–by Zhenzhou Hu
Coach Mark Zalin models appropriate technique with lifting a cow bell in Cross-Training elective.
Blog Reporter Zhenzhou (Hugh) Hu interviewed Coach Mark Zalin about the objectives and practices of the Cross Training Elective. Upper-School Cross Training meets four days a week in the back of the gym beneath the open rear door. If you hear grunts, music, and the clang of metal, it’s Cross Training. Hugh begins . . .
Last year was a hard year for me. CrossFit was seventh period, and AP Physics was right after CrossFit. I took both classes and sometimes needed to take an AP Physics test after working out–sweaty, tired, unfocused. However, I liked CrossFit and learned a lot of skills last year from Coach Smith. I learned the proper technique to lifting free weights. I learned to jump rope quickly. I grew a little bit more muscular, and I increased my heart rate. This year, I came back to Cross Training. This year we have a new coach, Coach Mark Zalin. I asked him a couple questions so we could get to know him.
Sophomore Anthony Bross is challenging himself to lift a little more a little heavier each day.
Zhenzhou Hu: Hi, Coach! I am one of the school bloggers, and I want to interview you. First of all, can you introduce yourself a little bit?
Coach Mark: I am a career independent school teacher, coach, and athletic administrator. I am thrilled to be at Palm Valley School and thoroughly enjoy working with the faculty, staff, and the student body in all areas of the school.
Sophomores Hunter Day and Christian Sadler stretch out with each other before daily workout.
Zhenzhou Hu: This is your first year in Palm Valley School. Can you tell us how you teach students in Cross Training and how it’s going?
Coach Mark: The students who are taking the class are becoming bigger, faster, and stronger as the semester progresses. They lift weights daily on a set program that emphasizes two major body parts a day, do cardio-fitness exercise daily, and do abdominal work daily. The students’ willingness to train and dedication to technique have paid dividends both in and out of class.
Zhenzhou Hu: Thank you!
–Edited by Gaige Griffin
Seniors Colin Wessman and Mason Taylor complete the Workout of the Day.
e incredibly successful. The Red Sox went without a victory from 1918 to 2004. To many Bostonians, this curse was no joke as the die-hard fans lived their entire lives passionately detesting the Yankees. The curse was the spark that ignited the greatest rivalry in sports between the Yankees and Red Sox. As a child, many things were engrained into my brain, but one of the most vivid lessons was the absolutely necessary hatred of the New York Yankees. To this day, despite the curse’s ending, I loathe the Yankees, other New York sports teams, and often the city itself.
y household. We were all devastated! We had come so close to victory but were denied victory by our greatest enemy.
eral knee pain
under your knee cap and lift the edges up so your knees look like two smiling faces, thus holding the patella up. This type of pain can be also caused by not enough strength in your quadricep muscle. 
In this case, you have to take a long piece of tape and place it with the contour of the muscle, around the knee, down. The tape has to be separated to two parts at the end. Otherwise you won’t be able to put it around the knee.
x became a top team in the league after its victory in the 1917 World Series, Charles Comiskey, the owner of the team, was known for underpaying his players. White Sox players resented Comiskey. Because the players were unable to leave their contracts, they turned to gamblers in an effort to make some extra cash. In return for a huge payoff, eight White Sox players decided to fix the World Series. They intentionally lost as large bets kept piling up for Cincinnati. After seven games, the Cincinnati Reds won the Series. The public caught wind of the massive scandal in the 1920 season, and a grand jury assembled to investigate. All eight players were acquitted in a criminal trial in 1921, but they did not escape unscathed. The Commissioner of Baseball, Kenesaw Landis, issued a statement following the acquittal. He said, “Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player who throws a ball game, no player who undertakes or promises to throw a ball game, no player who sits in confidence with a bunch of crooked ballplayers and gamblers, where the ways and means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball.” All eight players were indefinitely suspended from playing professional baseball. The huge scandal was dubbed the Curse of the Black Sox.A World Series victory had eluded Chicago for 76 years. In 2005, the curse was finally broken as the Chicago White Sox swept the Houston Astros and won the championship!
’s prototype, named the HERA, is a self- contained environment that simulates a deep-space habitat. This contains a simulated airlock, which replicates the atmospheric conditions on earth. Astronauts live in this HERA for 14 days (soon to be increased to 60 days). They put aspiring astronauts in the HERA to simulate the living conditions of the International Space Station (ISS).
gh mountains of the Martian surface. This could be huge in the ability for prolonged survival on Mars. “On the International Space Station, no drop of sweat, tears, or even urine goes to waste. The Environmental Control and Life Support System recovers and recycles water from everywhere: urine, hand washing, oral hygiene, and other sources. Through the Water Recovery System (WRS), water is reclaimed and filtered, ready for consumption. One astronaut simply put it, ‘Yesterday’s coffee turns into tomorrow’s coffee'” (NASA). The Water Recovery System is currently being developed and could be instrumental for the future colonization of Mars.