Category: Sports

By Amelie S.

As you may know, the World Cup is currently happening in Qatar. But, there is some dispute about the World Cup being hosted in Qatar. This is because of bribing, worker abuse, and many more problems. 

Bribing Problems

There are rumors that Qatar bribed Michel Platini for the World Cup to be hosted in Qatar. According to an NPR article, Platini and Qatar deny this, but there is an investigation showing a $2,000,000 payment between the two. Apparently, Platini also got arrested for this action. Even the FIFA president agreed that it was suspicious that Qatar won. He thinks they bribed for the place as well. 

Worker Abuse

Qatar is basically in the middle of the desert. They have very hot summers, and an arid, mild climate. In 2010, when Qatar was chosen to hold the 2022 World Cup. Thousands of foreign workers have died building many stadiums to hold the matches. During the summers, workers had to work in heat that could be 110 degrees Fahrenheit and above. Although their wages were high, about $100+ per hour, it was very hard, demanding work. 

Geographical Problems

Qatar is also a very small country. According to The World Factbook, it is 11,586 sq km (4473.38 sq mi) and is a bit smaller than Connecticut. Even the state of Florida has more land and a larger population than Qatar. Although Qatar is one of the richest countries, it is also one of the smallest. They also have many environmental issues as well. 

Here are some people’s opinions: 

The World Cup should not be hosted in Qatar because it will overpopulate the country. The country of Qatar is too small for big things like the World Cup to be hosted in. Qatar definitely bribed its way into the World Cup because normally, things like that are hosted in bigger countries such as Tokyo. Qatar was barely prepared for the World Cup.”

Jenna B.

The World Cup should not be hosted in Qatar because it has a lot of suspicious activity. Other than that, I don’t care for the World Cup that much.”

Zoey G.

It was a shady process getting the World Cup to Qatar with bribing and stuff. There are also lots of human rights problems with the workers and construction. Overall, I love the World Cup.”

Mr. T

By Amelie S.

The cross country team trained exceedingly hard this year. They trained by running routes over by the soccer field. One of the many routes is the fun run. For this one, you have to run around the soccer field, behind the back of the softball field, and in front of the pool. But wait! It’s still not done! You still have to run across the bridge, loop around, and start the route again by going to the soccer field yet again. 

There was one new route added to the list this year, the pool route! For this one, you go around the soccer field, around the back of the softball field, in front of the pool, and back to the field. 

The team also did a lot of drills during their practices like Indian sprints and timed runs. 

In all of the races they went to, the team members pushed extremely hard and got in the top 10 occasionally. Unfortunately, the cross country team did not qualify for postseason competition, but the girls’ cross country team did keep the championship trophy. 

According to Coach Doyle, the top time for girls was 14:29 for 2.2 miles. This was run by Avery M. and was also her personal record. The best time for boys was by Lucus L. and was 14:42. This was also his personal record. 

Overall, cross country is very entertaining, and I would recommend joining! Everyone on the team is nice and supportive! 

By Zoey G.

The Tampa Bay Lightning season recently started in a game against their playoff competitor, the New York Rangers. The Tampa Bay Lightning have been hard fighters for the past few years, making it to the playoffs and the Stanley Cup finals for multiple years. According to the Tampa Bay Lightning website, the regular season for the Tampa Bay Lightning will be 82 games in total with 41 games home and 41 games away. The regular season started on Oct. 11, 2022. 

This year is the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 30th year anniversary. Over the last few years, Tampa as a whole has had the most memorable wins with its sports teams. One example of this would be the year the Lightning won the Stanley Cup, the Bucs won the Super Bowl, the Rays came close to winning the World Series, and the Rowdies won the Bronze trophy. The Tampa Bay Lightning started off Tampa’s winning streak with their Stanley Cup win. 

As of Nov. 1, we are 10 games in with some good wins. According to the Tampa Bay Lightning website, we are at 6 wins and 4 loses. The Tampa Bay Lightning is third in the Eastern Conference.

Nov: Recently one of Tampa Bay Lightning’s star players, Victor Hedman, has been out of practices and games due to an upper-body injury that occurred during the game against the San Jose Sharks. He played in the game on Saturday, Nov. 5 against the Buffalo Sabres and seems like he’s back for good.

Zach Bogosian and Anthony Cirreli both had shoulder injuries and are in recovery. They haven’t played in the 2022-2023 season so far. On Nov. 21, Zach Bogosian played against the Boston Bruins at Home (Amalie Arena) back and healthy.

Mid-season report: According to the Tampa Bay Lightning website, the Tampa Bay Lightning are 3rd in their division along with 2nd place Toronto Maple Leafs and 1st place Boston Bruins. The Tampa Bay Lightning are 3rd in the Atlantic division because they have 29 wins out of 45 games and have 59 points (as of Jan. 23rd, 2023). The Captain of the Tampa Bay Lightning Steven Stamkos recently has been adding to the success of the Tampa Bay Lightning by surpassing 500 goals in under 1000 games. A couple of other key players that have helped the Tampa Bay Lightning are Brayden Point with his 27 goals scored (most on the team as of Jan. 23rd 2023) and Nikita Kucherov with his 66 points and 48 assists (most on the team as of Jan 23rd 2023). The Tampa Bay Lightning’s top 10 point scorers are; 1) Nikita Kucherov with 66 points, 2) Steven Stamkos with 54 points, 3) Brayden Point with 49 points, 4) Brandon Hagel with 39 points, 5) Alex Killorn with 33 points, 6) Mikhail Sergachev with 31 points, 7) Victor Herman with 31 points, 8) Nicholas Paul with 26 points, 9) Ross Colton with 18 points, and last but not least 10) Correy Perry with 16 points.