With the arrival of numerous students each year, many are immersed by the opportunities open for them within the school. Majority of the students are indecisive on which teams to join, which is best suitable for them, and if being on a team might interfere with their studies or not. These questions seem to pop up continuously as the number of sports teams increase each year. Some students aren’t aware of the unique sports teams options offered at this school, which include but are not limited to Cricket, Table Tennis, Handball, Bowling, Fencing, and Golf.
Cricket
Cricket is a team based game in which the two games play, whilst wielding a bat and ball, traditionally on a ovular or circular field. The goal between matches is to score the highest number of runs. When a batsman gets out, it gives the opportunity to the next person on the batting side to play until 10 players out of 11 are dismissed.
The cricket sports team allows an opportunity for developing specific sportsmanship and team building abilities between students. Students are said to be looking forward to partaking in this team with many varieties of persistent and ambitious goals in mind.
“The cricket team doesn’t start until March, and I already have kids coming to me asking when do we start,” Cricket and Handball Coach Mr. Khan exclaimed. “They get very excited, they look forward to it, so it’s nice to coach teams where the players look forward to coming to practice. If I call practice for 3 days, they would want to have 4 days of practice.”
Mr. Khan admires his students for helping each other speed up the learning process and pave the way for improvement.
“People practice for a long time just to get that good. They will help each other, so it speeds up the process and they become better,” Khan elaborated. “Most of the students practice outside of school. I like their sportsmanship and team building, it’s just really nice.”
Table Tennis
Table Tennis is a sport in which only the serve has to hit the table on each side of the net located on the midpoint of the table. It is regularly a team based game where two to four players serve a lightweight ball back and forth across the table tennis table over a net using miniature rackets.
The students in this team are very lively as they have formed close friendships, sharing many memorable moments together. The girls’ table tennis team here at Francis Lewis High School take the sport to heart and have recently won their recent victory in the Queens championships. Many of the girls discuss their times participating in competitions as well as the experiences they share within the club itself.
“I heard about the team from the morning announcements. I played tennis when I was growing up, but I didn’t officially learn how to play table tennis until I joined this team,” Captain of the table tennis team Wen Shan Lin explained. “We get along very well and it’s an enjoyable time compared to other teams.”
Majority of the students in this team express their confidence and praise towards the team as well as the coach. They’ve spoken about various key ideas within the practices of the team that really changed their perspective on the team’s experiences due to the fact it’s enjoyable and exciting for them.
“I was not nervous at all before the competition, and I got first place after because I was confident,” Table tennis member Rebekah Moon stated. “Honestly, when it comes to the team, I enjoy the practices. Bucholtz gives us time to play alongside each other as well as competing and challenging against each other.”
Mr. Bucholtz mentions his overall experiences within the table tennis team. Not only that, but he also contrasts his feelings at the competition before, during, and after. He further elaborates on showing appreciation for the hard work and dedication the girls from the table tennis team contributed to winning the championship this year.
“We were pretty good most of the season, a couple of competitive matches but we were far out of the way of being the best team, ” Table tennis Coach Mr. Bucholtz confessed. “I’d say, they were just a very good mix of girls. Before the game, I thought we had a shot of winning. I mean I wasn’t certain, [but] during the match, I had much more confidence that we were going to win the championship. The team worked very hard, they’re very athletic, some of them played for 2-3 years, and they sort of came together, it was amazing.”
Some of the table tennis team students shared their experience winning the championship this year, which they described to be “a thrilling experience.” They describe this sport as “an easy victory,” ranking the top in Queens. With this new and profound pride, the students on this team are willing to share their input on the experiences they’ve felt at the competition.
“It was nice to see all the different groups of people, because we play during the season in one borough, but then we go into playoffs, it’s different boroughs,” Table tennis member Victoria Cardenas shared. “So we might be top ranked in Queens borough, but also there’s Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. There’s always different skill gaps between us because we didn’t play with them during our regular season. Due to that, we were going in not really knowing anything other than their stats and how they are.”
Table tennis is a sport that allows the opportunity for social and athletic abilities within one another. Mr. Bucholtz also encourages other females from the school to try out and partake in this sport for the future of the Girls’ Table Tennis Team.
The best part about coaching the team is seeing the girls develop their skills over the course of a few years,” Mr. Bucholtz elaborated. ”I have had girls who didn’t know much about table tennis early on who later won a trophy at the city individual tournament. If you are female at Lewis who has some athletic ability and a desire to learn table tennis then please come out for our team next September!”
Handball
Handball is a very thorough sport in which the essential goal is to throw the ball into the other opponent’s goal as many times as possible within the two half an hour time. This sport requires skills such as lightning reflexes and quick thinking. The players work together, passing and dribbling the ball up the court in an attempt to score a goal.
In the “competitive” handball team here at Francis Lewis High School, students try their best using teamwork and various strategies whilst having fun participating in the sport.
“I joined the handball team because of my friend. I was sort of getting pressured because of the fact that my friends were partaking in it, I had a fear of missing out a little, so I joined,” said Handball Team Member Tyler Kang. “Then I thought that the sport was not that bad. My experience so far is that it’s fun; it’s great; I like it a lot.”
The “hardworking” students in this sport describe the experiences that have had a deep impact on them and their school life as it helps build and construct friendships within the handball sports team.
“The other people who do this sport are competitive since they’re actually competing and stuff, but they also welcomed me really nicely,” Kang furtherly elucidated. “We also have a group chat where we would not just talk about handball, but also some other stuff once in a while. We would be joking around, it’s pretty nice talking to them, good friends.”
Bowling
Bowling is a single player game in which each player has to knock down a set of pins by rolling a bowling ball across a smooth, flat surface. If the player succeeds in knocking down all the pins known as a strike, they may go again before their turn ends.
In the bowling team, students are given the chance to also participate in bowling competitions to showcase their skills in the sport. As of now, the school only has a boys bowling team, they have recently created history by winning Francis Lewis High School a bowling championship for the first time.
“We started the team pretty decently,” Khan further emphasized. “The following year, we went into the championships, we got second place. The next year, we went to the championships again and got first place in New York City. It was like history for this school because it was the first time Francis Lewis won a bowling championship. It was also the first time Queens won after numerous years.”
In addition to enhancing the student’s capabilities in the bowling team, bowling helps build close friendships as well as providing an open opportunity for the students to loosen their grip a bit and have a little enjoyment every now and then.
“My favorite part about the sport is the community because everyone gets along really well and I love the team,” Future Bowling Captain Adam Leung mentioned. “Everyone is really close with one another. I would recommend this sport and team if you just want a team to compete and have fun in.”
Fencing
Fencing is a team based sport in which there are three different fencing styles that consist of epee, foil, and saber. According to Epee Girls Varsity Fencing Captain Selena Lin, each style has different rules corresponding to it. For epee, the whole body is where players can hit. For foil, you wear a metallic vest and that’s the only area where the points are valid. For saber, instead of hitting with the tip of your sword, you would slash the opponent. In order to score a point, players would have to hit the body of your opponent. All players will wear a specific fencing uniform, which protects the players so it won’t hurt them if a player is hit. When the tip of the blade touches the body, a sound goes off and it means you’ve scored a point.
The current students in the fencing team are very passionate about this sport. They are willing to put in the time and effort into staying late and at times, getting injured whilst partaking in the sport. Although it may sound difficult, students within the fencing sport speak about what fencing means to them.
“For a fencer, fencing can mean a lot of different things,” clarified Epee Fencing Team Member Fatima Nassar. “For me, genuinely fencing means independence because being in this team has made me feel more responsible because when boys and girls have different seasons, when the boys’ season starts, the girls’ season ends. Fencing has taught me a lot about time management.”
On the other hand, Foil Fencing Team Member Alice Choe expresses the ups and downs when it comes to participating in the team. She has clarified that although it’s “fun” and “nice to be around other people who do fencing,” she has also elaborated that fencing is “expensive.”
“It’s nice to be with other people who do fencing [because] you have people supporting you. You also have people to teach them new things as well as having fun with them whilst fencing, or just talking to them as well,” Choe admitted. “Although, it’s just very expensive and you could also get injured. You might get scratches and it can be very dangerous sometimes. Overall, I think if you understand all the rules and the sport’s process, you’ll be fine and it’ll be pretty cool.”
Although fencing, like many other sports available, is “open to everyone” (Nassar), it takes not only skill but also sacrifice to be a part of the team.
“Everyone can have a different way of fencing and a different way of expressing how they are. Other than that, fencing is different for everyone,” Nassar further exclaimed. “Fencing is open for everyone, but not everyone is suitable for fencing. You really need dedication, time, practice, and just mental strength to do it.”
Jeain Kim, the fencing team’s current Boys Foil Team Captain, spoke about how the boys fencing team went “undefeated” this year. As a result, he’s very proud of the fencing team as he believes many students would enjoy this team as it improves their skills and abilities for the near future.
“I’m really proud of the fencing team for how far they’ve gone and how much they’ve accomplished. This year we went undefeated so I feel very proud of this team,” Kim assured. “I would definitely recommend this team to other students as it will help them pursue other capabilities in the future. You can teach other fencers what to do and you could also learn from other fencers as well.”
Golf
Golf is an upper body intensive sport that includes the utilization of rubber golf balls and clubs to swing them towards a distanced hole in order to score a point. In order to determine a winner, the main objective of golf is to take the fewest number of strokes to sink the ball in the hole.
The girls’ golf team is very dedicated to their sport and share many memorable experiences. This team allows for tryouts in the summer in order to participate in the golf team for the fall season again. It’s very time consuming: the girls’ on this team have to manage their time wisely on the thought of taking a lot of time after school to practice, meet with the coaches, and go to Alley Pond to practice their shots.
“I initially heard from a friend [about the golf team], but it’s [also] on the Francis Lewis High School website where you can sign up during the summer,” Golf team member Kristen Ksu stated, “I joined for fun thinking it wasn’t that serious, but once I got into it and I met with the team and the coaches, they were really nice about it and they actually let us practice our shots even though most of us were beginners. We actually improved from there. So, yeah, I stuck with the team.”
Golf Coach Mr. Figliozzi finds the experience coaching the golf team both “fun” and “rewarding” for him due to the fact that the team members are all very motivated to continue to improve their form.
“I really enjoy coaching the Golf team and it has been a great experience. All of my players are dedicated to the team, and are willing to work hard to improve their game,” Mr. Figliozzi commented. “All of my players understand what it means to be a student athlete, and they are really good at balancing their responsibilities. Coaching golf continues to be a fun and rewarding experience for me.”
As of now, the girls’ golf team needs more funds for materials, uniforms, etc. Hsu heavily discusses the struggle of trying to sell candies in terms of school funding due to the fact the girls’ golf team still needs new uniforms as of now. They’ve been playing without uniforms for a period of time, so helping with getting them with funding could be very helpful for getting the team new uniforms.
“We’re trying to get more school funds in terms of selling candies because we need new uniforms as a school team, ” Hsu further clarifies. “We’ve kind of been playing without uniforms for a while now, so it’d be great if people support the golf team to help us get uniforms and better equipment.”
Not only does Hsu express her admiration towards the coach and his ability to help the team improve their athletic capabilities, but also she elucidates on the amusement of being in the team playing with other people who can relate to sharing an interest in golf as well.
The coaches really help you with your form, but it’s mostly like player to player where you have people around you to watch you shoot your shots sometimes and they help you improve,” Hsu emphasized. “I also find golf really fun, especially if it’s not mini golf. The experience is really lively at the moment, and you’re on the course with the other girls, it’s just a pleasure. If you have a good group of people who want to play with you, then definitely do that.
