Blue Valley Southwest has its fair share of after-school sports for students to participate in. Even with these numerous options, some students have found their calling to be in a sport not offered at Southwest.
Kicking around a ball is considered fun for some athletes, but others prefer to score their goals with rackets and sticks.
Take sophomore Maleigh Pagenkopf, for example. Pagenkopf plays lacrosse in her free time. Instead of using her feet to kick a ball, she has a long-handled racket used to catch, carry, and throw a ball down the field towards the opposing team’s goal.
Pagenkopf found herself wanting to play because her grandma played and the sport looked interesting to her.
“I thought I’d try it,” she said.
Her team has a varsity and junior varsity level. Pagenkopf is a “swing,” which means she plays a little bit of both games. She is placed where the coach feels is a good spot for her to play in a certain game.
The girls on her team come from the Overland Park and Olathe area. They are a large part of what makes lacrosse so enjoyable for Pagenkopf.
“Everybody is really friendly,” she said. “We all have a good time and it’s laid back.”
To bond, the team does a number of activities together. They’ve had pancake breakfasts and various fundraisers to earn money. The money they make goes towards buying new equipment and other necessities for the team.
Along with the girls on the team, the coaches make the sport fun too.
“They don’t push you so hard that you don’t like the game,” Pagenkopf said.
Her season will be starting in late March, but sports like hockey have already begun practices for their season.
Sophomore Max Hudson plays hockey and his first game will be November 9th.
“I wasn’t really into basketball, football or baseball,“ Hudson said. “Then I saw it [hockey] on TV and decided to play.”
Hudson has been playing since he was seven years old and really enjoys the sport.
“I like when you start and skate up to the line after having your name announced for the national anthem,” he said. “Either that, or laying someone out.”
Hudson practices three times a week with his team. Only two practices are mandatory for him, because those are his varsity practices. The third practice is for junior varsity; he goes to it because he sometimes plays for JV when they don’t have enough players.
Various grade levels playing together, but overall the team is pretty small. His team competes in three to four tournaments a year. They’re in the Midwest league, so teams come from Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska and other places in the region.
“All tournaments are single elimination and they usually draw a pretty big crowd,” Hudson said. “We get to play at the new event center in Independence, so plenty of people come.”
Even though Hudson plays these tournaments, he doesn’t plan to become a professional.
“Oh it’s definitely for fun,” Hudson said. “I’ll leave that [going professional] to the Canadians.”
Maybe Hudson doesn’t see hockey as a professional career, but he has still found a sport that he thoroughly enjoys. There’s a huge array of sports offered outside of school, sometimes one just has to look.
Kicking around a ball is considered fun for some athletes, but others prefer to score their goals with rackets and sticks.
Take sophomore Maleigh Pagenkopf, for example. Pagenkopf plays lacrosse in her free time. Instead of using her feet to kick a ball, she has a long-handled racket used to catch, carry, and throw a ball down the field towards the opposing team’s goal.
Pagenkopf found herself wanting to play because her grandma played and the sport looked interesting to her.
“I thought I’d try it,” she said.
Her team has a varsity and junior varsity level. Pagenkopf is a “swing,” which means she plays a little bit of both games. She is placed where the coach feels is a good spot for her to play in a certain game.
The girls on her team come from the Overland Park and Olathe area. They are a large part of what makes lacrosse so enjoyable for Pagenkopf.
“Everybody is really friendly,” she said. “We all have a good time and it’s laid back.”
To bond, the team does a number of activities together. They’ve had pancake breakfasts and various fundraisers to earn money. The money they make goes towards buying new equipment and other necessities for the team.
Along with the girls on the team, the coaches make the sport fun too.
“They don’t push you so hard that you don’t like the game,” Pagenkopf said.
Her season will be starting in late March, but sports like hockey have already begun practices for their season.
Sophomore Max Hudson plays hockey and his first game will be November 9th.
“I wasn’t really into basketball, football or baseball,“ Hudson said. “Then I saw it [hockey] on TV and decided to play.”
Hudson has been playing since he was seven years old and really enjoys the sport.
“I like when you start and skate up to the line after having your name announced for the national anthem,” he said. “Either that, or laying someone out.”
Hudson practices three times a week with his team. Only two practices are mandatory for him, because those are his varsity practices. The third practice is for junior varsity; he goes to it because he sometimes plays for JV when they don’t have enough players.
Various grade levels playing together, but overall the team is pretty small. His team competes in three to four tournaments a year. They’re in the Midwest league, so teams come from Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska and other places in the region.
“All tournaments are single elimination and they usually draw a pretty big crowd,” Hudson said. “We get to play at the new event center in Independence, so plenty of people come.”
Even though Hudson plays these tournaments, he doesn’t plan to become a professional.
“Oh it’s definitely for fun,” Hudson said. “I’ll leave that [going professional] to the Canadians.”
Maybe Hudson doesn’t see hockey as a professional career, but he has still found a sport that he thoroughly enjoys. There’s a huge array of sports offered outside of school, sometimes one just has to look.
