Owls in
Flight

Times have certainly changed in high school (and junior high) athletics. These days it is expected of most athletes to take part in summer programs for the sports they play. Overlake is no exception. This summer, Owl athletes are taking part in Overlake summer programs in: boys’ and girls’ soccer, basketball, tennis, cross country, boys’ lacrosse, and girls’ volleyball. Different events range from week-long camps, three day per week clinics over a seven week period, to summer leagues. Teams are working with agility and strength trainers in the gym so that when the season comes around, they’ll be ready and in shape. Even alums take part in some programs. There is still enough time for summer jobs or afternoons enjoying the lake but the athletic culture at Overlake is one which now includes a very busy, sports summer. 

If “you’re missing the boat” on summer workouts, check www.goowls.com to see what’s happening.

There are ups and downs in every job but not many have the upside of “having” to watch high school kids in the playoffs. Check out this week: Monday, 5:45pm at Nathan Hale for Girls’ Lacrosse State Quarterfinals; Tuesday, 12:30pm Quad District Boys’ Golf at Jackson AND 7:00pm vs. Vashon at Sammamish for WIAA State Soccer First Round; Wednesday, 12:30pm Quad District Girls’ Golf at Jackson AND 5:30pm vs. Northshore at Overlake for Boys’ State Lacrosse Semi-Finals (and with a win on Monday, Girls’ Lacrosse State Semi-Finals’ away); Thursday morning, Quad District Tennis at UW; Friday, more Quad District Tennis and (hopefully) Boys’ Soccer WIAA State Second Round in either Shoreline or Forks!; Saturday, we can hope for State Boys’ Lacrosse Finals at Memorial Stadium at 10:30am and then the State Girls’ Lacrosse Finals at 4:30.  

Anything is possible come playoff time!

If you have ever been a part of this community, last Friday night was very special. The Founder’s Day presentation was great and, after everyone paid homage to a dozen or so true role models who made the school what it is today, I got the chance to open our Overlake Athletics’ Hall of Fame with two very special inductees. Michael Ko ‘76 and Christi Clark ‘86 were great leaders and both played major roles in soccer, basketball and tennis over their Overlake careers. They were each twelve season varsity athletes and  were known as standouts on very successful teams. Michael was a part of our boys’ soccer teams which earned the school’s first state tournament berths. Christi remains the school’s all-time leading scorer in basketball and was the leader on the very special ‘85-’86 basketball team which became the first to “Go to State” in hoops. They were there on Friday to accept their honors and I look forward to more great inductions as the years roll on!

Funny thing about technology: It can be so great for you but it takes a lot of time to be great at managing it. Take email for example. We often lament the amount of emails we are up against and the time it takes to answer all of them, yet we swear it is the greatest tool for business. So we continue to take to add more and more technology hoping to somehow simplify our lives.  This blog was launched this month. I want to use this to help you follow our teams and our traditions, to have you learn a little bit about the world of interscholastic athletics, and generally give you ‘bits and pieces’ about all the components that make up a great sports season. I am certainly learning what a ‘good blog’ consists of - topic, frequency, audience - and the responsibility that comes with it. Now that I have this blog project up and running, I’ve decided to add another ball to the athletic department juggling act - The Podcast - at least on a trial basis.   We are testing the Podcasting of games this spring and we are using varsity baseball as the guinea pig. In our pilot episode, we certainly learned a lot podcasting the Owls 16-2 win over Bush on March 18 at Redmond Ridge and the product is certainly far from polished. The podcasting line-up: I’m your play-by-play announcer, Ryan Burke (former Gonzaga outfielder) is the color analyst, and Eddie Poplawski helps out as our statistician. It was definitely a learning experience and we’ll get better - I promise. If you’re brave and want to try it, here’s the link:http://www.screencast.com/t/RpjqmZtt

Well it had to end sometime, we were just hoping it would be a little later. It’s always sweet going out with a victory (like we did at Overlake in 06), but you don’t always get what you want. Stanford is tough. Really tough. And really big. I thought we played really hard but our shots weren’t falling. Big credit to the Stanford D for really pressuring ourshooters and not giving us anything easy. We had won 16 in a row and many us forgot what losing is like. The locker room atmosphere was a little down but after coach told us we have to focus on next year now and work to get back to that great stage, I think we all got a little excited. Everybody knows we only lose one senior, but we (individually) have to get better and stronger. After the game there was a nice congregation of Big Red fans outside the bus and we said hello for about 15-20 minutes. I got to see my parents at the game and now they can say they finally saw me play, even though it was only the last couple minutes. To celebrate a great season, I was able to go to Disneyland and it’s just been a great week. I’m going to keep working hard in the off season and hopefully get back in the Big Dance next year. School starts back up on Monday so I have to start cracking open my books again. It’s been greatblogging for everyone and I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Go Big Red!

-Aaron Osgood ‘06

Wow, what a long day! Today was the “media day” in which the media had tons of opportunities to talk with the coaches and us and they took full advantage.

We woke up at 9 for breakfast. We watched a little bit of film after breakfast. This time we watched the ways in which other teams were effective against Stanford. They used lots of driving and dishing, making that extra pass rather than going up against the Lopez twins. Makes a lot of sense for us considering we are one of the best shooting teams in the country.

We had a media practice at the Honda Center today around noon and that was very interesting. It was really just like our shooting practice considering we did not want to give away too much information. Jay Bilas was in the stands along with the countless photographers and reporters.

The best part about that practice was that the locker room was packed with Powerade, chocolates, and yes, Gumballs. It was funny to see all the guys blowing big bubbles in the locker room after practice.

We’ve been on the move the whole day, not getting much down time. We had another practice with more scouting and defense at 4:00 and headed to the ESPN Zone for dinner. My parents made the short flight down and I just got to see them. It always great to see family and this was no exception. I must say I’m exhausted and can’t wait to get to sleep. Goodnight and Go Big Red!

-Aaron Osgood ‘06

So we made it to Anaheim. After a long travel day (could have been 
longer), we were all excited to finally be on the ground. We landed in 
Long Beach, loaded into two buses and headed off into LA traffic. The 
first thing everybody said was, “Damn it’s hot!” 70 feels like 100 when
 you’re used to mid 20’s and 30’s day after day. We drove for about 45
minutes until we started seeing a familiar sight: Disneyland. Turns out 
our Hotel is about 5 minutes away from Disneyland. We unloaded quickly 
because we had a quick turn around. They gave us the usual sub sandwich, 
dropped off most of our gear, grabbed our shoes, and headed out again to a 
high school gym for practice. It was another good one today, lots of half
court scouting with a huge emphasize on rebounding. Coach demanded we go 
to the boards extremely hard every shot and that we did. I’m still not 100
 percent healthy, I have a nagging cough but I thought I contributed very 
well today.

I’ll give you guys a little inside information on our game plan 
for Thursday: Stretch the ball out and make the Lopez twins guard some 
shooters. Most of our bigs have the ability to hit the open jumper so we 
are doing a lot of pick and pops etc. If we hit those open ones we are
 sure going to be a tough team to beat. 9 am wake up tomorrow so everyone is 
looking to get a lot of rest tonight. I know I am sure am. I’ll check 
back in tomorrow for another quick update. Go Big Red!


-Aaron Osgood ‘06

I was delighted to hear that we chartered a flight right out of Ithaca to 
LAX. Wow, what a relief.  Yesterday (Monday) was our first day of practice 
with Stanford sets and personnel.  These are usually my favorite days. 
“Alright Aaron, every time you touch it,  look to score right away”.  Music 
to my ears after the coaches described how the Stanford bigs operate down
low.  Practice went pretty well, it was pretty hard (lots of up and downs, 
scrimmaging and such),  but the outcome was extremely positive.  Everyone 
still is amazed that we are going to Anaheim to play Stanford.  I read o n
a sports website, “This will be a top game in the region, SAT scores that 
is”.  Everyone is saying this is one of the smartest games to be played.
 All just a little humor in the midst of a big game.  I’m actually on the 
plane now, with plenty of room in my exit row.  It is a 737 so we are able 
to bring the cheerleaders, band, and some administration folk along for 
the ride.  I think everybody is too excited to sleep and we’ve find
 ourselves stretching our minds playing sports trivia.  One of our coaches 
is even taking part in the fun and it’s so much better than flying on those 
cramped commercial flights (plus the cheerleaders make the plane smell 
pretty good).  We’re about an hour away now and once we land I think we
 are going to the hotel then right to practice at 5.  Should be another 
good one, everyone wants to get back on the court and prepare right away.
 That’s all for now I’ll check back in a little.-Aaron Osgood ‘06

So its Stanford! Not only that, but we are playing in sunny Anaheim! Today was everyone’s (besides the coaches’) first Selection Sunday that we were involved with; and it couldn’t have been better. With the day off from practice, I was able to sleep in and rest up (I’m a little under the weather). The guys picked me and my roommate Adam Wire up in the dorms and took us to a golf Clubhouse where our party room was located. With two big screens, wings, pizza, and about 50 people closely related to the team, it was a great setting. Not only that but there were at least 7 tv cameras and more photographers. We were expected to be a 13/14 seed so every time it was anywhere near that range, everyone tensed up in their seat and a huge smile came up. There was almost a sigh of relief and laughter when Louisville and Pittsburgh were assigned other teams. But when they said, “Stanford will be playing the Big Red of Cornell” there was huge applause and the happiness in the room was immeasurable. We had been waiting more than a week to find out. Stanford! In California! Everyone is actually looking forward to practice.I wonder if ill be Brooke or Robin Lopez on the practice squad… That’s all for now, I’ll keep you updated. -Aaron Osgood ‘06

It’s March Madness across America and one of our own is really taking part. No, not in a betting pool, but on the court. Aaron Osgood ‘06 (formerly Richardson-Osgood) is a 6′9 freshman on Cornell’s Ivy League champion hoop team. He cut his teeth with the Owls helping lead the team to a 4th place finish in March of ‘06 at the state tourney in Yakima. With Cornell’s championship comes ‘the automatic berth’ in the NCAA Tournament, which tips-off March 20.

This week The AD Owl has talked his former standout post into giving us a view from the team meetings, planes, and certainly from the court - everywhere - as ARO gives his old school ‘all access’ on a daily basis. I will post his dispatches here.

 To learn more about the Cornell Men’s Basketball team and their fantastic season, go to The Cornell Athletics Site.