The widely praised American golfer Tiger Woods had a personal mantra that he used as advice for anyone who wanted to follow in his footsteps: “Don’t get bitter, get better.” Following the first semester of sports, Woodside students discuss the challenges they faced and how they overcame them.
Woodside High School has a large variety of sports and extracurriculars that allow students to explore different alleys and find what interests them. With 16 different sports, high school is a place for people who have an interest in finding or continuing their own sport. Along with Woodside’s many sports come a variety of hardships that athletes have to overcome throughout the season. Senior Emily Parker is a part of the new flag football team at Woodside. She explained that, under pressure to win from coaches, the team environment became negative, making it a difficult season.
“Our team morale just dropped,” Parker said. “I mean, so many players wanted to quit.”
Parker talked about how important it is for coaches to listen to players and avoid being quick to anger.
“For me, [sports are about] having a good team culture,” Parker said. “I play sports for fun, so it’s nice to have a great supportive environment.”
Despite a more difficult season, the team pushed through. As a senior on the team, Parker had some words of wisdom for anyone hoping to join a sport.
“Listen to your captains, listen to the experienced players on your team, and if [the coach] makes you feel bad, which [they] definitely will, just ignore it … [it] doesn’t define you as a player,” Parker said.
Kaitlyn Fukuhara is the senior varsity captain of the volleyball team. She described how being in a transition year made this season harder than previous years.
“I just wanted to enjoy my time, but … it made a lot of unnecessary tension and made us feel like we just shouldn’t even be playing,” Fukuhara said. “So that kind of just unmotivated us … and … a lot of players stopped coming to practice.”
The girls’ volleyball coach is a new addition to the team, which made bonding and adjusting to the new way of practicing another challenge for players to overcome. Fukuhara gave some tips for incoming volleyball players at Woodside.
“If [the coach] says something to you, take the advice and actually listen and then … work on the specific thing that he says to improve on,” Fukuhara said. “You just need to be able to adapt and to listen to suggestions.”
Challenges in athletics are not confined to the team itself. Administration also faces challenges when it comes to having so many different sports. Tim Faulkner is Woodside’s athletic director, who works to oversee all sports and ensure that they’re working properly.
“Some of the challenges that we face can be facility usage,” Faulkner said. “We have so many teams here, which is great, but we don’t have that much field space, so I have to get really creative with scheduling practices and games.”
There is a flip side to every great team, making it important to persevere and try new things. Faulkner had some last words to leave with anyone hoping to join a team at Woodside.
“Find your space here,” Faulkner said. “Get involved in something that you love and that you’re passionate about. Work hard at it.”
