Sports

Kilts and Sticks

By: Ciara French

472/400 words

Photo Credits to Essex News Daily

June 5, 2017, MAPLEWOOD, N.J --For the past 6 years Maplewood Lacrosse Club has planned Switch sticks.  This year was the sixth annual Switch sticks event hosted at Underhill field.  According to Orterro Felton ‘17, “switch sticks is the game where both the boys and girls lacrosse teams ( freshman, jv, and varsity) play in a game with one another where they literally switch sticks and play by the girls rules.” Anyone who is fond of lacrosse knows that men's’ lacrosse is more aggressive.  In this event the boys switch their long lacrosse sticks with the girls’ short lacrosse sticks and then play against each other by the less aggressive girl rules.  There are huge differences between girls and boys lacrosse.  As stated by laxworld.com, women do not wear helmets unlike men.  There is less contact between the players in girl lacrosse.  Also, “ Compared to each other, the men's lacrosse stick has a pocket to catch the ball and carry it. In comparison, a woman's stick is a tight net designed to move, pass, or hit the ball instead of carrying it over a distance” stated by laxworld.com. Not only is the equipment and contact level different, so is the amount of players on the field at once.  Women’s lacrosse allows 12 girls to be on the field at a time rather than 10 in a men’s game.

Photo credits to Elevation Sports

Students of the Maplewood/South Orange District from grades eighth to twelfth can participate.  There are usually four games that take place. Eighth grader girls compete against the eighth grade boys.  Columbia high school (CHS) freshman boys compete against the girls.  CHS’s JV boys play against the girls. Finally, the Varsity boys compete against the girls.  According to essexnewsdaily.com, “ The Eighth-Grade Girls’ team won, 5-2. The Boys’ Freshman team won, 2-1.  The Boys JV team won, 3-0.  The Varsity boys’ team won, 5-2.”  

While playing in these games, the Varsity boys’ team usually step up their fashion.  Girl lacrosse uniforms do usually include kilts, but they do not resemble the Scottish kilt.  Girl lacrosse skilts are usually one solid color and dri-fit.  According to wikipedia.org,  “A kilt (Scottish Gaelic: fèileadh [ˈfeːləɣ]) is a knee-length non-bifurcated skirt-type garment with pleats at the rear, originating in the traditional dress of men and boys in the Scottish Highlands of the 16th century.”  Felton says, “The male participants wear skirts in the fashion of playing the girls game.”  While Ben Majtyka ‘17 says, “the boys wear kilts to make it kinda funny.”  

This event always has a great turn out.  There many people that come out and support.  The participants have a great time and enjoy playing against each other.  This a fun opportunity for girls and boys to play against each other and understand the difficulties of what the other gender deals with.

Nike Pro Hijab

By: Emily Brown

Photo Credit: teenvogue.com

527/500 Words

Nike is a global sports company who has been providing equipment and apparel for every sport imaginable for years. Nike was founded in 1964 and in the Spring of 2018 the Nike Pro Hijab will be available for purchase. This product has been thirteen months in the making and has been receiving mixed reactions even though it hasn’t even hit the shelves.  

Nike’s purpose for creating this was inspired by “an ongoing cultural shift that has seen more women than ever embracing sports,” they said in a statement. Their human inspiration for this project was runner Sarah Attar along with weightlifter Amna Al Haddad. Al Haddad, Attar and a few other world class athletes have been testing this product for months now to ensure the best product possible.

Figure Skater Zaria Lari was another consultant on this product. “I was hesitant when I first saw it,” Lari said in a statement, “... I’ve tried so many different hijabs for performance, and with how fast I spin on the ice and in training, so few of them actually work for me. But once I put it on and took it for a spin on the ice, I was blown away by the fit and the light weight.”

Nike is actively trying to make this an extremely successful product because they feel that it will be a pivotal product for the future of sports. “The Nike Pro Hijab has been a year in the making, but its impetus can be traced much further back to Nike’s founding mission, to serve athletes, with the signature addendum: If you have a body, you’re an athlete,” the company said in a statement.They have paid close attention to many different factors to make it better than any other product similar to it (which is very few).
With many athletes in this school, Nike gets its fair share of exposure around Columbia High School (CHS). Marwa Shaaban '18 is a Muslim student at CHS. While she doesn't play any sports she understands the great appeal for this product. "Being a Muslim women it is really hard, especially in the summer months to respect my religion, but also be comfortable," Shaaban said, "the fact that Nike offers a breathable product is going to be a really strong selling point."

Nike spokesperson said, “What we heard was that women were looking for a lightweight and breathable solution that would stay in place without concern of shifting.” To add to the model they made the neck a little longer to ensure that it wouldn’t come up while working out. Al Haddad in particular had bad experiences with performance hijabs in the past. She only owned one that she felt was functional in vigorous competition, but had to hand wash it every night before competition. She also added that the weight, movement, and lack of breathability made it difficult to focus.
It is very important to Nike that this product meets all of the requirements that these athletes have recommended to get the best product possible. Come Spring 2018 athletes all around the world will be able to test the product to see if it meets their needs.