Stories in magazine form

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Here are several I’ve been working on. Not fighting related, but may be of interest.

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Couple more.

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Pine Creeks, MA— This year’s annual Pine Creeks High School Alumni Basketball Tournament was won by the girl’s 2011 team. They played the boy’s 2009 team in the final game of the tournament, besting them 64-59. The tournament has been a popular event in the community for the past 30 years. This year marked the first time the alumni boy’s and girl’s teams competed directly against each other and did not have a separate bracket.

“We thought it was important to be more inclusive, and combining the boy’s and girl’s teams from years past into one big tournament, instead of two smaller ones, just made sense.” said Athletic Director Anthony DiBennetto.

Some of the male players were skeptical. One player we spoke to before the tournament began, who wished to remain anonymous, said he worried having to play against women would ruin the competitiveness of the games. “Many of the guys will be tempted to go easy on the girls, because we don’t want to hurt them,” he said.

Ashley Tower, the center on the girl’s 2014 team, disagreed. “I think it’s great. The more teams that are in the mix just means it will be more competitive overall,” she told us. When asked about male players going easy on the girls, she just laughed. “Some of the guys might do that at first, but once the game gets going and they realize how competitive we are, they will quickly realize they have to play as hard as they can— or they will lose.”

We spoke with Dr. Jessica Paulson, Chairwoman of the University of Colorado’s Physical Education Studies Program, who said she supported combining the alumni girl’s and boy’s teams. “As men and women age, the athletic performance gap between the sexes decreases,” she told us. “The gap really decreases in people’s late 20’s.” She said women actually have some advantages over men on the basketball court. “Women have wider hips, and a stronger lower body to upper body strength ratio. This gives them a huge advantage when boxing other players out for rebounds, etc. And their stamina and endurance levels are actually a little better than men’s.”

The 2011 girl’s team— now women in their late 20’s— had to beat 10 other teams to win the tournament. They beat 6 other girl’s teams, and 4 boy’s teams.

Brian Houston, the point guard on the boy’s 2008 team, lost to the girl’s 2011 team in the second round. “It was weird at first,” he said. “None of us had ever played against a team of all women before. They were really good though, much better than any of us thought they would be.”

Brian had a tough fight against point guard Beckie Williams from the girl’s team. Toward the end of the game, both athletes went for a loose ball. They grabbed it at the same time. After a struggle, Beckie was able to outmuscle Brian and rip the ball from him. “I just held on as tight as I could,” Beckie said. “I took up CrossFit several years ago, and we do lots of Olympic weight training, so I knew I was at least as strong as he [Brian] was. I screamed as loud as I could in his face to distract him. I guess it worked.”

A video, showing Beckie and Brian struggling for the ball, with Beckie screaming in Brian’s face before she pulls the ball from him and he falls down, has gone viral on Instagram. Many viewers commented on how Beckie’s arms were “bigger” and “more ripped” than Brian’s, and most agreed it was one of the greatest “girl power” moments in recent sports history.

The championship game was a close back-and-forth struggle for most of the game, with the boy’s 2009 team up by 4 points at half-time. The boy’s center, 6’3” Steve Beckman— now 30, said he played as hard as he ever played. “We made it to the championship game playing against other boy’s teams. So the first time any of us ever played against women was the championship,” he said.

Steve had to play against 6’3” girl’s center Jenny Albert— now 28 years old. Jenny played 4 years in college, which allowed her to further hone her skills and up her strength and endurance levels. “She never got tired,” Steve said. “She was just as big as me, and super strong. We had some tough battles down low in the post.”

Steve wasn’t kidding. At one point he and Jenny got into a shoving match after Jenny boxed him out so hard he fell out of bounds. No foul was called, with the ref separated the two telling them to play on.

Jenny said there was no bad blood between her and Steve. “I’ve known Steve since high school. I was a sophomore when he played on the varsity boys’s team. We’re both super competitive athletes,” she said. “I think he just got a little frustrated that I was able to compete against him equally, and that I was just as strong and fast as him. I’m sure me being a ‘girl’ made it more difficult for him too. We settled it though.”

“All in all, it was a tough match between two really good teams,” said Athletic Director Anthony DiBennetto. “We will definitely be continuing the tournament for next year in the same fashion.”

He added one more interesting observation. “A lot of current students and faculty want to see a game between the current varsity boy’s and girl’s teams. We are exploring ways to make that happen, as it’s the only way to know for sure who the best team really is.”

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A few more covers!

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Nice and super magazine

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A few more covers!

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A few more!

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Another one!

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A few more comic book covers!