Sports cards — June

The splash of water and the smell of chlorine have been a huge part of Olivia Wallace’s life ever since she started the sport of swimming at age 6 for the Chabot Marlins. In seventh grade, she joined the year round competitive East Bay Bat Rays (EBAT) and later on, was even qualified to go to Junior Olympics.

Currently a freshman in high school, she has already made it to NCS for the 200 medley relay and 200 freestyle relay, plus holds the top time for the 100 fly of the Trojan swim team.

Wallace isn’t sure if she wants to swim in college, because of the amount of time and demand swimming takes.

“Swimming helps you gain relationships with people and makes you learn to work hard and balance schoolwork,” she said.

Connie Lau is no stranger to the court when it comes to badminton and tennis. As the captain of the badminton team this past season, she has played Varsity 2 Girls Singles, qualified for HAALs and NCS, and takes pride in being undefeated in her league. Lau says all of her successes are from playing badminton with her parents for about 5 years, although she has never actually been on a team until freshman year.

She has also enjoyed playing tennis for the CVHS team for two years, and this past fall, she was able to make the Varsity Girls Tennis team.

As for playing in college, she currently has no plans to further her career in the sport but she definitely has enjoyed playing it and will continue to, as a hobby.

“I cannot express into words what a wonderful season I have had with my teammates. They have been so supportive of each other and watching each of them grow and improve throughout this season makes me proud to be team captain,” Lau says.

See Phil Bannister on the track field and be amazed. Starting track in his sophomore year, he had tried basically all events of track—long jump, triple jump, distance, shotput, discus, etc. In his junior year, however, he found his true calling: pole vaulting.

Perfecting his pole vaulting scores allowed him to make NCS and be on the varsity team for the two years he’s been doing the sport. During his free time, he boogee boards and plays volleyball.

“Pole vaulting allows us to work hard because our coaches work us hard,” Bannister says. “I love pole vaulting for the thrill of it. There’s nothing like bending a stick to be launched 10 feet in the air.”