HSMSE boys soccer pulls through

The Dragons / Thomas Henning

The HSMSE boys’ soccer team had a rough start for their 2012 season. In their struggle the team learned to grow, develop strong skills, and work as a team throughout the season. As a result of this, they were able to pull through and make it to the playoffs.

Being under .500 in their first six games was rough for the team. “The team wasn't taking losses well,” said team captain Harry Cummins. Players were taking their frustrations out on other teammates making teamwork a difficult task.

The team suffered a huge blow in their loss to Hunter after they blew a 2-0 lead. “It was hard to get back up,” Cummins said. He said the team played better after a speech from their coach. "[Coach] Diunte sat us down, and said that we are a team, we lose together and win together. I think we really took that talk to heart.”

The team made it to the playoffs, proving that the team could make it without their star players from last season, Julian Petrello and Kevin Chun. They showed they can work together and exemplify major teamwork. When asked about the growth of the team, senior Raven Roberson said, “It took some maturity time to get to that point."

Key players contributed to the team's ability to get to the playoffs. Cummins lead the team in scoring and Jeremy Wain Hirschberg was a force at goalie, making 69 saves throughout the season.

The team fell in the first round to the eventual  2012 champions, New Utrecht. Despite their loss, next season looks promising. "I see a lot of freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. They are a lot better than me when I was that age," said Cummins.

Contributed by Dionys Gutierrez

The Flying Dragons journey into PSAL

HSMSE Flying Dragons at Grand Prix 1 / T. Henning

Finally after being acknowledged this fall as a PSAL cross-country team, the HSMSE Flying Dragons trained more intensely than ever to compete against the best in the city. Training four to five days a week in addition to weekly races, this team has been striving to be among the city’s top teams. All of the work this team has done has put them on the road to a bright future.

The HSMSE Flying Dragons have been forced to train harder since becoming a PSAL team. “The intensity of the practices were much greater this year since this was our first time in the PSAL,” said senior runner Marcelo Bravo. “The added level of competition made me run faster because I feel as a team, we felt like making our mark as able competitors.” The Flying Dragons worked hard to show off their speed in city wide competitions. In their first 5k Grand Prix at Van Cortlandt Park on September 19, 2012, five Dragons runners placed in the top 10, including Bravo. “Running has made me take on a very goal-oriented approach to athletics,” Bravo said. “It has made me competitive in a sense that I always want to improve my own personal bests.”

Thomas Henning, the coach of the Dragons, sees a bright future ahead for this team. Since joining the PSAL, the runners have improved due to not only running longer distances, but also “being a year older makes a big difference,” he said. “I think we’re going to improve because our best runners will be seniors.”

One of these seniors will be Kleant Daci. The 2012 Mayor’s Cup had many more schools competing against each other than the Dragons’ first Grand Prix. The junior placed 42nd overall in the 2.5-mile varsity race out of a total of 394. He is an extremely fast runner and the coach projects him to be a top competitor next season. “I think he’ll do well; he has a great work ethic,” said Henning. “He’s very gifted as an athlete and he’s very competitive in a sense of wanting to beat other people in a race.”

Now that they are in the PSAL, the Dragons no longer go to races as an unknown school. “There is a higher degree of competition than there was before,” said Daci. “We are going up against bigger schools and there's more competition, so this urges us to do better.”

Contributed by Alex Long and Kian Zadeh

Back to the comfort zone

HSMSE girls' soccer team / John D. Louie

The High School for Math, Science, and Engineering girls’ soccer team returned to the B-Division with a bang this year. The Lady Dragons responded by showing that they were at home by going 9-2 in the regular season. As the second best team in their league they advanced to the second round of the playoffs.

You need to look no further than the ‘09-’10 season to see when the team last had a record this good, going 10-0. That year they also managed to win one playoff game. “They all just work better together now,” said first year senior goalkeeper Fahmida Ferdousi. “They are more coordinated.”

This year’s team replicated the success of the ‘09-’10 team. The only difference was their two losses. Both losses were matches against the undefeated Julia Richman Educational Center. A key reason for their first 5-0 defeat against Richman on September 15, 2012 was the absence of sophomore defender Sahar Saedi and Ferdousi. In their rematch on October 8, 2012, they managed to keep the score at 2-0. The players on defense came back in the game and played well.

“When we were put in the A-Division, it was really great because we played amazing teams, but we weren’t ready for it,” said senior defender Sara Louie about the drop from the A-Division. The team went 4-9 last season, an impressive record for a school that has a size of about 450 students. They were matched up against teams like Stuyvesant and Beacon High School (who later went on to win the championship that year).

Although many players will be leaving next year, the future is bright for the Lady Dragons. Their youth shows much promise and many of the seniors feel positive of the seasons to come. “Sahar’s powerful kicks, they really stand out,” said Ferdousi. “There [also] was Galit [Wiener]. She’s very fast and I think she steals the ball fairly easily from other players.”

“I am very optimistic about the team’s future,” said coach Regina Zafonte. “Although we are losing quite a few stars – Felicia, Sara, Tammi, Leila, Hannah, Gabby, Fahmida – I have no doubt that new talent will emerge and existing players will step up their game to fill those absent cleats.”

Contributed to by Sadeon Martin

The two faces of social media

Social media is a convenient way to talk to others and stay connected even if you are miles away from them. It is great tool and people all over the world use it everyday, but athletes have to be on their guard whenever they post something. Social media can turn the player's life upside down in a second, but if the they learns how to use it effectively it will be one of their greatest weapons.

With amazingly fast internet speeds and fans that follow the player 24/7, any information the player releases will spread over the internet within a few minutes. A single misinterpreted post can lead to a world of trouble for athletes and it will usually end up in losing popularity.

Keeping feelings inside is actually not as easy as it looks especially when you are furious at someone else. A player may lose a game and just flip out on the other team and post insulting comments. Even if they just yell something insulting. someone in the stands might be recording the game and even post what they heard. Players have to be careful of what they say and post both on and off the field.

In high schools and colleges, the school and the coach will try to limit the use of social media. They aren't trying to stop the use of social media, but they will so what they can to stop it from becoming a problem. "We don't want to dictate to them what they can do on a daily basis," Coach Steve Pederson from Pittsburgh University said. "These are smart, young people we are dealing with. We just try to educate them on making good decisions, how to make good judgments."
 
In certain cases athletes are to download an app that allows the school/coach to see what they have been posting online. If something inappropriate is found on the athlete’s page he/she is usually asked to immediately take it down. Sometimes the coach will even take away the athlete’s privilege to use social media and ban him/her from using it at all.
 
Social media plays a huge role in an athlete’s life as it can both hurt and help him/her. Depending on how well the athlete can manage social media he/she can become more popular without any trouble. Kevin Long, the CEO of MVP Sports Media Training and U Diligence said "If it's not something that would be OK with your mother if someone sent her a link to what you wrote, then there is probably a better way of saying or not saying it at all.” Social media can be a helpful tool or it can be a life changing problem depending on how you look at it, but as long as athletes are smart and careful they won’t have any trouble using social media.