The 2012 Olympic Games will use a mix of new venues, existing and historical facilities, and temporary facilities, some in well-known locations such as Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade.  The majority of these venues have been separated into three zones: the Olympic Zone, the River Zone, and the Central Zone.  In Sept. 2004, the plans for the Olympic Park were passed and a purchase of property was required.  The total cost for the games and regeneration of the East London area came to a total of 9.345 billion Euros.  Senior Christian Riggs said, “That’s ridiculous. I personally don’t think that amount of money is worth hosting the Olympics.”

Athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees are expected to participate.  The 2012 Summer Olympic Games features 26 sports and 39 disciplines.  For the first time in history, women’s boxing is included in the program, with 40 athletes competing in five different weight classes.  Junior David Uhrek said “Women’s boxing sounds like a good way to get more viewers; I’ll be watching that event for sure.” Softball and baseball were voted to be dropped from this year’s Games, and golf and rugby sevens will be used as replacements for the 2016 Olympic Games.  Overall, it looks like an exciting year and with only two months to go, sports lovers from across the world are thrilled to tune in.

This has been the most successful year for Le Jardin water polo. The girls varsity team, along with the boys varsity team both won the championships for their seasons and both will have two new banners inside of the gym. “Oh man, this was a prime year,” said assistant coach Jay Hohl. “Both our Varsity teams won the championship, and even our intermediate teams did they best they’ve ever done, Le Jardin Academy is going to be known as the water polo school.”

The Championship game was one of the most defensive games of the season. A combined total of three goals scored made the game a nail bitter the whole way. “It was so sick!” said senior Luke Shimmon. “When Katie scored the last goal with a minute left, I knew they had no chance, it’s awesome to see two championships for our school this year.”

Because of the girls winning division two, they move on to play division one schools. If all goes well they will continue playing division one teams and luckily make it to states. Although the future is unpredictable, the girls won the ILH champs and Le Jardin will be given another banner to prove it.

It is uncertain as to why the winning team fans Al Marsy would start this riot and not be celebrating their victory. “I never knew people would have such poor sportsmanship,” said senior Frankie Montalvo.  Others speculate that police purposely did not stop the disturbance and let the fans riot. Egyptian locals believe that the riot had broken out because of the military and its recent corruption within the last year.  The United States and Britain have expressed sympathy for the people in Egypt urging them to find who was responsible and hold those to account. “This is the first time I heard of a soccer riot. It is horrible,” said junior Ignacio Garcia. It was horrible that there was such an extremely sad ending to an event that should have been celebrated.

White began swimming competitively at the age of 11 when his mom decided he needed to do something productive with his time, so she signed him up for the Kailua Swim Team.  “ I really didn’t want to swim at first; my mom had to force me to go to every practice.  I stuck with it for a few months, and my coaches all agreed I had a lot of potential,” said senior White.  He sure did; Ian has been breaking records throughout his high school swimming career. White’s freshmen year he broke two Hawaii swimming records and made it all the way to sectionals in Washington, which was his first taste of national competition. White measured up fairly well against the national competition on the mainland and, in fact, even won some events.  “Hard work, perseverance, and a commitment to any sport will pay off in the end, I promise,” said senior White.

White is currently being heavily recruited, in large part, due to the many accolades he has received throughout his swimming career.  Schools such as Linfield, Bakersfield, La Verne, and the University of Hawaii are all showing special interest in him. “Personally I want Ian to swim at Linfield, I think it would be a good fit for him,” said Brandi Halemano, who is a freshman on Linfield’s Women’s Swim Team.

“I had heard Ian was a gifted swimmer, but I never knew he was nearly as accomplished as he is,” said senior Matt Kuriyama.  Many of White’s Le Jardin classmates don’t know much about his swimming career because he is humble and soft spoken.  White is in the midst of demonstrating exactly where hard work, determination, dedication and athletic ability can take a talented high school athlete.

So far the Bulldogs have played six league games and are having an up and down season. They have won three and lost three.  The Bulldogs have been on a small break and are working hard to get some more wins. “Sorry to disappoint the fans.  We are prepared to win the rest of our games,” said senior Frankie Montalvo.

On Friday, Jan 6 the Bulldogs had a nail biting game against Punahou that had the crowd on their feet. The game went back and forth all 32 minutes before the Bulldogs went on a streak in the last minutes of the fourth quarter. Freshman Alec Macleod hit the biggest layup of his entire life sending the game into overtime. The Bulldogs then outmatched Punahou winning the game 55-52. McWhinnie had 21 points coming up huge for the bulldogs. “I thought that we shouldn’t have gone into overtime but I am glad that we won,” said McWhinnie.

The bulldogs have six games remaining in their season, five of which are at home. Our home support has been lacking with a small crowd of LJA students watching games. Luke Shimmon has been a dedicated fan and attends every home game.  He wants to encourage more support for the team.  “Everyone come out to the games and support the team,” said Shimmon.  Let’s show some school spirit and support our bulldogs!

“I think the team, although young, has a great chemistry, and we are definitely going to work better and better as the season progresses.” Miller said. Team Chemistry in basketball is a huge factor, and with a group of girls as close as this team, it shouldn’t take long for them to find it.

The Lady Bulldogs opened the season with a win at home against University High. This was a huge confidence booster for the young team. Going back to last year, they had lost 16 straight games, so being 1-0 was a great way to start the year.

“I knew going into this game we had to put on a good performance, and we did that and much more. I was really proud of the whole team.” said guard Stephanie Ramos.

After the big win, the Lady bulldogs had an up and down stretch in which they lost four out of five, and then won 3 straight, before losing to Kamehameha. Last night they were the victors over the Iolani Red Raiders, winning 48-34. The team has four more games left in the regular season, before beginning postseason play.

“Winning at least two of these games would leave us with a winning record, which would give us a better seed in the playoffs so that would be huge for us. Also finishing with a winning record after last year’s team would really show how hard we have worked this year,” said sophomore point guard Olivia McCabe.

Le Jardin’s last game of the year is at home against Maryknoll on Jan. 27, at 6 pm. They would greatly appreciate all student/parent fan support.

Basketball has the largest number of popular sporting venues. There are some crazy competitions played from college basketball, from Women’s National Basketball League (WNBA) to the National Basketball League (NBA). For instance, Michigan State and North Carolina met up on Veterans Day in San Diego to play a game on an aircraft carrier in honor of the military. The two teams wore camouflage jerseys representing U.S.A. President Obama and many other military members attended the game.  The WNBA’s unusual sporting venue was hosted in the Detroit Shock at historic Radio Music Hall where they played on a stage while their fans watched.  The NBA had another unique event where two teams clashed outdoors in the desert at Indian Wells Tennis Center in California.

Tennis also had three events which were played in unique areas.  One of the most memorable moments for tennis fans happened when Andre Agassi and Roger Federer played a match on a helipad in 2005. The match was played 700 ft above Dubai’s Jumeirah beach on the roof of the Burj Al Arab Hotel.  Both players were feet away from falling to their death. Tennis fans watched all over the world “I remember watching this. It was crazy,” said senior Jessica Vala. Another memorable moment for tennis fans was the King of Turf against King of Clay match. The game was played in 2007 Mallorca, Spain on half clay, half grass court. This match was to determine who the best all- surface player was. Squash, similar to the sport of tennis, had a special event held in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal. The arena was built especially for this event, a huge four walled glass court inside Vanderbilt Hall.

The Great Wall of China run is one the most exhilarating but trying of all the sporting venues. About twenty- five percent of the run is through a scenic route for 26.2 miles, and the rest is a deadly 3,800 stone staircase until the finish line. The course record belongs to a Spanish man who finished in three hours and twenty- three minutes.  “I think that it’s a complete waste of time and no one should spend their life trying to do that,” said senior Christian Riggs.

At an intense football event in 2010 between Northwestern and Illinois at Wrigley Field that turned out to be embarrassing. The games organizers did not specify the lengths of the field and the space between the outfield walls of the baseball arena. This resulted in organizers having lack of space to create two end zones and only had enough space for one. This was the first college football game to have only offense played on one side and the embarrassment made this football even memorable.

The Winter Classic is one of hockey’s biggest annual events held on New Year’s Day.  The game is played in the number one team’s city at a popular college football stadium.  A hockey rink is built on the football field and the teams play outside on the rink like they did before the huge stadiums were built.

Golf is one of the sports that requires accuracy; imagine playing this sport in arctic conditions. “That’s insane. It must be freezing,” said senior Matt Kuriyama.  Every March, a tournament in Greenland takes place, known as the World Ice Golf Championships.  Golfers gather together and play with orange golf balls, while glaciers and icebergs are placed as new hazards.

It is amazing how all of these sporting venues were created into memorable games. All across the world people watch these incredible events.