By Abby H.
This past March, I had the opportunity to swim in Orlando, FL for the National Age Group championship meet for 4 days. I have qualified to compete in this meet for the past 3 years. Going this year was better than ever! I had time to hang out with my swim buddies and I did better this year than the past two years. I brought home 8 medals and 4 ribbons, including 2 bronze medals for individual events, 3 golds and 1 silver for team relay races. This is a national championship which means that I was racing really fast swimmers from all over the country! It was live streamed so my family back at home could watch and cheer me on. As they were watching they would send tons of text messages with their encouragement. I had worked very hard to achieve the fast swim times to qualify for this meet. Being a swimmer-student is extremely challenging, trying to juggle and prioritize all the time commitments to school family, church, and swimming (and trying to have free time to be a normal 12 year old). I have 2 hour swim practices 6 days a week, with the exception of Sunday. Once or twice a month there are swim meets that are 5 hours long, usually Saturday through Sunday and occasionally Friday through Sunday. The championship meets are usually 3-4 days long. Sometimes we have to fly or drive hours to get to a meet. I’ve competed in Maryland, Virgina, Westchester, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, and even Buffalo, NY. Even with all this, my parents remind me that school comes before swimming so I have to keep up my grades and keep up with the schoolwork. You will see all the swimmers bringing their big backpacks to work on schoolwork in between races in their hotel rooms and on the airplane. At the meets there are more challenges you face like when you add time or when a coach is not happy with you. It’s not unusual to see swimmers upset and even crying. That’s where you get to see the swim team act like a family. Your teammates will comfort you when you’re having a hard day and also share in your great days. There are many times of great excitement, cheering each other on in the races, and celebrating when you’ve crushed it! Even though there are costs to swimming, I enjoy almost every minute of it. And, yes, I do complain about the practices (especially the ones where you have to be in the water at 5:45AM before school!) and, yes, I do sing “Woah, we're halfway there, Woah, livin' on a prayer….” from Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” to motivate myself to keep going when I am half way through a really hard practice set, but in the end, I love swimming. What have I learned about myself through swimming? I’ve learned to set goals, to work hard and not give up trying to achieve my goals, even though sometimes I fail along the way. I also learned not to set too high expectations for myself.
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By: Maddy R.
On Monday, October 22, the 7th grade girls’ field hockey team celebrated their amazing 2-0 win against Locust Valley! The girls on the team played very well, blocking shots on goal and carrying the ball down the field. The first of the two goals was scored by Christeen DeOliveira. After a fight for the ball in the circle, she was able to escape the fuss and push the ball into the cage successfully. The second goal was carried up the field, passed, and scored by Keira Mirecki. The Locust Valley team did take some shots, but the girls’ defense and their goalies were able to block their shots. Their many fans were there to cheer them on with a lot of support and celebrate their win with them. By: Kara Y.
Many people living in various places worldwide enjoy playing and/or watching sports. Most of the time, players are required to work well with other people for their team to win. In tennis, there are two types of matches: singles and doubles. When playing a singles match, paying attention and being able to run fast are necessities. When playing a doubles match, both teammates need to communicate to see who is going to hit the ball. Carle Place Middle School Tennis teaches middle schoolers how to play tennis in a fun way and it is a great way to make new friends. Carle Place Middle School Tennis is a tennis team made up of seventh and eighth graders. The team helps teach middle school students how to play tennis. There are drills and games that the team does or plays that are made to have the players practice their skills. The coach, Mr. Breslin, oversees how everyone is doing at practice, and then uses the observations he made to help him place us in the match that he thinks is best. He switches the order of players every game to give people a chance to play a match that counts, because not all do. All four singles matches and the first four doubles matches count toward the score. If he sees that a player is struggling with something, he will go over it and practice doing that skill with you. The matches that the team plays can make the middle school players nervous, yet excited. It is nerve wrecking to play against a player(s) that you have not met. You do not know if they are above or below your playing level, but you should always try your best. Although it is nerve wrecking, it can also be exciting because you want the team to win. You cannot wait to hear the news; if the team won, lost, or tied. Winning a match can be rousing with everyone cheering and screaming. The day after our last match, we had a pizza party in the cafeteria after school. We were able to bring in a snack if we chose to. There was pizza and many desserts, from brownies to chips, which were all delicious. It was fun way to end the season. After about an hour, we started to head home. The Carle Place Middle School Tennis Team helped me become a better tennis player from last tennis season, but it also helped me make new friends in another grade. Playing singles matches, games, and doing drills at tennis practice was so fun because I was able to experience how tiring playing singles matches are and practice my skills with the rest of the team. The matches we played made me eager, energetic, as well as jittery, but I felt glad and tired when it was over. After the season ended, the pizza party we had was so fun and it was an amazing way to end the tennis season. You should definitely consider joining the tennis team next year because it is so much fun! Hayley S. attended the Middle School Football game to take pictures and report on the game. Unfortunately, the boys lost this one, but in the first quarter the score was 14-6 with Carle Place in the lead. Points were scored by #24, Ben and #22, Greg.
Multiple middle school students are members of the drumline, which performed at the Fall Pep Rally and at Homecoming. This video is taken by Auston M., a 7th grader and drumline member. He also took the below photos at the Friday night Homecoming game. |
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