Rally Coveragist

Diana Camacho

Game Representatives

Freshmen

Participants:Nataline Luu, Malaya Hamilton

Sophomore

Participants: Jarett Arias, Owen Long

Juniors

Participants:Jaden DeWald, Gilan Movassaghi

Seniors

Participants:Ashley Story, Juliana Chavez

RALLY GAME-Follow the Yellow Brick Road: Tuesday’s game was all about following the yellow brick road as referenced in the wizard of Oz. This game consisted of a sort of maze that was taped onto the floor. A pair consisting of a blindfolded and sighted person will work together to pass the maze without stepping outside the lines. The sighted person will direct the blindfolded person through the maze until the end as fast as possible. If they step outside of the lines then the team is penalized and will have time added to their final score.

As always when observing the spirit games you begin to realize it’s never simple and easy.. This game got a bit complicated and tested the participants’ patience. As the famous story goes of the turtle and the hare that you must be slow and steady to win the race. This game began in the small gym with each pair of representatives being called in at their respective times.

1st Round: Sophomores came first with Jarret Arias directing Owen Long throughout the maze. They use a series of small repetitive directions such as asking to shuffle forward and to keep going till they say to stop. There were very few people watching the game but one of the Sophomore officers made an appearance, seeming to be worried with a hand over their face. Their representatives came to a halt on this maze when they were directed to have the blindfolded take a leap onto a taped out square. Doing a leap blindfolded showed to be a challenge when three failed attempts were made before someone in the audience had something to say. 

The suggestion of possibly just running past the course with minimal steps to get penalized but still have a moderately fast time. After a few seconds of thinking the sophomore pair decided to go with that with only having a little less than 25% of the maze done meeting only their 2nd leap. The blindfolded took a hesitant light jog towards the end meanwhile the Spirit game managers questioned what exactly just happened. 

Because of this clear defiance of the rules they were told it was ¨too risky, you should have asked us¨ by Katie the rally coordinator. The pair discuss their game as Jarret Arias replays the game without any blindfolds seemingly testing the difficulty. Overall they were told because they did not discuss with the rally coordinators they now will be given 4th place.

2nd Round: Freshmen were next with Malayla Hamilton giving instructions and Nataline Luu wearing the blindfold. After the last round the rally coordinators made an announcement to each grade that came after not to just run to the finish line. This pair of freshmen used verbal communication by saying directions then the blindfolded asking if they were doing it correctly before moving onto the next step. This maze was very small with not much room for error making it impeccable that the freshmen Nataline Luu seemed to be walking similar to a tight walk with her foot one after the other. At times it became hard to communicate with the sighted partner, almost moving their partner in the way they needed to go. When they came to the jumping part the pair simply adjusted themselves and asked the other to just leap.The volume of her voice seemed to be correlated to how far her partner needed to leap. At this point many had speculated as the pair had made zero mistakes. In the last turn the blindfolded partner Nataline Luu almost fell when turning but quickly caught herself. 

They finished this maze with a perfect record and quick timing. This was more than just being suspicious. The rally officers said that they had run this course three times before this and had even created the maze but still made a mistake on every round at the very least. They tested the blindfold and realized that if you looked a certain way then you could see the maze clear as day. They thought about having people redo it but they were running out of time.

The rally officers came to a conclusion that every team had the same conditions so if the teams figured out the trick they could just use it for their advantage, This lack of time made this game very interesting.

3rd Round: Seniors came next with their representatives Ashley Story and Juliana Chavez.The rally officers made the same announcement. Their representatives began to follow through the maze yet used a different method of having the blinded follow the others voice. Both had a bit of a worried look yet did well during their time. Ashley Story kept her balance while having a similar tight rope looking walk having her feet one after the other and her hands out to catch her if she were to fall. The Ashleys height seemed to be an advantage during this game because unlike the other contestants these jumps were not long and she could balance to get to the other side with minimal struggle. Juliana Chavez was able to communicate well leading to her partner only stepping outside the box once. Asshley almost fell on the last corner but it was all a success for their pair.

4th Round:The Junior were last with Jaden DeWald leading Gilan Movassaghi. They were both clearly a bit worried and asked many questions when prompted. The representatives had friends watching them and were worried but still attempted to compose herself before starting. This all melted away as quick as it started as Jaden DeWald panicked immediately. This pair took the opposite value than other teams by trying to be the fastest and not the most accurate. Jaden constantly spoke words such as ¨Faster, Faster¨ to speed her partner up and even at times demonstrated what she wanted Gilan Movassaghi to do despite her not being able to see Jaden. Throughout the entire maze Gilan Movassaghi never spoke with only a few laughter nearing the end of the maze. Their main weakness that caused them the most trouble was the leaps which cause many penalties. Although they did take a long while of an estimated seven minutes they looked to have a very fun time even taking time to just laugh and discuss with their partner. They had plenty of words of encouragement during and after the game which lifted both of their spirits. Knowing they had a few mistakes they still had plenty of smiles and congratulated each other when they finished the maze. 

SPIRIT CHECK- Dress as what your heart desires

1st:Junior ->144

2nd:Senior ->132

3rd:Sophomore ->116

4th:Freshmen ->70

GAME POINTS-

1st: Freshmen ->100

2nd: Senior ->75

3rd: Junior ->50

4th: Sophomore ->25

FINAL POINTS 3/11

1st:Senior ->430.5

2nd:Junior ->381

3rd:Sophomore ->348.5

4th:Freshmen ->257

Remember as always to 

STAY SPIRITED WARRIORS!