Fantasy Football: More Than Just A Game
By Sebastian Scholte ‘25
Edited by Mariah Phillips ‘26
As the NFL season kicks into full gear, high school students across the country are increasingly getting swept up in the excitement of fantasy football, but the atmosphere here at Chaminade is like no other. What started as a casual pastime for a handful of sports enthusiasts has evolved into a competitive and highly anticipated yearly activity for many students, with a countless number of leagues, participants and punishments for the losers, the fantasy football culture at Chaminade can not to go unnoticed. Fantasy football has become more than just a game; it’s a passionate culture that fosters intense rivalries and has the capability of ending friendships.
Although the competitiveness of fantasy football is clear the popularity of the past time at Chaminade has sparked several benefits. It brings together students of all grade levels, bonding over the shared love of the sport. It also sharpens skills such as research, decision-making, and teamwork, as students actively trade players, watch games, and keep track of stats. While the activity of fantasy football itself may seem very basic at the surface level, the amount of time some dedicate to researching players, analyzing statistics and attempting to predict outcomes of games is truly something to be applauded and admired.
Despite the fun, the competitive nature of fantasy football is clear. Leagues are often structured with punishments for those unfortunate enough to fall into last place at the end of the season. These punishments can range from your friends designing your outfit for the day to eating raw dog food to drinking a gallon bottle of milk and then running a mile immediately after, infamously known as the “Milk Mile”. For most, watching their friend eat dog food or struggle to keep back a gallon of milk is far more rewarding than potentially winning money from a prize pool, which sounds like a far healthier, safer and less revolting alternative.
Ultimately, whether it’s the joy of friendly competition, the excitement of game-day triumphs, or watching your friend eat kibble, fantasy football has become a central part of many students’ high school experience. It is apparent that the bond that fantasy football created within an 18-week period through wins, losses and competition is a very valuable one that many people cherish beyond the game.
With playoffs and championships coming up, the buzz around fantasy football is expected to grow even more, promising even more thrilling matchups and fierce competition. Good luck to all who are competing and remember not to be too upset if you lose, I’m almost certain it will be legen-dairy.
By Sebastian Scholte ‘25
Edited by Mariah Phillips ‘26
As the NFL season kicks into full gear, high school students across the country are increasingly getting swept up in the excitement of fantasy football, but the atmosphere here at Chaminade is like no other. What started as a casual pastime for a handful of sports enthusiasts has evolved into a competitive and highly anticipated yearly activity for many students, with a countless number of leagues, participants and punishments for the losers, the fantasy football culture at Chaminade can not to go unnoticed. Fantasy football has become more than just a game; it’s a passionate culture that fosters intense rivalries and has the capability of ending friendships.
Although the competitiveness of fantasy football is clear the popularity of the past time at Chaminade has sparked several benefits. It brings together students of all grade levels, bonding over the shared love of the sport. It also sharpens skills such as research, decision-making, and teamwork, as students actively trade players, watch games, and keep track of stats. While the activity of fantasy football itself may seem very basic at the surface level, the amount of time some dedicate to researching players, analyzing statistics and attempting to predict outcomes of games is truly something to be applauded and admired.
Despite the fun, the competitive nature of fantasy football is clear. Leagues are often structured with punishments for those unfortunate enough to fall into last place at the end of the season. These punishments can range from your friends designing your outfit for the day to eating raw dog food to drinking a gallon bottle of milk and then running a mile immediately after, infamously known as the “Milk Mile”. For most, watching their friend eat dog food or struggle to keep back a gallon of milk is far more rewarding than potentially winning money from a prize pool, which sounds like a far healthier, safer and less revolting alternative.
Ultimately, whether it’s the joy of friendly competition, the excitement of game-day triumphs, or watching your friend eat kibble, fantasy football has become a central part of many students’ high school experience. It is apparent that the bond that fantasy football created within an 18-week period through wins, losses and competition is a very valuable one that many people cherish beyond the game.
With playoffs and championships coming up, the buzz around fantasy football is expected to grow even more, promising even more thrilling matchups and fierce competition. Good luck to all who are competing and remember not to be too upset if you lose, I’m almost certain it will be legen-dairy.
Photos by Jordan Dashevsky '25
From Training to Triumph: Success at Novice Fencing Tournament
By, Jessica Yep ‘25
Edited by Viren Sharma ‘26
On Sunday, November 10th, at Harvard Westlake, many beginner fencers took part in their first individual tournament. Three novice fencers from our team competed in the unrated junior foil tournaments.
In these individual tournaments, fencers face each of the five to six other fencers in their pool. The pool results determine the setup for the subsequent direct elimination bracket-style rounds. All fencers participate in these direct elimination rounds, regardless of their pool performance. To advance in direct elimination, a fencer must first score 15 points or have the most points before the nine-minute time limit expires.
As noted, the novice fencers used foil in this tournament, which is one of the three fencing styles. In foil, fencers wear a lame (resembling a silver vest) that covers their torso. To score a point, fencers must touch their opponent’s lame with their foil and have the right of way.
In the men’s foil tournament, Noah Marcus ‘27 tied for 3rd out of twelve fencers. In the women’s foil tournament, Chloe Tooson ‘28 tied for 3rd, and Luna Lu ‘27 placed 7th out of eleven fencers.
Congratulations to all the fencers who participated in their very first tournament!
By, Jessica Yep ‘25
Edited by Viren Sharma ‘26
On Sunday, November 10th, at Harvard Westlake, many beginner fencers took part in their first individual tournament. Three novice fencers from our team competed in the unrated junior foil tournaments.
In these individual tournaments, fencers face each of the five to six other fencers in their pool. The pool results determine the setup for the subsequent direct elimination bracket-style rounds. All fencers participate in these direct elimination rounds, regardless of their pool performance. To advance in direct elimination, a fencer must first score 15 points or have the most points before the nine-minute time limit expires.
As noted, the novice fencers used foil in this tournament, which is one of the three fencing styles. In foil, fencers wear a lame (resembling a silver vest) that covers their torso. To score a point, fencers must touch their opponent’s lame with their foil and have the right of way.
In the men’s foil tournament, Noah Marcus ‘27 tied for 3rd out of twelve fencers. In the women’s foil tournament, Chloe Tooson ‘28 tied for 3rd, and Luna Lu ‘27 placed 7th out of eleven fencers.
Congratulations to all the fencers who participated in their very first tournament!
Student Athletes: Balancing Sports & Academics
By Kristen Wichman ‘26
Edited by Mariah Phillips ‘26
In today’s world, colleges expect more than just good grades. Good grades go as far as satisfying the bare minimum of colleges’ lengthy list of unachievable standards. Students are expected to meet a rubric full of unreasonable requirements, adding additional stress to adolescents’ already busy lives. However, balancing extracurriculars and school is possible. It’s difficult, but it’s very possible. Today, The Talon has selected Ileana Burton ’26 and Lucas Jimenez ’26 to interview, as both manage to be top students while participating in a profound number of extracurriculars. We have chosen to focus on how they specifically balance sports and school, as athletics require quite a hefty commitment in both of their lives as well as many other students’ lives here at Chaminade College Preparatory.
Interview with Ileana Burton ’26 :
Q: What is your level of commitment to your sport from 1-10?
A: My level of commitment is a 9/10.
Q: How many days a week do you meet and for how long?
A: For band we usually meet 3-4 days each week. We meet on Monday’s for about 2 hours, on Wednesdays for 3 hours, on Fridays (during Football season) for about 5 hours, and during our competition season we meet for about 10 hours over the weekend. For soccer we meet for 4-5 days each week. We meet 2 hours on Monday, 2 hours on Tuesday, 2 hours on Thursday, about 2-hour games on Saturday’s (not including the drive, but with the drive an extra 2-4 hours), and I usually train for about an hour on a day that I am free with my private coach. In total, I practice my sport for about 29 hours each week.
Q: What kind of requirements does your sport entail?
A: For both marching band and soccer, it is essential to have somewhat good stamina and to just show up to practice and the competitions/games in order to continue growing in what you do. For marching band specifically, it is required for us to have our music and our dots for the show memorized and for soccer, it is required for us to have good technical skills, a good attitude, and an idea of how the game works.
Q: Would you say your grades are impacted negatively, positively, or both by your participation in your sport?
A: In the first semester of school, especially when I have marching band, club soccer, and high school soccer clashing together, it definitely becomes harder for me to find the time I need to do homework or study for a test, but that just means that I have to use my time wisely when I am given the opportunity to, so I don’t fall behind. My grades are definitely my number one priority at the moment, but I am committed to the activities I participate in, meaning I can’t just not go to practice for a week because I am overwhelmed with school work. But so far, I would say that while I do have straight A’s it is a very tough process for me to keep the grades where they are at the moment given the amount of time I have.
Q: How do you manage balancing school life and your sport?
A: I try and balance my school life and my sports by making sure I am managing my time wisely. The only real break I get at times are on the weekends, so I try and take advantage of my time over the weekend to make sure I focus on recovering my mental and physical health and get ahead in some of my classes. I also usually will utilize every x-block and use that to do homework and ask my teachers questions, which really helps me stay on track with my homework assignments and studying for any upcoming quizzes and/or tests.
Q: How much pressure does your participation in a sport add to your overall well-being?
A: My participation in a sport adds a lot of pressure to my overall well-being. It is hard being in multiple different activities where they expect close to perfection from you, because I have found that since I started doing all of these things my confidence in myself has gone down tremendously. Even though I may have people encouraging me with what I do, sometimes I find it hard to really believe in those affirmations. For band, it's hard because sometimes I may need to miss a practice for soccer or I may not be able to practice my music as much as I would like, and for soccer, especially recently since I just came back from an injury, being sick, and lost my starting spot, I have really had to work hard, but sometimes I don’t see the progress right away and all I tend to do is point out the little mistakes I make and critique myself to where I am completely letting it get the best of me.
Interview with Lucas Jimenez ’26 :
Q: What is your level of commitment to your sport from 1-10?
A: My level of commitment to my sport I would say would be an 8 since school to me is more important.
Q: How many days a week do you meet and for how long?
A: We have practices 6 days a week, Monday through Saturday, mostly lasting about two hours.
Q: What kind of requirements does your sport entail?
A: Cross Country has no specific requirements, but all one really needs is some perseverance and some form of dedication to accomplish something on the team.
Q: Would you say your grades are impacted negatively, positively, or both by your participation in your sport?
A: Overall, my grades have had their ups and downs while participating in my sport. It mainly comes down to the importance that I think each has, and me deciding upon which to focus more on in a given moment.
Q: How do you manage balancing school life and your sport?
A: Being an incredibly busy person at times, I mainly focus on splitting things up and doing as much as I can in the small periods in between activities. This usually allows me to get most of my school stuff done and allows me to do a sport too.
Q: How much pressure does your participation in a sport add to your overall well-being?
A: Overall, my sport adds a huge amount of pressure to my well-being. At every moment, I practically must have a dual mindset of a runner and a student, and honestly it tires me out very often.
By Kristen Wichman ‘26
Edited by Mariah Phillips ‘26
In today’s world, colleges expect more than just good grades. Good grades go as far as satisfying the bare minimum of colleges’ lengthy list of unachievable standards. Students are expected to meet a rubric full of unreasonable requirements, adding additional stress to adolescents’ already busy lives. However, balancing extracurriculars and school is possible. It’s difficult, but it’s very possible. Today, The Talon has selected Ileana Burton ’26 and Lucas Jimenez ’26 to interview, as both manage to be top students while participating in a profound number of extracurriculars. We have chosen to focus on how they specifically balance sports and school, as athletics require quite a hefty commitment in both of their lives as well as many other students’ lives here at Chaminade College Preparatory.
Interview with Ileana Burton ’26 :
Q: What is your level of commitment to your sport from 1-10?
A: My level of commitment is a 9/10.
Q: How many days a week do you meet and for how long?
A: For band we usually meet 3-4 days each week. We meet on Monday’s for about 2 hours, on Wednesdays for 3 hours, on Fridays (during Football season) for about 5 hours, and during our competition season we meet for about 10 hours over the weekend. For soccer we meet for 4-5 days each week. We meet 2 hours on Monday, 2 hours on Tuesday, 2 hours on Thursday, about 2-hour games on Saturday’s (not including the drive, but with the drive an extra 2-4 hours), and I usually train for about an hour on a day that I am free with my private coach. In total, I practice my sport for about 29 hours each week.
Q: What kind of requirements does your sport entail?
A: For both marching band and soccer, it is essential to have somewhat good stamina and to just show up to practice and the competitions/games in order to continue growing in what you do. For marching band specifically, it is required for us to have our music and our dots for the show memorized and for soccer, it is required for us to have good technical skills, a good attitude, and an idea of how the game works.
Q: Would you say your grades are impacted negatively, positively, or both by your participation in your sport?
A: In the first semester of school, especially when I have marching band, club soccer, and high school soccer clashing together, it definitely becomes harder for me to find the time I need to do homework or study for a test, but that just means that I have to use my time wisely when I am given the opportunity to, so I don’t fall behind. My grades are definitely my number one priority at the moment, but I am committed to the activities I participate in, meaning I can’t just not go to practice for a week because I am overwhelmed with school work. But so far, I would say that while I do have straight A’s it is a very tough process for me to keep the grades where they are at the moment given the amount of time I have.
Q: How do you manage balancing school life and your sport?
A: I try and balance my school life and my sports by making sure I am managing my time wisely. The only real break I get at times are on the weekends, so I try and take advantage of my time over the weekend to make sure I focus on recovering my mental and physical health and get ahead in some of my classes. I also usually will utilize every x-block and use that to do homework and ask my teachers questions, which really helps me stay on track with my homework assignments and studying for any upcoming quizzes and/or tests.
Q: How much pressure does your participation in a sport add to your overall well-being?
A: My participation in a sport adds a lot of pressure to my overall well-being. It is hard being in multiple different activities where they expect close to perfection from you, because I have found that since I started doing all of these things my confidence in myself has gone down tremendously. Even though I may have people encouraging me with what I do, sometimes I find it hard to really believe in those affirmations. For band, it's hard because sometimes I may need to miss a practice for soccer or I may not be able to practice my music as much as I would like, and for soccer, especially recently since I just came back from an injury, being sick, and lost my starting spot, I have really had to work hard, but sometimes I don’t see the progress right away and all I tend to do is point out the little mistakes I make and critique myself to where I am completely letting it get the best of me.
Interview with Lucas Jimenez ’26 :
Q: What is your level of commitment to your sport from 1-10?
A: My level of commitment to my sport I would say would be an 8 since school to me is more important.
Q: How many days a week do you meet and for how long?
A: We have practices 6 days a week, Monday through Saturday, mostly lasting about two hours.
Q: What kind of requirements does your sport entail?
A: Cross Country has no specific requirements, but all one really needs is some perseverance and some form of dedication to accomplish something on the team.
Q: Would you say your grades are impacted negatively, positively, or both by your participation in your sport?
A: Overall, my grades have had their ups and downs while participating in my sport. It mainly comes down to the importance that I think each has, and me deciding upon which to focus more on in a given moment.
Q: How do you manage balancing school life and your sport?
A: Being an incredibly busy person at times, I mainly focus on splitting things up and doing as much as I can in the small periods in between activities. This usually allows me to get most of my school stuff done and allows me to do a sport too.
Q: How much pressure does your participation in a sport add to your overall well-being?
A: Overall, my sport adds a huge amount of pressure to my well-being. At every moment, I practically must have a dual mindset of a runner and a student, and honestly it tires me out very often.
Poll: What Sports Should Chaminade Add?
By Andrea Palma '28
Edited by Jessica Yep '25
The exciting events this year in sports, most notably the Olympics, have brought to our attention sports that seem unconventional at first, but require a lot of dedication, skill, and strength to complete. Chaminade students have various takes on what sports Chaminade should add to our athletics program, including break dancing, go kart racing, boxing, girls’ flag football, archery, aerial dance, and pickleball. Read on so you can stay up to speed with some of these really cool sports!
One popular mention was break dancing, which was introduced to the 2024 Olympic games. It is an energetic style of dance with complex footwork movements.
Another sport mentioned was mixed martial arts, which is a combat sport combining different martial arts styles and is useful for self-defense.
Go kart racing is rising in popularity as a sport, even though categorizing it as a sport is still up for debate. In go kart racing, people compete for first place by riding small vehicles on a track.
Gymnastics were first used by the ancient Greeks and are a popular Olympic sport, especially in the U.S. with our women’s team being a powerhouse. There are multiple events in gymnastics, including floor, vault, uneven bars, and pommel horse. The events differ a bit between women’s and men’s gymnastics.
Boxing, a combat sport, is considered a form of martial arts with athletes such as Jake Paul and Mike Tyson making headlines in the boxing world. There are currently 8.4 million people participating in boxing in the U.S.
Badminton is a racquet sport, similar to tennis, where players try to hit a shuttlecock (birdie) across the net. It’s the fastest racquet sport, with the shuttlecock reaching speeds of over 300 mph.
Chaminade has a boys flag football team, but some girls are asking for a team of their own on campus. Historically, women have been left out of football but with the establishment of the WFA (Women’s Football Alliance) in 2009, more female football players are able to play the sport more professionally.
Cycling is a sport where people race on their bicycles on different terrains, a bit like cross country on wheels. It requires much endurance and stamina.
Archery has been around for over 70,000 years and was used for hunting. Nowadays, it can still be used for hunting, but is typically practiced for fun.
Aerial dance is a difficult modern sport that uses a silk apparatus to artfully and gracefully move in different ways. Chaminade used to have an aerial program, but discontinued it after the pandemic.
Pickleball is similar to badminton and tennis, where players use paddles to hit a ball over a net. However, the main difference between tennis and pickleball is that pickleball has a smaller court. Over 36.5 million players in the U.S. enjoy pickleball.
These sports are not typically in schools, and Chaminade students think that they should be. Hopefully this can inspire you to break out from your comfort zone and try something new. These sports, enjoyed by millions of people, can become your favorite hobby, and who knows, it could lead to a new path.
By Andrea Palma '28
Edited by Jessica Yep '25
The exciting events this year in sports, most notably the Olympics, have brought to our attention sports that seem unconventional at first, but require a lot of dedication, skill, and strength to complete. Chaminade students have various takes on what sports Chaminade should add to our athletics program, including break dancing, go kart racing, boxing, girls’ flag football, archery, aerial dance, and pickleball. Read on so you can stay up to speed with some of these really cool sports!
One popular mention was break dancing, which was introduced to the 2024 Olympic games. It is an energetic style of dance with complex footwork movements.
Another sport mentioned was mixed martial arts, which is a combat sport combining different martial arts styles and is useful for self-defense.
Go kart racing is rising in popularity as a sport, even though categorizing it as a sport is still up for debate. In go kart racing, people compete for first place by riding small vehicles on a track.
Gymnastics were first used by the ancient Greeks and are a popular Olympic sport, especially in the U.S. with our women’s team being a powerhouse. There are multiple events in gymnastics, including floor, vault, uneven bars, and pommel horse. The events differ a bit between women’s and men’s gymnastics.
Boxing, a combat sport, is considered a form of martial arts with athletes such as Jake Paul and Mike Tyson making headlines in the boxing world. There are currently 8.4 million people participating in boxing in the U.S.
Badminton is a racquet sport, similar to tennis, where players try to hit a shuttlecock (birdie) across the net. It’s the fastest racquet sport, with the shuttlecock reaching speeds of over 300 mph.
Chaminade has a boys flag football team, but some girls are asking for a team of their own on campus. Historically, women have been left out of football but with the establishment of the WFA (Women’s Football Alliance) in 2009, more female football players are able to play the sport more professionally.
Cycling is a sport where people race on their bicycles on different terrains, a bit like cross country on wheels. It requires much endurance and stamina.
Archery has been around for over 70,000 years and was used for hunting. Nowadays, it can still be used for hunting, but is typically practiced for fun.
Aerial dance is a difficult modern sport that uses a silk apparatus to artfully and gracefully move in different ways. Chaminade used to have an aerial program, but discontinued it after the pandemic.
Pickleball is similar to badminton and tennis, where players use paddles to hit a ball over a net. However, the main difference between tennis and pickleball is that pickleball has a smaller court. Over 36.5 million players in the U.S. enjoy pickleball.
These sports are not typically in schools, and Chaminade students think that they should be. Hopefully this can inspire you to break out from your comfort zone and try something new. These sports, enjoyed by millions of people, can become your favorite hobby, and who knows, it could lead to a new path.
