Tiger took his usual month off before tournaments and again competed at the Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte.  However, Tiger played mediocre on Thursday, and had a horrific round on Friday.  Tiger finished at an unexpected nine over par, his worst as a professional.  It was only the sixth time in 241 tournaments that Woods had missed the cut in during his professional career.  After the tournament, Tiger was unexpectedly light with reporters during his post-round interview.  Tiger joked, saying, “Well at least I’ll have the weekend to watch and see how its really done,” which is an unheard of comment coming from his mouth. 

     Tiger looked to redeem himself a week later at another prominent tournament on the PGA Tour, the Players Championship.  Tiger performed much better than he did in his previous outing, and played his way into the weekend, but did not once scare the top of the leader board.  However, everything seemed to be going smoothly until Sunday morning.  After bogeying his first two holes, Tiger pulled out of the tournament with what was originally diagnosed as a neck injury.  However, after running a few tests it was discovered that Tiger had a bulging disk in his neck.  After this, many questions arose on what Tiger’s already small schedule would look like.  He pulled out of many of the tournaments he was originally scheduled to play in, and once again the golf world was left Tigerless.

     After a week of keeping the media and his fans in the dark, Woods released information on when the next Tiger sighting would occur.  Woods will be competing in this year’s British Open, which will be played at St. Andrews, a course Tiger has had previous success at.  St. Andrews is known around the world as the ”Home of Golf”, so once again Tiger’s return will have drama involved.

       In this year’s playoffs, a few players are competing at their full potential, and some are even exceeding expectations.  Of course, the league’s two best players are off to a hot start, with LeBron James and Kobe Bryant each averaging over 20 points a game.  They have provided jump out of your seat moments in the first two rounds, and a match up between the two best players and the two best teams seems likely.  For point guard play Phoenix star Steve Nash has lived up to his hype and steered the Phoenix Suns into a Western Conference Finals match up with the Los Angeles Lakers.  Not to be outdone, Celtics point man Rajon Rondo has exceeded all expectations with his key performances in the second round including a triple-double that consisted of 29 points, 18 rebounds, and 13 assists in a 97-87 win on Mother’s Day. 

 This year’s team captains are seniors Erin Selavka and Allison Burg, and junior Brianna Levick. These girls have been chosen for exhibiting strengths in academics, leadership, and sportsmanship.  But these girls are not the only ones who are working hard. Everyday the whole team starts of practice with a half hour of strengthening and conditioning. The effect that these exercises have is clear. 

“The results of these core exercises can be seen in the way the girl’s stamina has changed, to the point they ask to be pushed further each day.” Says Levick

After the team is done conditioning they break the girls up by infield and outfield positions and perform numerous drills pertaining to each position. To finish practice off Levick brings the team together and execute what they have been working on throughout the practice.

“I believe hard work is the key to success.” Explains  Levick. “As coaches it is our responsibility to teach that with hard work not only in softball but in life hard work and maximum effort is the key to their success.”

The season has already faced some challenges. But Levick is optimistic.

“This season has already started hard with the number of girls trying out way down. But with the returning players and the younger players that have come out we should still be a very competitive team.” Says Levick.

The opening game against Bristol Eastern will set the tone for the upcoming season. Our rivals this year will still be Manchester and South Windsor.

“They battle hard and push to win every game.” Says Levick.

Even though facing some of the opposing teams this year may pose a challenge Levick is positive that Rockville can take it and has high expectations for our team this year.

“My goal this season is to finish above .500 and to win RHS another CCC conference championship. I would also like to go as far as possible in the state tournament.” Says Levick.

The start of a new season comes with its own set of new challenges and Levick is ready to take them all on.

“New kids, exiting seniors, and new captains you sometimes need to step back and see how things will pan out. Let the kids’ just play ball and hopefully you have trained them for whatever may occur that includes winning or losing.” Says Levick.

      “Being a captain is a big responsibility, but I like being looked up to,” said Kurowski, as she reflected at the end of the season.

When asked what the best part about being a captain, Jamie Throwe said, “I like to lead people toward our goals.” 

     One of those goals was the cheerleading competition at Windsor High School on February 27, 2010. Rockville started off the competition performing first. There were thirteen other high schools,  three JV teams, one middle school, and twelve stunts groups. All of the cheerleading squads competed with normal tourines or stunting, cheering, and dancing. A stunt is when two people throw another girl, called the flyer, in the air. There wre also twelvegroups that solely competed with stunt routines, which do not focus on cheering or dance.

      Rockville competed against Avon in the novice division and took first place. The Rams’ dance routine consisted of a mix of different songs that were edited and put together to create one fast-paced song. One of the hardest stunts was the pyramid, which all the cheerleaders are physically connected. Overall the competition was a great one.  It gave the girls more confidence going into states in the beginning of March.  Both Throwe and Kurowski agree that teamwork will lead the team to success in the comig weeks.

English teacher Ms. Matyseck enjoyed the event. “I was surprised at how well it went this year. I was impressed with the dance team, step team, and cheerleaders. I thought that the students were well behaved considering being in the auditorium,” she explained.  Other teachers agreed with Ms. Matyseck. “It was much better then last years,” said Mrs. Reilly, a Childhood Education teacher. Although the Pep Rally turned out great, Mrs. Reilly explained that she was confused because, “[the Pep Rally] was never announced. Teachers didn’t know what was going on.” When asked about what she would  have changed about the Pep Rally, Mrs. Reilly explains “ I would have really liked to have heard each player introduced individually. Also, they could have mixed it up a little.  Maybe first off, they could have them dance and cheer, then introduce the players.  Overall, I really enjoyed it.”

Of the event’s two emcees Mike and Mike, Senior Preston Combs said,  “Both Mikes did a really good job. I think that they could have made it so the audience was a little bit more into it and included. But otherwise I think it turned out pretty good.”