It is said that you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning then being a professional basketball player. Hard work, talent, persistence and love towards the game are the traits that get you there. Joseph Hagen, a Senior at Grant High School, and a Varsity basketball player, possesses all of these traits on and off the court.

Hagen has been playing basketball for 11 years, and has loved it since he could pick up a basketball. He’s played on various teams since elementary and middle school. Even at a young age, it was clear that he had a gift for shooting hoops.

When he entered high school, he was skeptical whether or not he was good enough to play for the Grant team. He was on the Junior Varsity basketball team, swinging for Varsity, as a Sophomore but made Varsity as a Junior. Grant did well, but not exceptional Hagen’s Junior year. Still, Hagen had a good season.

When asked what teams he liked, he was quick to answer, declaring, “The Blazers, even though the last couple seasons they haven’t done so well.” When it came to players, Hagen said, “I look up to Earl Boykins ‘cause he’s a sav’.”

I attended Grant’s Varsity basketball tryouts after school in the gym on November sixth. Hagen, since he was already on the team, took it easy but ball skills were still clearly exemplified. Standing at nearly six feet five inches, he towers over most of the team. His great height helped him getting many rebounds and clean shots.

When asked if his being on the team ever interfered with his school work, he simply laughed saying, “Naw, I have great time management skills.”

Hagen has an amazing skill for basketball, yet he is very modest in his speech. When asked if he’d like to do anything with basketball after high school, he shrugged and just answered, “No. I’m just having as much fun with it in high school as I can.”

Hagen’s talent is one that should be noticed and not discarded. He hopes to go to college after high school and get a good education. He may never be a professional basketball player, but if the dedication he has towards the game is present for Hagen in anything else he does, we should be seeing much more of Joseph Hagen in the near future.

“Welcome to the complicated world of dance” Abby Cridland, a 15 year old sophomore at Grant High School, tells me as the interview is about to begin. Abby is the kind of person anyone can instantly become friends with. She presents herself in a comfortable manner, using corny humor to her advantage slipping in a toothy grin to make her instantly likeable to nearly everyone she comes into contact with. She dives right in to the world of dance as the first question is asked.

“What types of dance do the Gendrills normally perform?” She tells me that the types of dances range from jazz, to lyrical, ballet, hip-hop, and sometimes even novelty dances. When asked what novelty dances really entailed, she simply answered, “themed dances”.

To get to the real excitement of being a dancer, I asked the question about what the competitions were like. Cridland instantly replies, “tiring” with a long sigh, and I soon see why. “The competitions usually take up to 15 hours, with six main judges and two judges for one group. They judge harshly upon whether or not the dancers are all together, technique, meaning whether you are spotting when you turn or whether you point your toes for a leap or not, little things like that. They judge on the quality of the teams make-up and costumes and overall appearance. Everyone has to look the same.” She goes on to tell me that at the competitions the judges give each team a score from one to 100. Cridland proceeds to tell me that in order to go to the second round of state competitions the teams have to get at least a score of 65 or higher.

The competition stress doesn’t even end there, as there are only two rounds of state. Once that round is finished then the teams get places according to their scores. Last year Grant Gendrills received trophies for 13th out of twenty in state. Unlike in other sports where a perfect score is seen often, a score of 100 is rarely ever given in these competitions. The last time that a perfect score of 100 was given was 24 years ago to Park Rose. It’s a hard standard to live up to.

Now every girl’s favorite part of any sport or activity, of course is the costumes. Cridland begins to describe for me the usual clothing for their dance performances. “The costumes usually involve a leotard and some sort of pants. There are strict rules about what you can and cannot wear though. No cleavage at all, one inch straps at least, below the knee pants.” She goes on to say, “The costumes mainly come from other schools. This year they’re from Lincoln, except when we go to state, then we buy our own.”

The different types of shoes have a category all to themselves. Cridland explains, the different types of shoes are as follows: jazz booties (“yes, they are called jazz booties” she says with a sigh,) block shoes for hip-hop, foot thongs, that are made with pads on the ball of the dancers foot so that it doesn’t look chunky and its easier on the persons feet. “And yes,” she replies, “there are rules for your feet as well.” She goes on to tell that when performing the dancers are not allowed to wear nail polish of any kind, jewelry and even have to file their nails down to stubs. “The key is everyone has to look the same, and that’s the base of our costumes.”

As for practices dance definitely takes commitment, as the practices range from three hours of practice two to three times a week to six hours on Saturdays. Not only that, but the Gendrills spend two hours a week on technique until the season is over. And seeing as the Gendrills season goes from August to March, or even April (if they go to state), the commitment to dance is a full one. “Dances take about two to three weeks to learn a two minute routine, but we work on it for about two months to clean it all up. It’s pretty hardcore.” With all the practices and the amount of time it takes to learn one dance, “it doesn’t really give much time for anything else,” Cridland states.

Seeing them in action, on Wednesday November 8, 2006 at Grant for the fall sports dessert, a viewer can definitely see that this practice does not go to waste. Going to see the Gendrills perform, a person can not only see that these girls work very hard and are extremely committed, and talented with timing and technique, but that they honestly enjoy it. Watching the enthusiasm and energy given into each performance, no matter whether it is a competition or not, the Gendrills put forth an amazing level of dance each time. Viewers of all ages want to come back to see more. When asked about qualifications to be a Gendrills dancer, Cridland replies, “It doesn’t matter, who ever wants to join can, no dance experience required.” Special talents that are appreciated are good timing, and flexibility, but other then that, “you can call any movement a dance, and just spaz out, and it would be alright by us.”

As for physical injuries, she does admit that dance can cause many physical pains for an untrained body. Many accidents come from stretching improperly and that over working your body, “my muscles get so tired, I’m almost unable to walk after practices!” But she does admit that “anything you do for six hours can end up hurting you, I mean twiddling your thumbs for six hours would definitely hurt your thumbs by the end!” And so she moves on from the physical pains and accepts that they are just a part of any sport.

She admits that although dance cuts into a lot of her social time, and T.V. time too, that she really loves the sport. She has been dancing since second grade, and has continued on now for eight years. She plans on dancing all through high school. Cridland goes on to say that her cousin really sparked her interest in dance, as she looked up to her from when she was little, and hoped that one day she too would be dancing on a high school team. Now achieving her goal, she is more then happy to make the sacrifices needed to be a Gendrill dancer.

A self-described “passionate” player, who is always looking for a new challenge in the shape of a boy, Rebecca Harburg, 15, responded “’F’ yeah,” when asked if she preferred co-ed recreational soccer over single-gendered teams offered in schools. “Girls are too dainty,” she begins, “boys are more aggressive.” And how does Harburg, a sophomore at Grant High School, approach this challenge of playing with boys? “I’m a yeller,” she says assuredly. Putting her lungs to the test puts her male compatriots to the test by making them think outside of the box, i.e. passing the ball to the girls on the team. “I like helping guys get over their kindergarten ideology of cooties,” she says philosophically.

Harburg began playing soccer when she was six years old with the Alameda Mudhens as their sweeper. In fact she almost never had the chance to kick the ball if it wasn’t for an unexpected force from a sister’s initiation. “I hated soccer because my older sister, Margret, hated soccer. Then her friends started playing soccer, so she started playing soccer, so I started playing soccer,” said Harburg, who, like any younger sibling, would follow in her sister’s’ shadow. She now plays with the multi-school Three-Toed Sloths as their left defender.

Harburg feels that along with the added challenge, and not being too hard on the eyes, there are other benefits to playing co-ed recreational soccer as well including breaking barriers, learning to cooperate as a team, and getting the chance to play with other kids from others school, the opportunity that you wouldn’t have without rec. soccer. Having practice only twice a week and a game every Saturday makes it easy for Harburg to balance out soccer and her homework which is loaded with time consuming classes like Philosophy.

As a straight ‘A’ student, Harburg indulges herself with plenty of challenging courses at Grant, but she does not indulge herself in the soccer program offered at Grant. Feeling that Grant’s soccer is “limited to only a select few” is a major turn-off for Harburg, so instead she turns to a widely accepting recreational team, although she does not shy away from watching the school games. “Being on a school team is an honor, but I would rather be apart of a system where teams accept anyone who wants to play,” she says lightly, not wanting to sound stronger that how she feels.

Political or not, with any sport comes injuries, and as a “passionate” player, Harburg has had her fair share of battle wounds. However none too serious, she does not fail to show off a few of her larger-than-golf-ball sized bruises. She is sad that this season is over, but she won’t be sad for long as she plays in three out of the four seasons – fall, winter, and spring. In this last fall season her team has only lost one game. Last year in the fall and the spring, her team won as many has they lost. Harburg felt this was due to the all-freshmen team still getting to know each other.

Politics can turn people away, but what has kept Harburg from dwelling on what she feels can be unfair at times is the raw desire to, quite simply, just play – playing for the fun of it and for the challenge.

At the heart of the eco-friendly town of Portland streams an eco-unfriendly river. It is here, on the brown waters of the Willamette River, that Grant sophomore Jeanna Craig finds athletic bliss.

Her fun participating in dragon boats can be attributed to ex-senior David Cooper and his club fair recruiting tactics. By showing Craig the dragon boats information stand, peopled with all kinds of dragon boats groupies, and his flexed arms, inhabited by a modest amount of muscle, Cooper fulfilled Craig’s wish to change from a club-seeker to a club-member. He convinced her that dragon boaters needed a strong heart and core muscles more than seductive biceps.

Craig accepted Cooper’s spirit as genuine, and approached the colorful heads of the dragon boats as a freshman, with high hopes to out-paddle whatever mutated fish or school challengers came her way.

This enthusiasm is reflected in Craig’s game face, or “race face.” Dragon boat races are called “heats” in competitions, appropriately named after their potential to become quite heated and “intense,” as Craig describes her image before a race. Onlookers may call her pre-race appearance “focused and serious,” though Craig admits “I stick out my tongue in concentration during the race while simultaneously trying to prevent toxic Willamette water from entering my system. This face is not as intimidating or attractive as the one I wear at first.”

Between juggling faces of intimidation and natural focus, Craig must have a source of energy. She says the company of her dragon boats team supplies her with energy for a heat. The Grant High School Pirates get in the spirit by dressing in honor of their name, clad in bandanas and Grant Pirate pride body art.

The Pirates also raise their enthusiasm by raising the pirate flag before a race, one they hope to win. Craig anticipates feeling alive and happy, a sure sign of victory. Other signs of winning for Craig include an excited mindset, adrenaline rush, and cheering, as she models with a series of noises so that anyone could tell this is a favored state over losing.

“Losing,” Craig says, “is really disappointing because you naturally want to blame others but you know that’s illegal in sport, a team effort.”

The Pirates’ team effort was put to the test, with Craig contributing on the third bench, during the June 2006 Rose Festival, Craig’s first and only competition so far. The more experienced Grant dragon boaters paddled together on the A-boat, leaving other competitors in their wake as they paddled into 3rd place. Craig and her fellow B-team members watched and cheered, hoping they could celebrate inside the boat next year.

But jealousy was not an issue, because Craig’s dragon boats coaches had stressed all through their practices that soul mattered more than success.

Craig’s coaches “John” and “Annie” led dragon boats practices following their belief that skills are a side dish to passion. This gave Craig a serving of confidence even during the spring practices, “when we really start getting serious.” A typical practice entails meeting at the waterfront Riverplace Hotel in the cold at 5:45 a.m. and for Craig, “paddling my heart out” until 7:00 a.m.

After getting used to a splash of diseased Willamette River water being her Tuesday and Thursday wake up call, Craig realized she wanted to continue with dragon boats. Even though the Willamette River “disturbs the reputation of our beautiful city Portland,” Craig says, she’s happy to give the Willamette’s dirty waters a touch more beauty by giving them a better name as home to the graceful dragon boats.