Athlete of the Week Articles

Every morning, Adolfo Lopez tightens his running shoes and sets out. He has anywhere between three and five miles of road ahead of him. While his body is running, his mind is being set free. “One of the things I like about running and training for long distance is the fact that in the morning […]

The school day was over. All across campus kids were causing a ruckus. Sports teams were assembling for their respective practices, yelling to friends and being generally wild teens, but at the pool it was calm as coach Kevin Jauregui spoke highly of his water polo players. That day, he was extolling the virtues of […]

Billierose Kleinbauer is part actor, part artist, part musician, part dancer. She’s one of those athletes who makes her sport look so easy it’s hard to see it as a sport. “Dance is probably one of the most challenging things that I have ever done. To dance with good technique, you are thinking of 40 […]

Intense athletes get this look in their eyes. Winning is their business, and they mean business. You may not expect to see this kind of look on a 9-year-old’s face, but Jace Perero has it. In the world of gymnastics, Perero is a relative newcomer.  Where most competitors have been tumbling pretty much since they […]

On a rainy Thursday afternoon, when most young teens would be inside texting, facebooking, and watching whatever passes for entertainment these days on TV, one young lady was outside. Kai Brown has been jumping horses since she was 9 years old. Her grandfather was a horse jumper. Her mother was a horse jumper. It’s not […]

With lyrics from the Katy Perry song “California Girls” plastered on the side of her soap box derby car, Ellen Blackwell shows the boys on the West Coast who’s fast on the track. Blackwell, a 15-year-old sophomore at Righetti High School, has been racing soapbox derby for more than six years. She’s done very well […]

Here’s an idea for a sport (to crib from Robin Williams’ comical breakdown of the origins of golf): Get a huge pack of guys and girls together. Send them running mind-boggling distances, over hills and around trees and through God knows what, with no referees or umpires anywhere to bear witness to any fouls, where […]

It’s hard enough to get up at 6 in the morning. It’s even harder when you know that you’re going to be running for the next hour. Gerardo Alvarez starts his day—every day, seven days a week—just like this. He wants to be able to breathe while his opponents are trying to clean his clock. […]

As Santa Maria’s Troy Lara stepped onto the court for the finals of the recent Summer Slam’s Men’s A Singles match, the crowd could only see one of his opponents. About 78 feet away stood Shawn Porter of Arroyo Grande. Lara’s other opponent—nerves—hung on his shoulder whispering in his ear, reminding him of the last […]

Amid the tempest of bowlers who filled Rancho Bowl on a recent Saturday there stood one young man who was very much the eye of the storm. Matthew “Matti” Luna patiently waited to bowl his next frame. When the time came, he stepped up, chose his ball, and sent it sailing with no wasted motion. […]

Though the fair has ended, you can still smell the show animals. The reminder in the air doesn’t bother Queenie. She’s here to skate, and the only smell she’s worried about is the smell of victory. Christina “Queenie” Blythe is one of Calskate Roller Derby’s jammers and an original team member. Two years ago, she […]