25-26 The Mirror Final Issue

A Swing in the Right Direction: Modified Baseball

By Ruofan Ren

This year, the Modified Baseball team has had a great season! How do I know? Well, they’ve got 10 wins and 4 losses, which sounds like a great season to me! Great seasons mean great memories! “My favorite memory was charging the mound,” says Ben Herron.

I wonder what everyone thinks of baseball in their own opinions? “Baseball is a strategic game like chess disguised as a sport. It is a beautiful battle between a pitcher and a batter, where the defense actually controls the ball,” says Mason Trinkle.

Memories and victories! Awesome season, everyone, hope you all can keep it up!

A Battle on the Field:

Modified Lacrosse

By Ruofan Ren

A cross stick swishes over the air. Pow! A ball flies into the net! Whoa! What happened? Well, the event you were just experiencing was what you would typically expect at a lacrosse game.

To all you non-lacrosse people, what is lacrosse? “Lacrosse is a fast-paced contact team sport played with a netted stick (crosse) and a solid rubber ball, often described as a mix of basketball, soccer, and hockey. Originating as a Native American game, it is the oldest organized sport in North America. Players use the stick to pass, catch, and shoot the ball into a goal, with the highest-scoring team winning,” says Rubidia Vega Martinez from the Modified Girls Lacrosse Team.

Fun fact: there are 7 seventh graders, 2 eighth graders, and 8 ninth graders, run by head coach Chris Lee. The Boys Modified Lacrosse Team, run by Jaden Salmoiraghi has nine 7th graders, and five 8th graders.

Every sport has an objective! Soccer, you score the most points. What about lacrosse? “The objective of Modified Lacrosse is to become better at the more tactical parts of the game like strategy and how to correctly fill the roles of the game. We learn how to play defense, attack and midfield better and more effectively. We also do a lot of team exercises to make sure we work well together in a game,” says Cadence Phillips.

There are many more key features of a sport that makes a game possible. For example, what’s the equipment for lacrosse people? “There is a helmet, chest pads, elbow pads, stick, and cleats,” says Beckett Brassard.

The Boys Modified Lacrosse has 2 wins and 8 losses, with the losses being really close. Congratulations to both Girls and Boys Modified Lacrosse players for performing so well this season! Let’s hope for crushing wins and undefeated seasons because we know that they can make it happen! *

The Modified Girls Lacrosse Team

The Modified Boys Lacrosse Team

Track: the Season in Reflection

By Aya Rock-Stryker

Imagine the crowd is roaring, screaming for you. Your legs ache but you keep running because you can almost pass the person in front of you. You sprint as fast as you can to the finish line, and smile, because you did it. That, my friend, is the world of modified Track and Field at New Paltz Middle School. Track and Field is a popular sport, involving running, stamina, and technique.

Track and Field is made of four categories; sprints, mid-distance, long distance, and field events. Short distance races are the 55 and 100 meter hurdles, the 100 and 200 meter dash, and the 100, 200, 400 meter relay. Mid-distance races in modified level are considered the 400 meter dash and sometimes the 800 meter run. Lastly, long distance races are the 800 meter run and the 1500 meter run. Additional relays that are sometimes featured in specific meets, are medleys of two 200 meter sprints, one 400 meter dash, and one 800 meter run.

Modified field events at NPMS are the long jump, the high jump, shot put, and discus. You might be thinking, “this is so confusing, how do I keep track of what everything is?” To understand how far each running event is you have to remember one thing; the perimeter of the track is a total of 400 meters, and from there you can understand that an 800 meter run is two laps around the track, a 200 meter sprint is half a lap, etc. When it comes to understanding field events, it gets a little trickier. The long jump is when you try to jump as far as you can across a pit of sand with a running start, and a specific set of rules. The high jump is when you try to jump over a horizontal pole at different heights with a running start, and a specific set of rules. Shot put is basically throwing a heavy metal ball as far as you can with a specific technique, and discus is throwing a heavy metal disc as far as you can with a different technique than shot put.

This season our team has dominated the meets, winning most events, and getting top times and personal records. “This season has been amazing,” says distance runner Olivia Pilek. “We have a lot of really strong runners on our team, like Lenore Carda, Julia Martin, and Tully Cunniff.”

Though we also have team goals, runners also have personal goals, Olivia shared her goal of “Beating this one girl from Wallkill, but my hopes are still high.” (Olivia did eventually beat the runner from Wallkill in the next race).

I interviewed 8th grade runner Nathan Pilek about his opinion on this track season. Here is our conversation:

Me: What events do you run?

Nate: 55 meter hurdles, 200 meter hurdles, high jump, 4x 200 A team.

Me: Impressive, how has this season been going for you? Better or worse than last year?

Nate: Better.

Me: And why is that?

Nate: Because I’m faster and better than I was last year.

Me: Nice, thank you for the interview.

Nate: You're welcome.

___

Even though this season has been successful, it had a rocky start, with the recurring challenge NPMS has had of finding coaches for our teams. Luckily some experienced parents stepped up for the job. Coach Card, and Coach Heppolette are the short and long distance coaches for NPMS’s girls team, and Coach Kennedy is coach for NPMS’s boys team, additionally Coach Pilek also helps with field events, specializing in long jump.

This year has been successful and our team has been really good on the track and field. Great work runners, it’s been a great season!

The Softball Season: A Sight to Behold!

By Aaron Weed, Derek Chen, and Ruofan Ren

Softball is a fun game for everyone of all ages, and a place where you can have fun with your friends. “I see softball as a super fun sport where you get to hang out with your best friends, work hard, and cheer each other on from the dugout1,” stated seventh grader Ahda Azizya.

Softball is usually seen as less than baseball, “People mostly see softball as a different version of baseball and they don't think softball is as valuable as baseball. Softball is a different perspective than baseball. There are many different rules in softball than baseball,” said seventh grader Ella Torre. Some differences between softball and baseball is that the ball is pitched underhand and the ball is a lot bigger and heavier. Furthermore, the field is a little smaller than a baseball field. This might make it seem easier, but the underhand serve makes hitting the heavier ball more challenging.

If you want to have a fun time next year, make sure to join softball, as shown from Ahda Azizya, “I would play again next season because I already miss being out on the field with my team.”

Congrats to everyone on the team, we hope to see you on the field next year so we can cheer you on!

Dugout1 – .A low shelter where players and coaches sit during the game

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