Dan
Byrne, a Tri-Valley senior, has been on the varsity football team for 5 years and has put his heart
and soul into the team. This is the year he has been waiting for to make his
mark in TV football history.

However, he finds himself out for three months due
to a broken back. Dan managed to finish last season after injuring his back in
last year’s game against Ellenville, but he is out once again. Dan tells what
it feels like to be a dedicated high school athlete out on injury in their senior
year.

“I
have been waiting for this moment for five years. I was so pumped last year
playing as a junior and even more ready this year. I worked out and got faster
over the summer. I was up at 5:30 every morning. Now this happens,” Dan says in
total honesty.

“Every game and every practice I wanted to play so bad,” Dan
says of watching his teammates face Ellenville, “Just watching my team suffer
and play hard and play hurt, I wanted to help them out as a friend and as a
teammate. That’s the game I went out on and I just wanted to be on the field
and dominate. I knew I could have made a difference and I knew I could have
held their rushing to lower yards.”

“It
screws with your head,” Dan says about the emotional effects of injury, “you
want to play so bad but you can’t and when it’s something you love so much it’s
even worse.”

Sustaining a sports-related injury must be hard at any age but
when it’s your senior year the effects must be so much more crippling.

“You
think so many different things in your head, like when you know you could help
the team when an opponent is doing well and you know you can stop them and that
you’re better, it just kills you inside.”

Dan
has always had plans to play football in college but now realizes that his back
injury has most likely hindered his chances.

“I don’t want to mess with my
life,” he says. “I’m just proud of myself for playing last year with a broken
back and not letting my team down. I would love to play one more game; I would
do anything for it. Experiencing TV football has been amazing. I love the heart
and soul that has been at this school. Even though we have been small over the
years we have worked the hardest, been faster, and hit the hardest. It is
starting to fade slowly but I know with coach Rusin it will be back and he will
have the young kids turned into true Tri-Valley Bears in no time.” 

No one could have described this school, its
heart, its spirit, and its determination to exceed all expectations than its
favorite football player, Dan Byrne, a true Tri-Valley Bear.

THE CASE FOR:

• Most cheerleaders compete,
  on all levels, in competition.
• Cheerleading is primarily
  based on tumbling (gymnastics) and stunts (usually involving one girl to be
  held, tossed, and caught, by other cheerleaders.)
• Cheerleading is reported
  to be one of the top three most dangerous high school sports.
• Competitive cheerleading
  teams attend annual training camps in the summer.
• Competitive cheerleading
  teams go through extensive physical training throughout their entire two
  seasons to maintain the adequate body strength for what they do.

AGAINST:

• Cheerleaders wear little
  skirts and tight tops instead of jerseys or other common uniforms.
• Cheerleading does not
  require a strategy like most sports do.
• Cheerleaders simply jump
  around and try to persuade the crowd to join their cheers.
• Cheerleaders do not work
  as hard as other teams do physically.
• Cheerleaders are annoying,
  get in the way of spectators watching games, and the stereotypes often prove
  true.

CONCLUSION:

The question of whether or
not cheerleading is a sport is a controversial question. The answer lies in the
team you are watching. If you go to a school whose cheerleaders have little
talent or skill it would be easy to write cheerleading off as not a sport.
However, it is rare to see a school write football or soccer off as not a sport
if their team is terrible.

As someone who has been a
part of great cheerleading teams, with an amazing cheerleading coach; someone
who has seen the best cheerleading teams in the country compete, I do believe
cheerleading, when done right, is a sport. If you still have questions, if the
team you are watching doesn’t inspire much confidence in cheerleading as a
sport, I suggest you take a look at better teams, like the UCA team, and then
you can decide.

1. On your
   first day of practice wear the right shoes (don’t wear your cheerleading
   shoes to tennis practice for instance)
2. Practice
   with the best on the team instead of other beginners, you’ll get better
   that way (even if they’re freshmen and it’s mortally embarrassing).
3. If you
   feel like it’s not worth trying a new sport in your senior year, remember,
   you can always do intramurals or club sports in college. Sports don’t end
   at graduation.
4. It’s not
   a sin if you tell family and friends not to come to your games, meets,
   matches, etc. until you’ve improved your game. We’ve all been there, we
   understand.
5. If
   there’s a sport you want to try, but don’t want to go out for it alone,
   it’s a good idea to persuade, beg, or blackmail a friend to do it with
   you. That way you’re not struggling alone.
6. Set goals
   for yourself. Small, achievable goals at first that get bigger as you
   accomplish them. This will help you progress over time.
7. Get to
   know your coach, ask them for help, advice, anything. Show them you
   deserve to be there and you’re going to add something to the team if it
   kills you…which it might.
8. You
   deserve to be there so don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. If you’re
   willing to work hard and do your best everyday then why shouldn’t you
   learn something new? You’re a senior after all, it’s your right to make
   the most of this last precious year.
9. You may
   have been the best at the sports you’ve been playing for years, but this
   takes time and patience, you’ll get there though.
10.  At the end of the season it will all be
    worth it. There is no greater, more rewarding feeling than starting a
    sport knowing nothing and coming away having accomplished something. It’s
    a truly rewarding feeling so good luck and don’t give up because I know I
    won’t.

This year, however, there’s a glimmer of hope. With the help of some new players coming out, a new coach and a renewed drive to succeed, they may just be the team to watch this season. Anthony Beale is a sophomore striker who is well known at Tri-Valley to be passionate about soccer. It’s also no secret that Beale has a talent when it comes to the sport. Beale is realistic about his goals for the team, but there is a distinct gleam of excitement in his eyes as he talks about the season.

“There’s more experience on the team this year than there was last year,” he says, “we’re a young team still and we have some things to work on, but we have potential.”

“It’s a tough division,” says Beale, “but I’m looking forward to playing and improving overall as a team, and just having a good season.”

Keep your eyes on Anthony Beale, along with a few other new and talented players (like his brother, senior Bobby Beale) this fall. The struggling sport of boys’ soccer at T-V will be fighting tooth and nail to go as far as they can go in what’s sure to be an exciting season for all Bears. The looming start of school means it’s game time once again and these Bears are ready to play.

As the summer fades into the rich
colors and crisp air of fall, speculations, rumors, and excited questions
circle like the fallen leaves swept up in the breeze. And it’s all about one
topic: Football.

Who’s playing? Who’s not? What did we lose? What did we gain?
And if you’re a Tri-Valley fan, you’re wondering when do we play Sullivan West?
Can we win? With the start of football season comes plenty of questions;
questions only the players themselves can answer.  So I asked one of them.

Matt Bogorad plays slot back, full
back, safety, and cornerback and has been on the varsity team for three years. He has
given a lot to T-V football and, as a senior, is hoping for an exciting season and a great team. 

“The season so far has gone
smoothly, we’re advancing and refining our newly established presence as an
option team,” says Bogorad. “We still got plenty of work to do but we should be prepared when the season opens up.”

Bogorad continues, “I’m looking
forward to playing ball with the same guys I grew up with, played modified and
JV with, and hopefully winning a couple games in the process.” What is this
senior not looking forward to?

“I’m not looking forward to the statements that
have been coming, and will continue to come, about our team not being able to
strive without players that graduated one, and even two, years ago. We miss
them, but it’s our turn now, and we’ll be fine.”

Talk is already flying
about this season’s faceoff between Tri-Valley and its number one rival,
Sullivan West. The Bears didn’t fare well in last year’s game. Before that however,
the Bears will face Eldred this Saturday, Sept. 5 at Eldred.

“To be blunt, they’ve got some big
guys,” says Bogorad of the Hornets, “However, we’ve been polishing up our
offense with a backfield that can be explosive, and a solid, intelligent line, so
size shouldn’t matter. It’ll be a dogfight. We’ll be ready on game day.”

It wasn’t
without its difficulties, however. “We had to keep waking people up throughout
the night,” says Bernstein.

According
to Bernstein and teammate Steven McInerney, also a sophomore, the coaches Mr.
and Mrs. Iatauro made the whole experience much more enjoyable on the runners.
“Mr. I bought us pizza!” says Bernstein.

“Mr.
I is one of the best coaches I’ve ever had,” McInerney says,” he brings us to
races we wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to go to, he keeps us going,
and he breaks through our boundaries.”

“Mr.
I walks faster than most of us run,” says Bernstein laughing good-naturedly
about this inspirational coach. Mr. and Mrs. Iatauro both lead their teams to titles everywhere they go, but they also win the respect and dedication of
their athletes.

What else could get a bunch of high school kids to run all
night long during the summer?

My name is Danielle Conlon and I am the new sports blogger for Tri-Valley. When I think “blogger” I can’t help but to think of Perez Hilton, the guy who became famous by blogging about celebrities.

You can consider me Tri-Valley’s own Perez Hilton, providing you with interviews, stories, pictures, and the inside scoop of all that goes on within the realm of Tri-Valley sports. After all, high school athletes are celebrities in their own right.

A high school athlete I believe is one of the most noble and influential things you could be. They acquire self-respect, confidence, discipline, emotional and physical strength and fame.  They are looked up to by children aspiring to be just like them, they are discussed at mealtimes by families that come to watch them play, they are read about in the morning paper by community members and are known and constantly thought about by other schools preparing to face them. High school athletes are recognized and remembered through their achievements, are household names in their own and surrounding communities, they are famous and I am here to tell you all about them.

I will be writing about how an athlete feels before a big game, what it felt like to win that match, what it took to push through an injury, how their coach has affected them throughout their season, who they are, what they’re thinking, where they’re hoping to go in their sport and everything else you’ve ever wanted to know about high school athletes. I can tell you this because I am one of them.

I moved to Tri Valley from Long Island in 9^th grade and immediately joined the varsity cheerleading team.  I am now a senior and have participated in varsity level sports every season that I have been in this school. I wish to go to college for English and political science, eventually obtain a law degree and use journalism, politics, and law to aid the efforts in wildlife conservation, and of course I would like to coach cheerleading.

I’m a cheerleader, a lifeguard, a high jumper, run track, play tennis, and I have a brown belt in karate. I am a high school athlete and I am Tri-Valley’s sports blogger for Varsity845.