Sports
Thursday, February 11th, 2010
by Ms. Iaccarino
by Johnston W. (Aladdin staff)
Here is a brief look at some of the sports offered in the Middle School for the Winter Season.
Boys’ Basketball
The Worcester Academy Middle School Boys’ Basketball Team ended a great season last year; however, with new eight graders coming back, they have greater skills. Sam Joaquin, an eighth grader, thinks that the team will have great chemistry this year due to the eight graders, who are great leaders on the court.
When interviewed, Sam Joaquin, told us that he is excited for the up coming season and to play with his friends. Joaquin also predicts a good season for their team, due to all the new players coming in. Sam, a“6 foot 2 monster”, says that he has a lot of trust in his eight grade teammates to lead the team to victory. Continue reading »
Popularity: 5% [?]
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
by Ms. Baldwin
Written by: Sahith N.
The NFL postseason has arrived and the teams in AFC (America Football conference) are the Indianapolis Colts (14-2) who are the number one seed (they face the lowest winning seed) and The San Diego Chargers (13-3) are the number two seed (they face the highest winning seed). The wild card teams are the New York Jets (9-7), the Cincinnati Bengals (10-6), the New England Patriots (10-6), and the Baltimore Ravens (9-7).
The first game in the wild card was the New York Jets against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Jets had some luck as the Bengal’s kicker, Shayne Graham, missed two field goals. Shonn Green was a big impact as he had 135 yards with one touchdown. Dustin Keller had 3 catches, 99 yard, and 1 touchdown. Pro-bowler Darrelle Revis covered Chad Ochocinco (the Bengals best wide receiver) that gave Carson Palmer (QB) few options to throw to which led to an interception. Mark Sanchez (Jets QB) had 182 yards throwing with one touchdown. The Jets beat the Bengals for a 24-14-win. They go to the divisional round. Then the Patriots squared off against the Ravens. Ray Rice ran 83 yards for a touchdown on the first play at the line of scrimmage. The Ravens scored 24 points in the first quarter. Wes Welker was out with an injury and Welker was a huge part of the Patriots offense. He usually was thrown to on third downs. Lots of cornerbacks tried to stop, but could not. Tom Brady feeling pressure was intercepted 3 times. The Ravens beat the Patriots at home for a 33-14 win to face the Colts. Continue reading »
Popularity: 7% [?]
Thursday, January 14th, 2010
by Ms. Iaccarino
MS Boys' Soccer Huddles Up
Written by Peter and Johnston (Aladdin Staff)
The Mighty WA middle school boys’ soccer team is led by eighth graders Danny Baldwin, Sean Winthrop, Matt “Wolfy” Wolf, Tom “Mango” Mangaudis, Zack Sadlier, and Eric “Show Stoppa” Sachse. This years captains are Riley Doherty and Matt Wolf. Riley was a captain last year as a 6th grader. The team’s final record is 6 wins, 2 losses, and 2 ties. Going into the season nobody knew what to expect after losing many great 8th graders last year. Continue reading »
Popularity: 4% [?]
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
by RJ DeRemer
What can we learn from Michael Vick? Michael Vick served an eighteenth month sentence for illegal dog fighting. Michael Vick is back playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. This once icon in the National Football League will finally have his chance to prove that he is back in rare form. Renewed from his past experience and eager to surge forward with a zest for the sport and improved purpose. Michael Vick has served the time for his crime and should be able to move on and prove himself as a professional football player on the field. Continue reading »
Popularity: 9% [?]
Friday, October 2nd, 2009
by Board of Visitors
Whether performing arts, journalism, athletics, math or independent learning, the Extra/Co-Curricular programs at Worcester Academy provide students with a sense of community and belonging as well as unique outlets for their individual passions. The Board of Visitors are impressed by the excitement shared by the students and their advisors/teachers for these programs that can end up being significant time commitments.
Athletics – One major change for the athletic programs at WA has been the removal of the athletic requirement. Because of this, Doc Samko, the resident and omnipresent figure on campus, feels that athletics has become much more of a family. Athletes participate because they are passionate about the sports instead of fulfilling a requirement. This passion for being part of a larger community spills over into those who aren’t on the field with the Super Fans, a group of students who actually receive academic credit for attending every game, whether home or away.
Senior Projects: During the last two weeks of senior year students select a short term of independent study based on their individual interests. These have included working construction, training dogs, acting as a guidance counselor or performing bizarre experiments (staying awake 3 days in a row to see the impact on the body). While the idea of the senior project has been around for a while, what has changed has been the final product. More recently students have produced videos or movies for the final presentations.
Capstone Projects – According to the advisor the Capstone Project is really a Senior project on academic steroids. Newly introduced in 2008, this is a year long project and is extremely student driven. Students select a topic of interest and may meet on the weekends for seminars or research in addition to a student’s normal workload. Students don’t receive extra credit and yet they still invest significant time demonstrating the passion they have for learning.
Open Studio – This is an afterschool art program where students can choose any type of medium (ceramics, painting, drawing, architecture, sculpture). Most projects are ten weeks and the program has been around for four years. This allowed more students to fit art into their schedules where they otherwise might not have had time. The students are very self-directed and use the teacher more as guide.
Vigornia – The school newspaper is going through a transformation this year. The paper has 25 members and two editors who invest up to 20 hours a week managing the editing and production of the paper. The editors find the experience a great immersion into leadership, journalism and working towards a deadline.
Math Team – There are two math teams at Worcester Academy, Varsity and Middle School team. The teams participate in 5 leagues, where most schools compete in one so there are meets almost every weekend during the season. Students feel this supplements their math knowledge, enhances their problem solving abilities that can be applied in other classes.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
by Chandra
Worcester Academy passes it to the right and to the left and pushes through the high tensions and scores! Worcester Academy set off the game right with a goal in the first half made by Zoey Eth. Williston could not stop the Worcester Academy girls varsity soccer team. It was only in the second half where they scored their one and only goal by Caitlyn Riely. Williston hit the cross bar and the ball went in. Undoubtedly, Worcester made a comeback. The game was left at Worcester Academy four and Williston one! Jill Morois passed all the Williston’s difficult plays and scored an excellent goal. Also, the two freshmen on the team, both named Meg made remarkable goals, and after every single goal the WA girls kept cheering and pushing for more. Both teams had a lot of teamwork, which made this game very difficult yet suspenseful. Worcester Academy girls were hustling and sweating for this difficult game, Williston girls did not make this game an easy win. Bridget who is the goalie of the Worcester Academy team made a lot of saves and pushed herself beyond her limits. One player named Danielle Fournier who is on the Worcester Academy girl’s team said after the game, “The game was pretty difficult! In the first half we had a lot of trouble and were getting frantic but we started picking it up in the second half. The second half was where we were able to settle things down and win!” The fellow Worcester Academy girl’s team kept cheering on their teammates and giving them a lot of support. Superfans were present at the game but they were sitting down for the entire time. They did not show any support for the WA girl’s team. That was a little disappointing but it did not stop the fellow teammates and their families from cheering. As the game ended, WA made a circle and sat in a group and cheered and celebrated their win. Williston gave some looks at WA but they recognized their lost and maybe next time Williston will get WA but not today. The coaches of the Worcester Academy girl’s varsity soccer winning team are Mr. Strogoff and Mr. Liller. After WA won the game, coach Liller made a comment, “ The game was played very well overall. They really came together in the second half. They had a lot of teamwork and it made this an overall good win.”
Popularity: 7% [?]
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009
by Alaina Stochaj
By : Alaina Stochaj
The freshly cut grass and newly painted lines along with the perfect weather made great conditions for a Friday afternoon soccer game. Worcester Academy’s boy’s varsity soccer team was out for blood, the blood of the Brooks School’s players. From the goalie to the strikers, WA was intense and in the zone the whole ninety minutes of play.
Scoring goals is easier than defending them. The WA defense proved their strength in the match. The goalie Kevin Mangaudius, along with defenders Tucker Myhre, Zach Packer and Dan Lima created a strong force throughout the game. Letting up only one goal, and having eight saves, Mangaudius had a great varsity debut, as starting goalie Kyle DeKlerk is out for the season with a broken hand.
Games however, cannot be won without some offensive play. The first goal came at the thirty- minute mark from Sawyer Kisken. “It was a well hit ball that knuckled past the keeper”, said Tucker Myhre when asked about his teammates goal. Myhre was a huge contributor to the second goal of the game scored in the eight third minute of play. After hustling through a series of tackles, Myhre took a thrown in that advanced the ball to Max Haines who put it in the back of the net.
When asked to comment on the overall feel of the game, forward Max Haines said, “We did not possess as much as we may have liked to. Also, at times we were out of shape. However, midfielder Jamie Doherty (captain) played a solid seventy -five minutes at midfield, and for the last fifteen minutes helping back on defense and advancing the ball up the field. “ The Worcester Academy boy’s soccer team is off to a good start of 1-0-1, with more wins to come. Other contributors to the team are David Atkinson, Neil Baldwin, Vincent Ciavarra, AJ Distefano, Zachary Gehring, Evyn Grimes, Jack Hamm, Billy Lane, David Nwankwo, James Watkins, and Andrew Watson-Hogan. The team is coached by James Proctor, Charlie Fuentes, and Matias Pietropinto.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
by RJ DeRemer
Steroid use in sports today is on the rise and unfortunately it’s hurting the game of baseball and the credibility of the players who break longstanding records. Every time you listen to the news or watch television someone new is being investigated for steroid use. Steroids are changing the face of sports and the validity of the records broken. It is unfortunate that steroids are being used to break some of the records that were once set by fantastic players like Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Joe DiMaggio just to name a few. This dilemma has also dropped to the level of players in high school. This type of drug use must stop so that the game can continue to be respected.
Continue reading »
Popularity: 2% [?]
Monday, September 21st, 2009
by RJ DeRemer
Pete Rose, one of baseball’s all time best players, is currently banned from baseball for life, due to his actions of gambling and betting on his own team. I believe that Pete Rose should be reinstated into baseball and inducted into the Hall of Fame. Pete Rose has some of the most remarkable records placed in baseball. He has the all time most hits,4256, the sixth most runs scored, along with seventeen appearances in the all star game and three World Series rings. Top off, this professional career with one more significant accomplishment, Most Valuable Player award. Serious reconsideration for reinstating Pete Rose in to baseball is an important first step leading to his consideration by the review board for the Hall of Fame. Continue reading »
Popularity: 5% [?]
Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
by Dustin
The weather is getting warmer and that means the world of motor sports is hitting the ground running. Auto racing is one of the few competitive sports that the entire world can relate to because cars are so important to society. Because the sport is so popular on an international level, there is a lot of influence from places all over the world. In Formula 1, teams mainly from Europe and Asia, and drivers from several different countries try to compete for not only the championship, but their egos as well. As expected, several discrepancies arise every season but non as controversial as the diffuser controversy of the 2009 Formula 1 Championship.
Radical new regulations have forced teams to make several drastic changes regarding bodywork and car dimensions, which inevitably affect the amount of down force and air force on the car. However one of the regions of the 
car that has been left up to some interpretation has been the rear section of bodywork facing the ground. This area is by far the most crucial part of any race car because it is closest to where power is applied to the ground through the rear wheels. The piece of the car that increases pressure at speed on the back wheels is called the diffuser. The diffuser creates a low-pressure zone underneath the rear part of the car, turning the car into a moving suction cup in some aspects.
The rules and regulations of the Fédération Internationale de L’Automobile (the governing body of international motor sports around the world) that restrict the cars for the 2009 F1 season clearly state dimensions for this region of the car and adds that, “Any specific part of the car influencing its aerodynamic performance must comply with the rules relating to bodywork.” The actual discrepancy is how the rule is interpreted. Many teams interpreted this rule as designing a diffuser that has three channels of equal length with no extra windows to feed the effective parts of the diffuser with air. However three major teams, Brawn GP, Toyota, and Williams, interpreted the rules as designing a diffuser in any way that was acceptable as long as it was inside the rules
of bodywork. The other teams participating in the Formula 1 Championship are arguing that the three teams using the effective diffuser did so against the spirit of the rule itself, and that the rule should force teams to use similar diffusers to increase competition all the way down the grid.
With cars fitted with normal diffusers being well off the pace of the three teams with high volume diffusers, the other teams have a good reason to try and argue this point. This topic is accompanied with more urgency then previous protests because of a new rule change that prevents teams from testing once the season has started, making it very difficult for teams to compensate for the unconventional diffusers if the design is not deemed illegal by the FIA on April 14, 2009. If the FIA does deem the diffusers to be illegal, the teams will be forced to design new diffusers and the order of performance already established by the first two races of the 2009 season will be drastically changed. On the other hand however, if the diffusers stay the same, the other teams will have to pull some aerodynamic tricks out of their sleeves without thorough testing capabilities.
Photo of Brawn GP car by Camilo S.B.
Photo of F1 grid by Pattagon
Photo of back of F1 Car by Camilo S.B.
Popularity: 25% [?]
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