November 2019

14 sports/westerner
november 22, 2019
EAT, SLEEP, COMPETE, REPEAT.
ATHLETES SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCE WHEN IT COMES TO EXCELLING IN SPORTS OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL.
BY SUZANNA LINEK
sports editor
After years of being a Chicago Blackhawks
fan and having a dad who played when
she was young, senior Grace Olsen grew a
passion for hockey. Starting this experience
as a ten-year-old rather than as the typical eight-yearold,
she was still able to reach success by putting in
extraordinary effort. Olsen began by playing for the
house league Franklin Park Panthers before advancing
to the travel league on the Glenview Stars team,
where she played until she was 15. She was admitted
onto the Elite AAA team, Team Illinois, and has
double-rostered on the Maine Girls team since last
year. Over the years, Olsen has accomplished earning
all-state honors, being MVP of 2018-19 Team Illinois,
winning the state-championship in 2017 and getting
second place in state last season. Excelling in hockey
makes it difficult to live a typical high school teenage
life, though. “My social life is limited due to traveling
on Thursdays and Fridays, and I miss a lot of school
but I wouldn’t give up hockey for my social life; it’s
what I love doing and what I will continue doing in
college. Juggling school and a social life is hard but
I make sure that I prioritize everything and get done
the important things first,” Olsen said. With practices
four days a week and games almost every weekend, she
continually gets the support from her peers, boosting
her confidence and overall helping her do better in the
game.
Freshman Michelle Kaner’s posted top
times during her record breaking swim
season. She is not just a Maine west
swimmer. She is a swimmer with hopes
to make it into the Olympics. Thus, will be determined
two weeks after IHSA State for girls
swim or in March if she reaches the Olympic
trial times. “If not, I hope to achieve my dreams
by next Championship season,” Kaner said. She
started taking swim more seriously beginning at
the age of 12 when the Des Plaines River Racers
closed down and she moved to swim for G Tac,
a team at Glenbrook South. Kaner has won age
12 state top 3 and 5 for the first time in most
of her events. However, she experienced a major
setback when she dislocated her kneecap at 13.
But after therapy, she was able to have a quick
recovery and that summer get top 3 in her events
and again the following March at age 14. So on
the daily her schedule goes as “always swimming,
go home, take a nap, practice, and homework.
If I don’t have swimming I either rest or incorporate
time with friends,” Kaner said. Luckily,
club doesn’t overlap with highschool swim season
so she is able to balance both into her year.
But still Kaner is constantly at the pool training,
and in effect very rewarded for her actions by getting
high point awards, and advancing to various
championships.
Along with soon to be being a four-year Varsity
three-sport athlete for cross country ,
diving, and baseball at Maine West, senior
Raymond Ure manages to compete at the
national level in handball, too. Handball, simply put,
is “racket ball with your hands,” Ure said. He uncovered
his interest for this unfamiliar sport back when
his brother’s climbing instructor at Lattof YMCA
showed his brother, and he joined his brother at just
five years old. Since he took it more seriously than
his brother, starting younger and practicing more, Ure
has been able to take on big competitions all across
the country. Ure trains year-round but more in the
winter, when he plays two-three times a week with
his current coach Don Quinlan. Handball in general
is very “different because there’s not that many people
who play it. Anybody can play it, and you don’t have
to be in top shape to be good. It is based mostly on
strategies compared to other sports,” Ure said. Every
year he goes to men’s tournaments around the Midwest,
and travels once a year just after Christmas to
the west coast to compete in the junior nationals.
This year, he’ll compete in Tucson, Arizona, against
men and collegiate players. Ure has been the 9-and
11-and-under national champion, 13-and 15-and 17-
and-under singles and doubles national winner, and
17-and-under worlds doubles winner.
H O C K
E Y H N D B A
SW IM
How to Train Your Athlete
ATHLETIC TRAINERS SHARE THEIR SYSTEMS FOR KEEPING ATHLETES SAFE AND READY TO PLAY.
At our school, there is an abundant amount of work that happens behind
the scenes that allows the Warrior athletes to perform at the best of
their ability. Maine West has a staff of two athletic trainers, Ryan Melligan
and Nicole Tinetti, as well as multiple student trainers, Joanna Vogt and
Aiyana Puente.
They all work under six domains of athletic training: prevention of
injuries, clinical evaluation and diagnosis, immediate care of an injury or
emergency, treatment and rehabilitation of an injury, and organization and
administration of documenting injuries and professional responsibility.
Melligan graduated from North Central College with a double-major in
Athletic Training and Psychology and Tinetti graduated from North Park
University with a major in Athletic Training. During their years of education
A L L
BY NIKOLINA VUJCIC
sports reporter
they became exposed to real-life situations through clinical rotations within
respective college sports teams, as well as, orthopedic offices, high schools,
and physical therapy clinics. “Through these clinical rotations, I instantly
knew the secondary school setting was for me, so I chose my last two to be
at a high school,” Tinetti said.
Not only have they learned to heal physically, but they also learned how
to better handle injuries on an emotional aspect. “I think if you can understand
people’s different perceptions of pain and their mindset when they
withstand a major injury you can understand and help them better,” Melligan
said. These emotionally sensitive skills help assess and manage any injury
thrown at them.