Cheerleading’s complex choreographies can stir worries about stumbles, memory blanks and potential errors. Freshman Kaila Chen calms her pregame nerves by listening to her favorite songs.

It can get stressful at times, and everyone has nerves,” Chen said. “So (music) is a good way to take one’s mind off of worries.”

Chen noted that music has helped the cheer team change the way they approach their performances.

“(Music) brings us together by basically taking our minds off of what may happen in the future and promotes communication,” she said. “Usually our minds are clouded with thoughts about what may go wrong or what if one of us makes an error, so by playing music, it kind of shifts our mindsets. Instead of being worried, we become excited to promote our school spirit.”

The team also relies upon music when choreographing. According to Chen, these tunes keep the cheerleaders united in their goals.

“It definitely brings everyone together and prepares us for what’s ahead,” she said. “Without music to motivate us, it’s quite difficult to find something to push us forward.”

Although Chen does not create a specific playlist for pregame listening, she shuffles her liked songs: 21 Savage’s “Runnin,” Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble” and other rap songs that energize her.

Sophomore Hannah Casale: Soccer

Sophomore Hannah Casale enjoys listening to music while warming up for soccer matches. As she jogs, stretches and does various passing drills with her teammates, she listens to songs like Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie.”

“I really (only listen to music) during soccer season,” she said. “It just pumps me up, in case I’m tired, or (I listen) to have more fun.”

Casale prefers songs that are easy to run to, and she has a pregame music playlist that she shares with her team. These shared songs have allowed for moments of team bonding.

“We argue over music that we like and dislike,” Casale said. “The arguing (was) a good way to break the ice for me (because) when I just joined the team, it was mainly upperclassmen.”

Junior Sidhant Lochan: Wrestling

Lightly jogging around the wrestling room, junior Sidhant Lochan stretches with headphones on. Tapping his phone, he sees the screen light up with the album cover of Kendrick Lamar’s “Money Trees.”

By listening to music, Lochan mentally prepares himself for his matches.

“Pregame songs are either to get you really hyped up, or to get you relaxed and cancel out the nerves,” he said. “I think a lot of sports need that crazy hype in their head to get the adrenaline pumping, but for wrestling, it’s more about keeping a cool head and controlling the match in all the ways that you can.”

Lochan specifically listens to “Money Trees” because the song’s mellower and softer tones, compared to Lamar’s other works, calms him.

“While I’m listening, I try to block out all my inner distractions and just visualize the match in my mind,” he said. “It gets me in the zone because for me, it gets me calm but also ready for the upcoming match.”

Other than “Money Trees,” Lochan switches things up by listening to Benson Boone’s “GHOST TOWN,” David Kushner’s “Daylight” and Bastille’s “Oblivion.”

Senior James Ford: Basketball

“One thousand on my feet, stacks spreaded on my seat / Ten thousand on my eyes.” With Travis Scott’s “MY EYES” playing through his earbuds, senior James Ford enters the basketball court to warm up for the game, ball in hand as he begins dribbling exercises.

Music helps Ford enter his “game mindset,” and he chooses from an array of upbeat tunes that energize him for the game — specifically rap and hip-hop songs.

“I don’t have a particular song I listen to, pregame,” he said. “(Instead), I usually listen to a playlist.” Ford updates his pregame playlist often, adding new music that he knows will keep him focused.

Ford also listens to Future, Kanye West and Young Thug, whose songs’ uplifting beats mentally prepare him for basketball games. His favorite tracks include Young Thug’s “Check” and Future’s “Solo.”

The recruitment process relies primarily on one individual’s work: the athlete’s. Athletes seeking recruitment hope to gain colleges’ attention through attending showcase events, sharing statistics and highlights on recruiting sites, and conducting outreach to coaches through networking services like Next College Student Athlete (NCSA). Then, they may enter into direct contact with coaches who are specifically tasked with advocating their recruitment to the school’s admissions committee. Ultimately, however, there is no guarantee that these efforts will come to fruition.

Indeed, according to NCAA data, nearly 520,000 students participated in Division I, II and III sports in the 2022-23 season. This figure also includes walk-on athletes — students who join college athletic programs without prior recruitment — and students recruited from abroad, though these cases are usually far less common. That, compared with the almost eight million high school student-athletes, means only a mere 7% of student-athletes are recruited to play at the collegiate level.

While not all eight million high school student-athletes seek recruitment, those that do face a highly competitive and complex process. Unsurprisingly, then, many also fall short of this goal. Whether these students are denied on the basis of their college application, do not find an ideal match or voluntarily stop their search altogether, each has a nuanced journey and resulting perspective.

Until last semester, senior Marcello Chang had been seeking recruitment. A competitive soccer player since childhood, he — like many of his teammates and school peers — had hoped to be recruited to a top collegiate program. To that end, he followed the basic but strenuous procedure: He sent initial emails directly to programs in his freshman year, attended dozens of showcases and ID camps (showcase-like events organized by specific colleges) during sophomore and junior year, and communicated directly with coaches starting junior year.

Catching the eye of program scouts and coaches is fundamental to recruitment. Chang noted this task is both difficult and financially inequitable.

“ID camps are actually very expensive,” he said. “A lot of the time, players get recruited through these events, and if you don’t have the money for them, you’re less likely to be recruited.”

Senior Ashley Sarkosh, who until recently was actively seeking recruitment for soccer, echoed the importance of player-to-program contact.

“There is a small (and specific) demand for collegiate athletes but a great supply to choose from,” she said. “Anyone can therefore imagine that the required work to get noticed is tremendous, and you have to give it your all.”

According to Zippia, a job-search platform that includes company revenues in its database, NCSA made around $130 million dollars in revenue in 2022. While NCSA services aim to help players with recruitment outreach, they do not include other expenses such as for equipment, training, exercise regimens and showcase attendance. Some of these costs may be covered by athletes’ club teams, but players usually still pay for lodging, transportation and meals. That, combined with the average club membership price — usually in the low thousands, according to the NCSA — means a player may spend thousands of dollars attending showcases throughout high school. These showcases exist for practically all major high school sports.

In addition, the regulations and practices around recruitment can differ among sports, causing additional confusion for and inconvenience to athletes.

“Basically, coaches can’t even talk to (soccer athletes) until the summer after sophomore year, which is not the same case for other sports,” Chang said. “It almost doesn’t make sense to see prodigy football players receive offers while they are still in middle school, or even baseball players who are freshmen in high school.”

Athletes who sought recruitment also draw parallels between the competitive environments around recruitment and the college application cycle.

“Most of the time, you are talking to the same colleges as your teammates,” Chang said. “With college applications, everyone asks, ‘Where are you applying?’ and with recruitment they ask, ‘Oh, which programs are you talking to?’”

Sarkosh noticed similar patterns, fueled by the tendency of both college applicants and recruitment-seekers to maximize their outreach.

“Similar to college applications, athletes know that applying or speaking to one college isn’t enough,” she said. “They must reach out to as wide a variety of colleges as possible.”

Seeking recruitment often necessitates an even greater sacrifice: time. Between playing, recovering and communicating, athletes are often left with less time for academic and social commitments, and limited opportunities to explore other sports.

“Unfortunately, if you are trying to get recruited, you may miss time with friends and family,” Sarkosh said. “Some argue that athletes should explore more high school sports, become more well rounded and therefore save money for college.”

Indeed, what high school students may find on their social media feeds — celebratory recruitment announcements — show merely one fragment of the collegiate recruitment process. For every athlete, no matter the final recruitment destination (or lack thereof), their individual journey consists of great physical, financial and time sacrifices.

“When we see our friends on Instagram posting that they ‘signed’ to a college for a sport, we are happy and excited for them, but we may not realize all that they gave up prior to their signing,” Sarkosh said.

Albers’ first taste of a season-wrecking injury was a bike accident in the fall of 2021. “I was biking home downhill, and there was a tree root (that made) a big crack in the path,” she said. “When my bike hit the crack, I got flipped over (the handlebars) and my face was smashed into the ground.”

After a trip to the emergency room and 20 stitches to the mouth, Albers sat in bed trying to figure out how to break the news to her coach. “(Central Coast Sectionals) were coming up in a couple weeks, and I couldn’t get in the water because I couldn’t even open my mouth,” she said.

Over the next two weeks, Albers sat on the bench in silence, watching her team play. “The worst part might have been all the people that came up to me at games,” she said. “Coaches and moms and players would come up to ask me why I wasn’t playing, and I just had to sit there. My mouth was sewn shut.”

Her coach’s empathy helped her through this isolation. “When you’re injured, and the coach comes and talks to you about how you’re feeling, or you just have a good, normal conversation, it makes you feel so (much more) connected with the team,” Albers said. “(Talking to my coach) made me feel a lot better because (then I knew) they’re not forgetting about me just because I’m injured — they’re just focusing on the girls who can play right now.”

When CCS rolled around, Albers was doing everything in her power to play again. However, her injury wasn’t fully healed, so she was forced to slowly ease back into training. “I was so weak when I started playing (again),” she said. “I had barely eaten because I couldn’t open my mouth. All I could do was stick a straw in the corner of my mouth for a few days, so I (had) lost weight.”

During that 2021 season, the girls varsity water polo team went on to win the Division III Northern California title, going further than any other Gunn girls’ water polo team ever had. To win the championship, the team went through a series of knockout games: Every time they got in the water, they could either win or go home. This new pressure only added to Albers’ drive to play. “Our team already had some injuries and illnesses taking people out,” she said. “So even though I wasn’t quite ready to get back in the water, I just kept insisting (to my coach), ‘I’m fine. I’m fine.’ I hit my mouth with my hand to show (my coach) that I was okay.”

Fighting the urge to play, Albers had to remind herself that her health was the priority. “(I had to) remember that the pressure is not on me — that just because I’m (injured) does not mean my teammates are angry at me,” she said. “Whenever anybody on a team has an injury, all of (your) teammates just want you to get better.”

Thankfully, the season ended without further damage to Albers’ mouth. She was able to fully recover as she transitioned into her summer club season at NorCal Aquatics, where she would face her toughest injury yet.

While working at a kids’ camp during the summer of 2022, Albers spent much of the day entertaining 8-year-olds. In early July, she was running with campers when she slipped on grass and landed awkwardly on her back — once again, directly on the root of a tree. “I thought I just winded myself really hard, but I couldn’t get up and I couldn’t breathe,” she said.

During practice later that day, Albers was plagued by extreme back pain. “I think it took me almost half an hour to finish (the) warmup,” she said. “My coach was just watching me trying to complete 200 (yards of) freestyle and was eventually like, ‘I think you need to get out and just go home.’” With the Junior Olympics — the biggest tournament of the year — quickly approaching, the reality of her injury was a tough pill to swallow.

During the Junior Olympics tournament, Albers was not feeling better and was unable to play to her full capability. “My coach was giving me very controlled playing time,” she said. “I was in for two minutes, then I’d take a break, then in for two minutes, then another break.”

For this specific tournament, however, there was more at stake for Albers than simply missing the sport she loved. “I remember sitting (on the bench) thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, all of these (college) coaches are going to think I’m terrible at the sport, (and) my teammates are going to be so angry that I’m not helping their games,’” she said.

Although Albers wanted to play, her coaches again guided her to listen to her body’s needs. “My coaches would pull me aside and say, ‘Look, injuries happen, but you can’t push yourself because if you do, this is going to stay with you for life and you’re never going to recover,’” she said. “As much as I didn’t want to listen to them, I kind of had to because I knew deep down that was the only thing that was going to fix (my injury in the) long term.”

The Junior Olympics finally came to a close, and Albers was able to give her body some much-needed rest. While recuperating, she found out via an MRI scan that for the past three months, she had been living — and playing water polo — with a fractured spine. This discovery was a wake-up call for Albers, who resolved to take rest more seriously and to make recovery a priority at the dawn of the upcoming fall season. “I was really grateful that (for) high school season, our coach let me take almost an entire month and a half off,” she said. “That month and a half really gave me time to let my back fully heal, (while also) healing my other existing injuries such as a shoulder overuse problem that (I’d) been struggling (with) for the past two years.”

By the end of her recovery, Albers had found the value in taking time to let her body rebuild. “In the high school season, once (I) finally got to (play in) games, it was so much better, because my body actually felt good — it didn’t hurt every time I had to go to practice,” she said.

The effects of this recovery period continue to improve Albers’ life, a year after her back injury. “Now, going (into summer) club season, I can practice every single day, and my shoulder has been fine and I don’t really have issues with my back anymore,” she said.

Although she started playing to emulate her older brother, Manning’s love for the sport has pushed her to continue playing through elementary and middle school and into high school. “I really liked the (club) team and our coach,” she said. “It’s just naturally fun for me, so I stuck with it.”

Manning finds that Gunn’s girls lacrosse team places a greater emphasis on teamwork than teams she has been on in the past. “A lot of times on club teams, certain people (were) singled out, and it was more about giving certain people the ball,” she said. “For high school, our team is trying to get everyone to work together and do their part.”

According to Manning, the strong team dynamic was especially visible while competing in the Central Coast Section last year — her first time making it to CCS since she joined the Gunn team. “Last year, playing at CCS was a big moment,” she said. “We played as hard as we could, and it brought the team a lot closer together.”

Balancing extracurricular and academic demands with lacrosse has proven to be a challenge in the past few years. “Earlier this year, I was (even) thinking about not continuing because it was so stressful, but (lacrosse) also gives me a break from that stress,” she said. “I decided to stick with it because I’ve just loved the sport for so long, and I wanted to keep playing.”

Close games — such as a recent one against Mountain View High School — keep Manning’s passion for the sport alive. “It’s always like a one-point game differential, so those games are really fun because they push our team’s limits,” she said. “We often have to play harder than ever before, and a lot of good plays come out from those games.”

Manning’s passion for lacrosse goes beyond enjoying a well-played game, as she also appreciates the craft of the sport. “I just love having really pretty, dynamic plays and seeing the beautiful aspects of the sport,” she said.

Although Kuartei didn’t start out enjoying basketball, the sport grew on him over the years. “(Even though) my dad picked (basketball) for me, I did learn to like it,” he said. “I just put more energy and time into basketball and ended up being better at it.”

Committed to honing his craft to the best of his ability, Kuartei has spent countless hours practicing, shooting baskets and working on ball handling. Along with playing on the Gunn basketball team, Kuartei spends time outside of practice to work by himself. Commitment and consistency remain core values in his mindset as a player, as does team spirit. “Whenever I want to stop, (my) obligation to (my) teammates keeps me going,” he says.

Still, staying committed can be difficult at times, especially when physical injuries pose risks. Kuartei injured his knee while practicing and has not been able to play for over a month. Maintaining a healthy mindset around his relationship with basketball has been a struggle during this time. “(It’s hard) being forced at one time or another to take a break (from basketball), whether wanting to or not, and then just feeling like I’m never going to come back,” he said.

Trying to balance academic responsibilities with basketball practice is also a challenge. At times, Kuartei has considered dropping basketball to devote more of his attention to school in the coming years. “I’m taking a lot of APs next year, and focusing (more) on my instrument,” he says. “Balancing a ton of (responsibilities) will be pretty hard.”

Still, love for the sport is unquestionable. “I’m just a person who enjoys doing physical activities, and I’ve always had a lot of friends in the sport,” he said. “Playing the sport itself is (also) really fulfilling for me.”

Lee didn’t start out strong in the sport, but after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he saw more promising results. Badminton is both mentally and physically challenging, but Lee felt motivated after winning matches and seeing gradual improvement. “My coaches push me a lot, and sometimes I feel like, ‘Why do I even do this?’” he said. “But at the end of the day, if you train hard, then you’ll get results, so it’s rewarding. I don’t want all that hard work to go to waste.”

In 2021, Lee won the Badminton Pan American Junior Championships’ boys doubles division. The tournament, one of the largest in the U.S., was a big milestone for him.“That was the one time in badminton recently that I felt like I actually won because I worked so hard to get there, and it felt really good to succeed,” he said.

One of Lee’s most memorable childhood moments is when he broke his racket while playing with three friends. As the shuttlecock was tossed over the net, both Lee and a friend attempted to hit it. With high hopes, Lee took a big swing to return the shuttlecock to the other side, only to witness his racket making direct contact with the back of his friend’s head and falling to the ground in two pieces.

Lee said it was a challenge maintaining a positive attitude toward the sport during his first years few years of playing. He mentioned, however, that changing his mindset to be more optimistic boosted his playing. “Fixing that mindset and changing it to be more critical-thinking and positive helped me focus and become a better player,” he said.

Though Lee is fond of badminton, he has considered trying other sports, such as volleyball. Still, he plans to continue to play badminton competitively through high school and at a lower-commitment level in college. “I want to win Pan American Junior Championships again or play in the World Juniors,” he said.

Junior Summer Steadman shared how her experience as a competitive soccer player has been impacted. “Showcases are great opportunities to play in front of coaches that are recruiting you,” Steadman said. “But all spring showcases have been canceled, as well as campus visits. I’ve noticed that the overall timeline of the recruitment process has greatly lengthened.” 

Steadman also noted the importance of staying fit during time off the field, reflecting on how being able to train together as a team always improved performance in games. “Because practice and league games have stopped, the responsibility to improve as a player now rests on us as individuals,” Steadman said. “Independent growth is really being stressed at the moment.” 

Yet Steadman remains unwavering and optimistic. “I can’t wait to get back together with my team and start training again—we’re going to pick up where we left off,” Steadman said. “My team has taught me selflessness and sacrifice, and we are a family.”

Even for the athletes who have already committed to their college program, the impact of corona is still extensive. Senior Jonathan Affeld is attending Stanford University next year for men’s swimming. By committing this fall, Affeld explained that the virus is not impacting college prep, but it is hard for him to work out and remain in shape. “All the pools are closed, so I have to workout in other ways,” Affeld said. “And practicing on land is not a direct replacement for the workout I would get in the water.” 

As a senior, Affeld is also disappointed to have missed his last season. “I really would’ve liked to have made another run at the CCS championship and create more memories with my teammates,” Affeld said. “I also would have liked to leave more high school records.”

Despite an unfulfilling senior year, Affeld looks forward to attending Stanford and has great ambition. “I’m keeping my eye on making Olympic Trials next year,” Affeld said. “I’m just going to continue training and get recognized on an International scale.”  He expresses his sympathy with this season having come to a close so early, yet remains hopeful. “Sure, this isn’t ideal, but it’s one bad year preceding many good to come” Affeld said.

According to boys’ golf coach Marc Igler, one of the team’s main goals this year is to do well in the League Championships and to ultimately make it to Central Coast Section. “In the last 4 or 5 years, we’ve always made it to the League Championships, but we rarely make it to the CCS,” Igler said.

The biggest challenge the team needs to overcome is some inconsistency in player performances during matches. “Sometimes all my guys play well, sometimes none of them play well and sometimes, you know, a couple guys will play well but a couple guys won’t,” Igler said. “So the real challenge is to just get everybody playing well at the same time, and that’s just hard to do.”

Junior James Berger also says that the loss of a starter player at the start of the year presented some challenges as well. “We had a lot of difficulty trying to find the last few starters of the team, but after a few practice matches we have our line set up,” Berger said.

However, Igler believes that the team’s camaraderie will have a positive outcome for the rest of the season. “What’s encouraging is that the team has played together for quite a while, and everybody knows everybody well,” Igler said. “We drive to matches together, and as always, there’s good natured insults and everybody enjoys everybody else’s company. I think, by the end of the season, we will again make it to the League Championships.”

Berger also agrees that the team gets along very well and that fun is a major component of the team. “We always have a good time whether we win or we lose,” Berger said.