Butler High School - Nugget Yearbook (Butler, NJ)

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Determination and the power to win is Pat Cretel’s philosophy.

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Life of an Athlete The Giants Drop Another: 36:7” “Stallworth Confuses Defen- sive Backs for Third Week Straight” A flip of the page reveals gymnastic scores and highlights. Cathy Johnson Vaults to Victory... ” The headlines of “Sports Monday” proclaimed the results of the past weekend’s sporting events. Professional athletes always seem to hog up the writing space. What about the non-professionals, the high school athletes? How do they enter the professional sports world or don’t they even want to? What makes an athlete? To answer these questions, Nugget reporters were sent out on the scene. Motivation is a prominent factor in the performance of any competitor. Contrary to what some might think, few players started out in sports with the hope of becoming a professional athlete. Instead, they play because they “like the competition.” Carol, a senior, remembered her start in high school sports. “I didn’t play until my sophomore year,” she recalled. “The coaches influenced me to go out for field hockey and track.” Carol soon discovered that the competitiveness helped her “take out frustrations.” She has grown to like sports and continues being a competitor. With motivation established, it is interesting to see what the players themselves feel the qualifications are for becoming a prospective athlete. An exemplary junior football player shared his ideas. Ricky believes that it is vital for a player to be both physically and mentally capable of participating in sports. However, he stresses self-discipline. They (the athletes) should know what’s right from wrong and know enough not to do something foolish. They should also know enough to follow the coaches’ rules, like curfews.” When asked what the number one “must” was, he added, “Every player must have determination and dedication. He must strive for self-improvement and set goals that will benefit the team.” Like Carol, Ricky has grown to be a fine competitor and teammate. Mental stress is bound to plague high school athletes. Their minds must work to absorb both school work and game strategies. Kenny is playing his last year in Butler sports. If anyone has frustrations and stress, it’s him. You have to have smarts,” he explained, “between remembering plays and steps and reading ‘corners’ and everything.” He told of playing in a scrimage sophomore year. “I threw a lot of interceptions and just played really bad.” Kenny didn’t give up. Instead he “stuck it out” and became the starting player during his junior and senior years. When players finally learn to combat pressures and become determined dedicated competitors, it might seem that the seasons just coast along. Unfortunately, things can go wrong. Kathy, a junior gymnast and track competitor, saw her junior year in sports disappear. She had problems with her knees since her sophomore year. “In the middle of my routine (on the balance bean) my knee locked. I never thought I would need an operation. I thought the doctor would be able to do something simple for it.” However, the idea of an operation doesn’t bother Kathy as much as knowing she didn’t really earn her varsity letter. Despite complications, Kathy looks forward to her senior year at Butler. We know now what the players expect of themselves, but what do the coaches expect of the players? Discipline, loyalty and effort,” Coach Jones replied quickly. “And if the players only give two out of three, then we end up five and four.” Maybe someday Butler High School athletes will appear in the headlines of “Sports Monday.” Nonetheless, they are content with just belonging to Butler teams and experiencing the competitive spirit.

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“Where’s Todd ... I need a photographer—with a camera!!” “Ms., when is that deadline — tomorrow??” “Can you reread this, Ms.?!” Our yearbook homeroom buzzes with questions every morning similar to these. Year- book is all work and no play — at least some of the time. Dedication, creativity and hard work make up a talented close- knit yearbook staff. Marathon workshops beginning at 9:00 a.m. Saturday morning start with doughnuts and coffee and end with Burger King and a bunch of tired kids. As a member of the yearbook staff, one learns to live and breath layout sheets, pictures and copy. When we are all feeling a bit adventurous and wild, the editors group at Lisa Berming- ham’s house for a clandestine picture cropping party. It really is more fun than it sounds. Remember we are the only ones who know first hand what the yearbook looks like and deter- mine the success of the year- book.