SPORTS
Check the left drop down menu for other articles from this issue.
Click on the links below to jump to certain articles on this page:
LINCOLN’S WEIGHTLIFTING TEAM GOES BEYOND JUST WEIGHTLIFTING
By: Nicole Chan
Julia Yun, sophomore, takes the stage in national championships
Photo By: Kevin Doherty
Abraham Lincoln high school is known for its various and diverse sports teams, and the weightlifting team is no exception. They don’t just lift hefty weights and dumbbells; they also lift spirits and give never-ending support for each other. Lincoln’s weightlifting team always strives to improve on their strength, endurance, and discipline. Alumni of Lincoln’s weightlifting team incorporated their knowledge and skills from weightlifting and apply it to their future.
Most of the guidance and training comes from none other than the hardworking coach, Kevin Doherty, who taught and trained his students for 17 years. He teaches his students the importance of working hard to reach a goal, no matter how difficult. He also encourages his students to tackle challenges, refine their skills, and push themselves to try something new. Whether it would be attempting to steadily increase the number of bench presses or trying to lift dumbbells that is heavier, Doherty strives to advocate for diligence.
Doherty has been training the weightlifting team, so he has the weightlifting team follow a 12-week program where they train their minds and bodies to prepare for the competitions.
“There is a periodized, yearly training program; there’s six workouts a week,” says Doherty, “so most of the competitive weightlifters do about five days a week.”
Competition training might seem strenuous and effortful, but it helps heighten endurance and stamina. These types of specialized training help the weightlifting team strive for improvement both physically and mentally.
“I train five to six times a week and that helps me as a weightlifter because I could build on my skills and that amount of practice helps me get better,” replied sophomore weightlifter, Julia Yun.
Yun previously competed in three international championships (Peru and Ecuador) and ten national championships and is always pushing herself to make progress.
Aside from pumping iron, teamwork plays a huge role in weightlifting. The weightlifting team always cheers and gives words of encouragement during competitions or when times get tough.
“The people in the weightlifting team are who I hang out with every day and have classes together. We’re always with each other; throughout the day we walk with each other; obviously, lift during school, and we hang out after school,” says Abby Donovan, a sophomore of the weightlifting team. “Now that I’ve been doing it for a while, I feel like part of the team.”
The weight room is a special place where students can go to bond and lift weights with other members.
“The weight room is a nice place to be. There are people with the same mindset as you and everyone there is trying to make sure that you’re doing good and they’re doing good so that we can all improve together…” mentions an alumnus and former senior class president, who was involved with the weightlifting team.
Alumni from the weightlifting team come back to visit and continue their training. They use the knowledge and skills they developed from weightlifting and apply it to their future careers or pathway.
“Since I’m in college right now, the discipline of it, like, you don’t really get stronger unless you can engage in what you need most, like acknowledging your weakness,” says the former senior class president, “I think that really helps with college because it has kind of trained me to identify where I’m weakest and to work on it, while still maintaining the same sort of study habits that I would initially to better myself as a whole.”
Doherty, who has inspired and encouraged students, left a huge impact on them and the way they view weightlifting and how they really enjoy it.
“He’s impacted the whole thing; I wouldn’t be able to do it without him. He’s definitely a motivator…,” replies Donovan.
Doherty’s bold, but his kind personality is what makes him not only an exceptional motivator but also a very trustworthy teacher.
“I think it’s the fact that he trusts you to do what’s good for yourself and so you can ask for things, and you can get what you want from him, but you can also be independent of him and improve on your own, which is acknowledged in the weight room,” says the alumnus and former senior class president.
LINCOLN STUDENT UPSETS THREE-TIME CITY GOLF CHAMPION
By: Jared Huey
Kaithleen practices her swing on the course
Photo By: Anthony Sierra
After a competitive season, sophomore Kaithleen Sunga won the individual girl’s golf championship for the lowest scoring player, defeating a three-time city golf champion from Lowell. Going into the season, Kaithleen was confident in her playing ability because of her prior experience playing in The First Tee, a youth golf program.
Most teams were fairly inexperienced, although Washington High School was the team to beat. Knowing the history of the two teams’ rivalry, she knew she had to rise to the occasion to get the win.
Sunga trained with her team for hours; putting, chipping, and practicing on the course. Determined to improve, she often stayed after her team’s practice to put in extra work. During the regular season, the Lincoln team won five games, only losing to Lowell. With a strong regular season record, the team clinched a playoff spot, leaving only one victory from the championship game. However, the team that they had to defeat was Washington.
At the playoff game against Washington, Sunga felt an immense pressure to perform well. During the match, she tried to stay calm by taking deep breaths before every swing. Unfortunately, the Lincoln team lost to Washington in a neck-in-neck match.
Luckily, as an individual, Sunga qualified for the individual championship match. Despite this, she was playing against a three-time city champion from Lowell. She grew nervous, constantly checking and comparing her score to the champ after every hole. After making a ten-foot putt, she beats the champion by just one shot, winning the individual championship.
Sunga states, “I felt very relieved when we finished, I played the best could’ve played that day and I was glad all the pressure was taken off of my shoulders.” This win qualified her for the Nor-Cal Championship.
Her proud coach, Steven Robinson says, “What sets her apart is that she has a really good feel for the game. It comes naturally to her, and all aspects of her game are really solid.”
Kaithleen says that her accomplishment has also had an effect on her normal daily life.
She explains, “I feel like the championship impacted me because now I’m getting lots of attention from teachers that notice that I play a sport they wouldn’t have expected me to play, and many students congratulate me about my win.”
Kaithleen looks forward to playing golf in the future, no matter what challenge arises.
GIRLS VARSITY BASKETBALL REBUILDS FROM LAST YEAR’S CLOSE LOSS TO LOWELL
By: Onalisa Mitchell
The Varsity Mustangs form a huddle to overcome losing to Lowell.
Photo By: Bryan G
From the beginning of professional sports, there have been referees. Whether they have been in the classic black and white stripes or a non-traditional color, they have been mandatory in almost every sport to create a safe and fair game. In the Lincoln varsity girls basketball team’s case, the referees’ unjust calls had ended their hopeful championship win.
In their 2018-2019 season, Lincoln girls varsity basketball reigned victorious and claimed a spot in the playoffs competing against San Francisco's elite. They surpassed the playoffs and made it to the renowned championship game where they were met with a familiar rival: the Lowell Cardinals. The Cardinals and the Mustangs have rivaled in both sports and academics for years, so this was a chance for the lady Mustangs to show what they had. However, the Mustangs lost 49-43, and just like that, the glimpse of a title was lost by a mere six points.
As their 2019-2020 season is approaching, time after school is spent completing long practices in hopes of surpassing the point they reached last season.
Senior and co-captain, Angelina Jimenez, speaks about the progress they have made as a team and how she hopes to give her best to her team this season.
“This season the only senior returners are me and Jasmine Tse,” says Jimenez when asked about returners. “ We only had three other seniors that had decided to stop playing this year. I think they left because of the outside stress like college apps and life. We have a lot of juniors and a couple sophomores who have moved up from JV, so right now we're just working on showing them what we do in Varsity.”
When asked about the contributing factors to their loss last year, Jimenez replies, “In my opinion, we had a whole lot of unfair calls from the referees which caused our tallest and most talented player (former senior, Lily Donovan) to foul out. I truly think if she didn't get called for all the petty and unclear calls they called her for we would have won the game.”
Co-captain, Jasmine Tse, speaks up about what her and Jimenez plan to do as new captains to this younger Varsity team.
“We need to build the chemistry because right now there are a lot of new players and were not used to playing with each other, but once we get into a routine of what we need to be doing during the games, we should be fine.”
Jimenez adds, “We haven’t done any team building yet since it's so early into the season but I plan on maybe incorporating icebreakers into practice so we can get acquainted with each other.” She also states, “The team this year is way more aggressive than last year and practices are always intense especially during scrimmages but the only problem we have is not everyone shows up to practices consistently which hurts us when it comes to running plays for the upcoming season.”
Jimenez and Tse are excited to put their four-year veteran skills to work on this younger team and are hopeful that this season will result in a championship title to add to the girls varsity basketball team’s belt.
SPORTS ROUND UP
- The girls tennis team beat Galileo 5-2 in their semi-final.
- The Mustang varsity volleyball team battled Lowell for the varsity volleyball championship but lost in the 5th set.
- Congratulations to the winners of the cross country All-City championship meet at Golden Gate Park!!!
- Good luck to Junior Charlie moore who recorded the 6th best time in the SF section thus far this season.
- Congrats to our varsity football team for beating Balboa on the annual Turkey day game.
This page was last updated on December 12, 2019