Sports

By Lia Roth

In the world of sports, a good coach is one of the most important aspects to an athlete’s success; they stand as mentors, confidants, and sources of inspiration. The presence of a coach who cares has a profound effect; however, a negligent coach can leave worse ramification on an athlete.

Vincent Tang, better known as Coach Tang, is a PE teacher and the varsity volleyball coach at Lincoln. Tang is an exceptional coach—the impact he has on his athletes goes far further than just their performance on the court. 

“I want them to leave my program better than they came in it,” he explains. “This applies to maturity, work ethic, and responsibility.”

Tang’s philosophy for coaching is built on the idea that a team is family—this bond allows for the players, despite being in a competitive atmosphere, to feel comfortable enough to make mistakes, which ultimately allows them to grow.

Molly Ling, a junior who has worked with Tang since her freshman year at Lincoln, describes how he impacts her on and off the court.

“Tang gives good insight on making decisions about my personal life, but he’s also a very supportive person during the game and gives helpful tips on how to be a better player,” she describes.

Coaches like Tang make huge impacts on their players, but not all athletes are lucky enough to have this type of role model.

Last school year, following the passing of the varsity girl’s soccer team’s head coach Kenyatta Scott, and the temporary stepping down of assistant coach, David McPherson, the varsity girl’s soccer team was left with no one to lead them. 

In response, administration appointed Nathan Cox as the team's new coach. He had minimal experience with coaching soccer, and the experience that he did have wasn’t with a high school age group. His lack of knowledge not only affected the players in the games but also created a ripple effect on their motivation.

“It felt like the team was falling apart,” Laila Chietti, a player on the varsity soccer team said. “I’m really hoping that the team can rebuild this season and work past everything that happened last year.”

Cox’s inability to effectively guide and mentor the players eventually got to a point where parents and administrators were asked by the players to step in. There was a restorative meeting where the team was able to talk to the Principal Shari Balisi, and the athletic director Carl Jacobs.

  The soccer team and Cox came to the mutual decision that it would be best if he no longer had a role on the team and stepped down.

The importance of coaching and mentorship becomes evident not only through individual stories like the soccer team's experience but also through the broader influence that coaches have on their students' lives. Ashan (Ash) Fernando, a PE teacher at Lincoln, shares how the influence of his high school coach inspired him to come full circle and work at Lincoln. 

When Fernando wasn’t playing a sport, he recalls that he “had no time management, stopped caring, and had no discipline.”

As he struggled without any positive role models in his life, his math teacher, who was also the volleyball coach, “saw something special in [him] that [he] hadn’t seen yet.” 

Fernando remembers being told by his teacher: “I'm going to push you as hard as I can because I see something in you.” He attributes these words to ultimately changing the course of his life.

Fernando’s goal in being a coach here at Lincoln and at a collegiate level is to provide kids who are falling unnoticed between the cracks, just as he was before, the same impactful role model that he had. 

Lincoln’s coaches leave long-lasting impacts on the students’ lives. They remind us that a coach is more than just someone with a whistle, but is someone who can instill discipline, responsibility, and perseverance. 

By Kelly Luo 

Abraham Lincoln High School’s Dragon Boat paddlers from the class of 2023 have left the team for college, forming concerns for future competitive races. With the absence of the graduated seniors, roughly 13 empty spots on Lincoln’s fastest boats, Lincoln High Gold and Lincoln High Red, are up for grabs.  

Last year, Lincoln Dragon Boat obtained numerous awards by defeating prominent teams such as the Balboa Bucs, Lowell Cardinal Crewzers, Galileo Celestial Dragons, and CYC Dragon Boat. For the final race of the 2022-23 season, the team traveled to Vancouver, Canada for the Junior Grand Finals, where Lincoln’s Gold Boat took home gold medals, placing first internationally. However, the transition from summer to the 2023-2024 school year left Lincoln Dragon Boat unsure of absolute victory in future races.

Students from Lincoln’s top boats consistently mentioned that the absence of the 2023 graduates was a large issue and touched upon the experience gap between current paddlers and around 20 new athletes who are filling in the gaps. 

Sophie Cheung, a Lincoln High Gold paddler and co-captain, voices, “It was [a] new [experience] because almost half of the people on Gold Boat have never been on Gold Boat.”

Unlike Lincoln Dragon Boat veterans, new paddlers may consider the sport as a fun activity where competition is not a top priority. Despite different values, graduated seniors who temporarily coached the team’s third and fourth boat, Black Boat and White Boat from August to September, recognized potential in the new athletes. 

Allison Mar, a 2023 graduate and temporary coach, comments, “They [new paddlers] just need to put more effort into practices and come out more. That’s about it.” 

During the first race of the season, the Northern California International Dragon Boat Festival on September 24th, the new team battled against prominent competitors that Lincoln had defeated last year. For around two minutes, six boats traveled across 400 meters as spectators encouraged their teammates from land. 

The race announcer from the California Dragon Boat Association shared with the audience, “It was a very close race, with a one-second difference between first and third place. We had to look at the pictures and go by milliseconds.”

With a 0.25-second difference, Lincoln High Gold secured silver medals. By 0.75 seconds from first place, Lincoln High Red placed fourth with a time of 2 minutes, one second, and 78 milliseconds. Although both boats felt disappointed by the results, the new team successfully reclaimed strength and morale from the loss of 13 veteran paddlers. 

Cheung comments, “We didn’t win first, but we’re all proud of how we came because we gave it [the race] all we got.”

Currently, the team is enjoying a three-month rest from dragon boat practices until January 2024. However, team members still enjoy visiting the Paddle Erg, a simulated paddling machine, near the Lincoln High School basketball courts to maintain paddling skills and training. In addition, Lincoln plans to participate in the “Halloween Howl Scrimmage” on November 4th,  a friendly Halloween-themed race between San Francisco high school teams.