Seen in some of the most popular high school dramas as well as in the history of many high schools, rivalries are one of the staples of a fun high school experience for many. Whether it is watching from the sidelines or playing on the field, rivalries often help foster a competitive spirit within the schools.
Serving SCHS for 25 years, girls’ varsity basketball coach Melodee Kiyota is familiar with the school’s long rivalry with Wilcox High School. Although rival games can be nerve-wracking, Kiyota looks to keep collected.
“I try not to focus on the rivalry at that point because of the competitive nature in me,” Kiyota said. “We (the basketball team) try to treat it as any other game, so the girls don’t get nervous and play that way.”
While Kiyota wants to keep her team relaxed during rivalry games, varsity football and basketball player junior Hamzah Punjsheri looks to channel his hatred toward Wilcox in a positive way.
“My goal my senior year is to win and beat Wilcox once my senior year,” Punjsheri said. “I want to win in football and at least once in basketball, but I think the way the team’s looking now if we continue with the competitive spirit we can hopefully do that.”
Introduced in the 2022-2023 high school season, girls’ field hockey is new to the competitive scene. Although this was her first year playing field hockey, senior Rianna Niemann has taken on a mentor role as an upperclassman. After matches, she prioritizes reflection in order to become more competitive in their league.
“What can we learn from this? And how can we be better than we were before? Because we play each team twice, how can we in the second half of the season, improve from the first half of the season?” Niemann said.
Through competition, Punjsheri believes that a team can grow closer. With a shared mindset, teams are able to play their best.
“When we played Woodside during the football season last year, we all had the same mindset, we have to beat them and we did,” Punjsheri said. “Even against Wilcox, even though we did lose, we did put points on the board. We did work as a team. That was one of our best games too.”
Although competitiveness is often viewed as a positive attribute, Kiyota recognizes that it can have its drawbacks as well.
“It can be beneficial because you push yourself to be the best and want to be successful, but then not because you can drive yourself to hate the game and get angry and mean,” Kiyota said.
Niemann acknowledged that lots of her competitive spirit has come from her 12 years of dance. When it comes to field hockey, she always looks to win, but most importantly, she strives to do her best.
“I do think that being competitive is healthy,” Niemann said. “Being competitive against yourself, being competitive against other teams – to be able to better yourself and other teams is important.”