Gunn High School's Student Newspaper
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[11/9] Girls’ water polo beats Paly, football team works toward CCS
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[Sports] Ripped Fuel is an herbal, performance-enhancing supplement based on ECA (ephedrine, caffeine and aspirin) and can potentially cause many unwanted side effects due to its ephedrine content. Ephedrine is one of the main herbal products used to enhance sport performances, and Ripped Fuel also contains caffeine, which further induces side effects. Ripped Fuel may seem appealing to students at first as it does have some eye-catching qualities, including fat loss, added muscle mass and an energy boost. However, when taken excessively and without caution, it can cause athletes to have irregular heartbeats, restlessness, low metabolism, nausea and heart attacks. —Lisa Wong
[Sports] A combination of “vital” and “minerals,” vitamins maintain biochemical bodily functions such as hormone, antioxidants, night vision and cell regulation. More well-known vitamins, such as Vitamin C and Vitamin K, act correctly because people eat them on a daily basis to maintain their health. However, some people take supplements as a major source of vitamins in order to maintain a healthy diet. —Joseph Lin
[Sports] You wouldn’t cheat on a math test, would you? You probably wouldn’t sneak notes into an in-class essay, either. With all the focus on academic honesty, it’s surprising that there is little or no focus on another important type of honesty—athletic honesty. Popping performance-enhancing supplement pills is not considered cheating in the sporting world, but it has the same effect, as the supplements improve the athlete’s endurance or strength without extra work. —Annie Shuey
[Sports] One thing I learned about wrestling when I attended practice: there’s lots of sweat involved. The room with the cleanly padded mat is literally a sauna with the stench of hard work whipped on to the bodies of the athletes. Some people think that no-cut sports are only useful to get a prep period, but that was not the type of sport I experienced in wrestling. During my two hours of conditioning and minimal wrestling, not once was the team given a water break. Apparently, we were supposed to lose a few pounds exhuming water from our bodies. Of course it was an exhausting two hours but it was still fun.—Colin Chen
[Sports] So it’s Wednesday and I’m assigned at the last minute to shadow a nighttime basketball practice. No matter how much I struggled to get away from my duty, I had to man-up—Kevin Gao
[Sports] Trying out for a high school athletic team takes courage, persistence and enthusiasm, all of which I mustered up when I walked onto the soccer field. I was shin guard-less and inexperienced, but ready to feel the burn in a way I had never felt it before. I am no soccer pro, but surely I ended up impressing the coaches with my new skills.—Mati Pluska-Renaud
[Sports] I looked up the word “baller” on www.urbandictionary.com. The definitions included, “One who exhibits a consistent proficiency at or exuberant love for the game of basketball,” “a person who plays, and is very successful in basketball” and “one who is of amazing skill playing basketball.” Take my word for it, I am not a baller. I learned this the hard way—I attempted to participate in a girls’ basketball practice, and let me tell you, these Lady Titans go hard.—Annie Shuey
[Sports] Girls’ water polo beats Paly, football team works toward CCS—Wen Yi Chin & Annie Shuey
[Sports] The Oracle: What experience do you have either with coaching or playing soccer?—Divya Shiv
[Sports] The Oracle gets the scoop on octopush, chessboxing, bog snorkeling and cheese rolling.—Joseph Lin & Elaine Liu
[Sports] The Oracle staff interviews Athletics Director Chris Horpel. —Divya Shiv
[Sports] The Oracle staff recaps what's been happening with the fall sports teams.—Elaine Liu & Annie Shuey
[Sports] Professional athletes provide us with entertainment on the field, and Internet communications now allow athletes to entertain us off the field as well. With the explosion of Twitter, thousands of people get updates on what’s on their favorite athletes’ minds. Due to Twitter’s simple format, athletes can instantaneously reach followers across the globe, which is also what gives head coaches and league executives headaches.—Annie Shuey
[Sports] Parkour, a rising underground sport, has come to Gunn. Defined as the art of moving, parkour consists of a series of flips and tricks while running in a straight line and avoiding obstacles. “Fearlessness and physical strength are both big factors in being in parkour,” sophomore Chrystal Chern said. “However, these skills can also be acquired through parkour if you try hard.” —Annie Tran
[Sports] The Oracle staff interviews Sports Commissioner senior Riley Weinmann. —Jesse Klein
[Sports] The Oracle staff interviews physical therapist Maureen Lipa.—Annie Tran
[Sports] The Oracle staff describes how to give someone a great back massage. —Annie Tran
[Sports] Aug. 14 was a fateful day. The first of eight double days, means it’s time to truly buckle down and work our tails off. Unbeknownst to me, the football gods had something much different in mind. It comes time for lineman pits. Mano a mano, this is what football is all about. Today I’m going heads with team heffalump Alex Sutherland. Great guy, great football player, but he is somewhat ginormous. He falls on my poor knee, torquing it inward, and all that goes through my mind is “oh s---!” It has officially been diagnosed for now as a sprained MCL, between grades 1-2 (3 being a full tear). We are still awaiting the results of my MRI, but the MCL is the lesser known ligament brethren of the ACL, conveniently located on the inner part of one’s knee.—Colin Chen
[Sports] Physical therapy is offered almost everywhere as a service to promote physical strength to individuals enduring injury, disease, aging or other strains. The goal is to offer guidance to improve one’s general health and ability to move and function. Various fields that use physical therapy include sports, geriatric, neurologic, orthopedics and pediatric.—Kevin Gao
[Sports] The Oracle staff gives a sneak peek of fall sports this year.—Elaine Liu & Lisa Wong