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The News

 

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HGA Links

 

By: Mahad Abdi

 

The Cougars Soccer Team

 

Higher Ground Academy (HGA) has 3 boys’ soccer teams: two high school teams and one middle school team. They all are HGA teams, but they also go by other names.  For example, the high school teams are called the Red Foxes and the Cougars. The Red Foxes team is the bigger and stronger team. The Red Foxes contain the seniors, the juniors and some of the freshmen. The Cougars have some of the younger players, mostly from the middle school and freshmen.

 

The high school teams have already begun their season. The Cougars have won more games than the Red Foxes, but they don’t play at the same level. The head coach of the team is Buzz Lagos.  He has been preparing the Cougars and the Red Foxes for the Indoor League, which began this November. Lagos is assisted by Famodu Tunde, who is a Chemistry teacher at HGA.

The Red Foxes Soccer Team

 

Last year the Red Foxes were three time finalists. They won the Christmas Tournament and they lost two finals.  On the other hand, the Cougars struggled, finishing in the sixth position. “I think we would have a better team if the players realized the mistakes they made last year,” said Famodu. He also said, “We need team leaders.”

The middle school teams are doing pretty well. They played the U-13 Tournaments last year. They won the District Championship and lost the final for the state championship. This team has players from sixth, seventh and eighth grade. The head coach of the team is Farah Usman. This team has been practicing together for almost a year and Usman is ready to take the next step.

All three teams are practicing and ready. The Red Foxes are going to play in the Indoor Tournament next month. Hardworking teams will see the winning results.

 

Martial Arts

 

By: Isnino Dire

 

At Higher Ground Academy (HGA) students can take Martial Arts class as an elective. The program has been going on for the past three years, every morning from 9:00-10:00 a.m. in the studio room.

 

“The reason we developed this program was to teach students self-control and help them have physical health,” said Bill Wilson, the executive director of HGA. This class is very important for students to attend because not only do they learn self-defense but it also helps them feel confident about themselves. Taking Martial Arts will help the students both mentally and physically.

 

“In this class, I teach something called the ‘Seven Disciplines.’ Some of them are: how to be respectful, courageous, strong, and disciplined and to know self-defense,” said Ankah-Ra, the Martial Arts teacher.

 

Mr. Kuti, the Martial Arts teacher’s assistant, has 10 years of experience in training the Martial Arts. “I teach different kinds of Martial Arts, for example, Capoeira and Street fighting,” Mr. Kuti said. A lot of students are interested in this class. “I’ve never seen a student who’s complained about the Martial Arts class,” said Wilson.

 

“Students performed for the school, twice, and showed what they learned during the school year of ’05 and ’06,” said Ankah-Ra. “For the past few years students have been taking this class 10 times more seriously.” HGA has never entered Martial Arts competitions but is planning on entering one this school year.

 

Muna Ali and Wako Wako are both 5th grade students who attended Martial Arts both last summer and this summer. “The class is very interesting and the teacher is teaching us well,” they said. “But sometimes my classmates don’t listen to the teacher and that makes it hard for me to learn,” said Muna.

 

There are also weekend classes available. They are from 12:00 noon – 1:30 p.m. The only difference between the weekday and weekend classes is that the weekend students are older and tougher than the 5th graders.

 

The students learn new things every day. This class will help students learn some of the most important lessons in their lives. One of the common things you’ll hear from students who have taken Martial Arts is that they learned how to defend themselves.