Palo Alto High School's sports news magazine

Viking Magazine

Palo Alto High School's sports news magazine

Viking Magazine

Palo Alto High School's sports news magazine

Viking Magazine

Photo from paly.softball.varsity on instagram.
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Beyond the Mirror
Beyond the Mirror
Eliza Gaither, Katie Yen, and Sarah ThiemanMarch 27, 2024

Fresh off a loss

A long, silent drive is not ideal after losing. Reflecting on your game is always a positive factor, but anything over an hour is just too much for one match. It starts to take a toll on your confidence. Instead of being constructive, it quickly becomes destructive.
Late Sunday afternoon, there I was, for three hours of stop and go traffic in a four-foot radius of two smelly teammates.  Fresh off of a loss, all I could think about were the mistakes I made.
I pictured myself miss touching a ball, shanking a shot, and tackling late. After about an hour of feeling sorry for myself I decided to take a nap. I tried everything, music, no music, head on the window, head on my lap, head on my teammates shoulder – and nothing worked.
It’s hard to think of anything worse when you’re in that situation, but it always could be worse. Well, it is for at least one person – Jordan Williamson.
A flight back from Phoenix, Arizona won’t even be enough time for Williamson to properly reflect on his mistakes, and there is never enough time to sufficiently reflect on the biggest mistake of your career. Sometimes not knowing it’s the biggest mistake can help you stay rational, but there are plenty of Americans to let him know how badly he messed up.
Maybe he should have stayed in Arizona because Palo Alto is not going to welcome him with open arms. Judging by Facebook status’ after just the second field goal shank, he was not going to be welcomed at all. It’s one thing to miss an opportunity to win the game, but losing the game is something entirely different. Nevertheless, Williamson didn’t single handedly lose the game: it was a combination of other teammates performances and the coaching decisions. It’s hard to ignore the fact that his total of two minutes on the field was a major contribution to the loss. it’s even harder to think that someone else has it worse, but in the end that’s always the case. Eventually, someone will replace Williamson as a new main target, but chances are, he will be waiting a while. Until then, stay under the radar, big man.
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About the Contributor
Marina Foley, Staff Writer
Marina is a junior at Paly and has lived in Palo Alto her whole life. She has one older brother and a dog. She started playing soccer at a young age and it is still a priority; whether it's club season or high school season, soccer has always been where her time is spent.

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