Eagles vs Steelers – Who’s The Better Team? (By WESLEY CHENG '12)

The midway point of the 2010-11 NFL season has passed and a pack of teams has already begun to separate themselves from the non-contenders.  Both the Eagles and Steelers are part of the former.  If they met right now, who would have the edge?  Below is a position breakdown.

The Madden Curse - By MICHAEL MARCANTONINI '13

It is simply just a video game- or is it?  Madden NFL is one of the most popular sports video games in the world and every year a new edition comes out featuring a different cover athlete.  To be considered for the cover, one has to have had a very significant and successful season the past year.  Usually, the league MVP or a player coming off of a career-year is chosen to be masqueraded on the cover.  However, there is a lot more to an appearance on the Madden cover than money, honor, fame, and recognition.  I think you know what I mean.  

Say Goodbye to Sickness- By JOANNA MARKS '12

The winter season unquestionably entails many fun activities.  Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years, snow days, Valentine’s Day, and two four-day weekends are all fun aspects of winter that may even make up for the lack of warmth during these months.  However, in order to enjoy these events, you must be healthy!

What's Left For Manny? By KANGSAN KIM '12

After Manny Pacquiao gave Antonio Margarito a brutal beating in their fight on November 13, 2010 to become the WBC super welterweight champion, there doesn’t seem to be much left boxing can give to Pacquiao.  The Philippino boxing star has now become the world champion of an incredible eight weight classes, clearing each division of its top fighters along the way.  As Pacquiao has moved up in weight, he has had to fight much bigger opponents, but that has not hindered his path to greatness.  Although Antonio Margarito had a 17-pound weight advantage as well as an approximate five-inch advantage in both height and reach, Pacquiao’s skill, speed, and talent were simply unmatched.  Magarito is now one victim of Pacquiao’s ferocious thirteen-fight winning streak, joined by many elite fighters such as Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, and Miguel Cotto.

Wissahickon Water Polo by ERIC SMITH '14

The boys’ Wissahickon Trojan water polo team was stunned by a recent loss to LaSalle High School. The boys’ water polo team, although not far into the season, is doing worse than last year because of a recent lose to Perkiomen Valley. The head coach Rob Mita does think the team could still have a chance to make it to State Championships. “If the boy’s varsity pulls themselves together maybe varsity we’ll go to states.” The boy’s varsity team has a total of two wins and two losses. The two wins were against Springfield and Upper Merion while the two losses were to Perkiomen Valley and La Salle. The boy’s junior varsity team consists of twenty-one high schoolers, including 9 freshmen, with a total of three loses and one win. Coach Mita did have a message for these high schoolers. “If the junior Varsity boys worked harder at practice and stopped fooling around they would have a lot more wins.”
 
The girls’ varsity water polo is doing better slightly better than the boys water polo with three wins and suffering only one loss to Perkiomen Valley. The season is looking good according to coach Rob Mita, due to their hard work and dedication at practices. The team is lead by the two captains Katie High and Megan Royer. Mita basically said the same thing to the girls that he said to the boys. “If the girls keep what there doing and pull themselves together they will have a great season ahead of them.”  
The girls junior varsity is also doing well because of their hard work. The junior varsity team also looks like they have a good season ahead of themselves.

Emily Croke- Field Hockey Superstar by MELANIE FRY '14

With her superb stick skills and outgoing personality, it is no wonder that (senior) Emily Croke is a co captain of the varsity girls' field hockey team.  Part of what makes her a good captain is that she always works hard, never gives up, and helps to unify the team with excellent leadership skills.  Having watched her sister's high school field hockey games, she learned to love the sport, and admired them for being a part of something for the school.  Even though she had never participated in a sport before, she still tried out for the seventh grade field hockey team and has worked hard to help the Wissahickon team continue its winning legacy.  Emily's favorite position is defense, although this year she has the new challenge of learning to play midfield.   
    Emily's favorite thing about field hockey is getting to know the girls on the team outside of school.  If not for the sport, she would not have met most of the girls on the team and enjoys talking and spending time with her teammates.  She looks forward to games and practices because she knows that she can talk to her teammates about anything, and if she is ever having an off day, she can count on one of her teammates to cheer her up.  Although she does not think that she will play field hockey in college, Emily will definitely play lacrosse whether it be club or for the school.
    Wissahickon has a reputation of having a superior field hockey team and Emily likes how we work hard to uphold that standard.  She says, "As a team we all have our eyes set on winning and will do whatever it takes to be the winning team."  Although, she does think that the team need to work on being more composed during games, since sometimes referees do not always immediately make the call.  It takes mental discipline and she thinks that if we work on it as individuals, it will make the team stronger as a whole.  The Wissahickon field hockey team has a standing of 11-2, and with only a few more games to go, hopefully they will work even harder to finish out the season strong!

Waking Up on a School Day by ALEXANDER MARINO '14

On a normal school day the firs bell rings at 7:30 A.M.  Many kids wake up between 6:00 a.m. and 6:45 to get ready for school.  While the times that kids wake up are all around each other the times that kids go to bed a spread far apart.   From the kids that we asked the times that they go to bed are between, 9:30 and one person said they go to bed daily at around 12:30.  Most people though said they go to bed between 10:30 and 11:00.  If you to bed at 11:00 each night and wake up at 6:30 that means that your only getting 6 and a half hours of sleep, the recommended hours of sleep for a teenager is between 9 and 10 hours.  Most people at this school are falling well short of that mark.

    Some things that may contribute to the lack of sleep is homework, T.V./electronics, and other distractions at home.  When you do not get enough sleep, you can become lazy, tired during the day, nausea as well as many other things.  Some things to do about not getting enough sleep are: getting your homework done early, not watching T.V. as you fall asleep and when you go to bed turn off your phone so that you don’t feel the need to go check it.  Also don’t stay up as late.  If you have no reason to be staying up until midnight then don’t because you’re only hurting yourself.

    Getting more sleep will help you do better in school and pay more attention in class.  Getting more sleep will also help you with sports or any other physical activity that you do.  Overall if you get more sleep on a school night then you will simply feel better.