* My Three Sources *~
~> Jim (the head coach)
~> Valerie (the lightweight coach)
~> Eric (my arch rival in crew)
1) How do you think the new freshman will do this season?
2) How about the lightweight boat?
3)Does the varsity team have another shot at being national champs?
1) Who do you think will make the lightweight boat?
2) Do they work hard enough?
3) Your predictions?
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McLean Crew Club
The McLean crew club is said to be the most successful sport at McLean high school. The determined rowers are not the only people that help the club become a success, the people that work hard behind the scenes are equally helpful. For many years, the school board has been debating whether crew should be a school-sponsored sport. Many wealthy schools such as Langley are able to provide their crew teams with a sufficient amount of funds to fulfill their needs, but McLean is not able to. A decent is in the price range from anything like $15,000 to $25,000. The boats are not the only thing that cost an immense amount of money. Our crew team is required to train during the winter on rowing machines, which become very costly when twenty of them are needed.
Several people that played a significant role in the McLean rowing community were interviewed, and they all seemed to have similar opinions on issues. First of all, they were all able to realize the fact that although it would be great for the school to sponsor crew, they cannot afford it. “Every away regatta costs $150!” stated the lightweight coach, Valerie. Eric Urchell admitted that his parents weren’t very reluctant to pull out their checkbook every month in order to spend hundreds of dollars on crew. “If each individual member is not able to raise the minimum amount of money, the rest of it must come out of their pockets!” said Eric Urchell with a very annoyed tone. Many people consider this a fee rather than fund-raising money.
The varsity crew coach, Jim, is heavily considering to buy a new boat for the varsity heavyweights. This would be a great addition for the team, but it is also very costly. Luckily, the coach owns all of the McLean rowing boats, so the money will be coming out of the coach’s pocket. The McLean rowers are very appreciative of the coach because they know that if the coach leaves McLean high school, so do the boats! This is why the entire team takes extra good care of the boats. “We try to rinse off the boats after every practice” exclaimed lightweight rower Casey Walsh.
The McLean crew club will be attending an erging competition on the second of February. “Erging” is a crew term for rowing on a row machine. The varsity team meets everyday before and after school for about two hours and trains on the ergs, while the freshman and Sophomore teams gather after school everyday in order to train. Because of the upcoming erg competition, the rowers have been constantly weighed in and had their scores written down for their pieces everyday! The training gets more and more intense as the day for the erging competition becomes closer and closer. “I know Valerie means well by pushing us to do our best, but it’s very tiring and very difficult,” confessed lightweight rower, Eric Urchell.
Since there are not as many competitions for crew as there are for other sports, the McLean crew club is offered less chances to prove their skills. This is why the coaches push the rowers much harder and each practice session is taken very seriously. Since the time they have to prepare is longer between each regatta, it means other teams are given the same amount of time to prepare for the same race. The sessions need to be intense in order for McLean to have a leg up on other schools.
All of the rowers are counting down the days until February 24th, which is the day that they are able to go out on the Potomac River once more and start training. This is going to become a glorious day for all of the rowers because this means that they will not be using the rowing machines for another three or four months. Since the nightmare of every rower is to train on the ergs, the time that the teams get to spend on the water should be utilized very well and allow them to have a little fun.
All of the boats are able to go out in the water at the same time. Boys lightweight, girls lightweight, boys heavyweight, and varsity girls are the four boats that represent McLean in the competitions. As soon as the rowers arrive at the boathouse, they quickly change and get their boats onto the water as soon as possible. By working as one unit, each team must get the heavy boats off of the racks and walk a couple hundred feet with the boat on the shoulders. The coxswain directs the boat with simple commands like “way enough”, “bow it”, “stern it”, “starboard” and much more. It is imperative that the whole team follows the instructions of the coxswain very carefully, or else a very expensive boat will be ruined.
The team is planning on holding a dinner that would be incorporated with a silent auction in order to raise some more money for the club. They have been busy trying to collect items that they can use to auction off. Items such as tickets to sporting events, dinners at restaurants, sports memorabilia, or even vacations are some of the things that are going to be auctioned off at this event. Members of the crew team are busily trying to sell the five tickets that they were issued at a fair price of $10 for each one.
The upcoming season for our McLean Crew team looks very promising. With the hardcore determination and teamwork the team has, lots of people are expecting another national victory. But without the support of the community, no sport will be able to prevail. This puts an emphasis on the fact that everyone must help in order to make anything a success.
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My new topic will be about the movie Orange County. I will be writing a review on the movie and asking people who saw the movie what they thought about it.
~People I will interview~
George Zhao, Tyson Colaianni, and one other person who saw the movie.
Interviews for Second Story
Ray: Hey Tyson, I have a question for you, did you see Orange County?
Tyson: Yeah, I got a chance to catch that movie last week.
R: Great, you wouldn't mind if I asked you some questions about the movie would you?
T: Oh, not at all, go for it!
R: Compared to all of the hilarious scenes presented in the previews, how did the movie compare to the previews shown on TV?
T: Well, from the previews, Orange County seemed like a diffrent movie than it actually was. But I would have to say that the movie presented itself well compared to the previews.
R: Weren't there some scenes that were missing from the movie that were actually shown in the movie?
T: Yeah, the whole camera scene wasnt there, I was kind of anticipating that part through out the movie.
Orange Country
Orange County is a comedic movie about a smart high school student named Shaun, with his heart set on going to Stanford. He is horrified when his guidance counselor accidentally sends the wrong transcript with his college application and is not accepted to Stanford. When he tries to prove that he is truly a good student, troubles start to spring up.
The very first thing that keeps Shaun out of Stanford University is his community. His family is totally dysfunctional, he has a brother who is constantly running from the law, a mother who is constantly drinking, and a step-father that just wheels around on his wheelchair all day. The people at Shaun’s school aren’t any more encouraging. All of the boys go surfing everyday, and the girls seem to be cheerleading bimbos. A viewer can look at this situation two ways, this dysfunctional community can be a great place for an inspiring writer, or it can be a horrible place for an intelligent writer. The second thing that isn’t going for Shaun is his counselor. She tells him that he will get into Stanford no matter what, and advises him not to apply to any other colleges. While she tells him that, she sends in the wrong transcript, so Shaun is stuck with no colleges to go to after high school!
Suddenly, Shaun’s convict brother, Lance, drives Shaun and his girlfriend Ashley to Stanford for a late-night meeting with the admissions dean. After accidentally dosing the dean with the party drug ecstasy and burning down the admissions building, not much luck is left for Shaun to get into college. He was smoking some marijuana with the secretary of the admissions office, and manages to catch the drapes on fire. “I don’t think this scene was necessary” says Tyson Colaianni “there could have been much more funny ways to catch the building on fire than with marijuana.” Many critics seem to agree with Tyson. The random scenes with drugs left the viewer a little puzzled.
“This was one of the shortest movies I have seen in the movie theaters” exclaimed George Zhao. Orange County ran for a mere one hour and twenty minutes. “The lack of an interesting and twisted plot was probably the reason the movie was so short” said Tyson Colaianni.
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| Last updated 2008/09/28 08:18:15 PDT | Hits 215 |
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