Here at Mason, students have their hobbies, but one of the biggest is Fantasy Football. Fantasy Football’s definition, according to Dictionary.com, is “A football competition with imaginary teams which the participants own, manage, and coach and with the games based on statistics generated by actual players or teams of a professional sport.”

“Fantasy Football is a fun, competitive way to interact with your friends,” said Wesley Coupard, a junior.  “It really bonds everyone together in the league; we all talk smack to each other on Tuesday when the week is over.”

Some students were excited about the previous week.

“I beat Wesley!” exclaimed Skomra after watching the Monday night football game between the New England Patriots and Houston Texans.  “Aaron Hernandez got me two touchdowns.”

Not only do students participate in Fantasy Football, but our very own Principal Byrd has a team.

“It’s a lot of fun,” said Byrd.  “However my team is not that good and I’m in a money league.  My team name is ‘Can’t Get It Right.’”

We had assumed that Byrd, a diehard Cowboys fan, had many of their players on the team.

“Actually I don’t have many Cowboys.  I only have Tony Romo,” said Byrd.

“You can never get enough Fantasy Football.  Once the season ends, I won’t have anything to do,” said Skomra.

The 2012-2013 winter sports season has begun, and the wrestling team is preparing for their upcoming season.  There are seventeen wrestlers currently, including seven new members.

“The new guys are learning well.  I am really excited for this year,” says junior Connor Rhodes.  “We lost a lot of good senior wrestlers last year, three of them made it all the way to States. It will be tough following their footsteps, but I believe in our guys.”

Last year, senior wrestlers Danny Seidita, Ze'ev Lailari, and Alborz Alaeddini all made it to States.  Even though the Mustangs lost their top wrestlers, they still expect equal results.

“We should be good this year,” says junior Jack Stricker.  “We have a very strong team, with a strong junior class.  Sadly we only have one senior, so a lot of the leading will be done by juniors.”

At the moment there is one senior, Tim Donis, but the Mustangs do not lack experience.  Currently, the wrestling team has eleven returning wrestlers including eight returning juniors.  As Stricker said, the junior class has a lot of potential.  Four out of the eight returning juniors wrestled their freshman year, and three of them also wrestled their eighth grade year.

“It should be another great year,” says junior Jacob Wilson. “We have loads of potential, and I expect us to go far.”

The next wrestling meet is November 28 at the Potomac School.

It’s November and basketball season is right around the corner. After tryouts this week, the team begins to prepare for a big season following their bid for the State Championship last year. Although the team lost the State final game, the players remain optimistic looking forward to this season.

The team will be facing a large challenge this year: they lost a lot of seniors last year and they will need to rebuild and prepare if they plan on doing well this year.

“Nine seniors graduated last year so people don’t think that we will compete. However, there has been a lot of team and player growth and we have been playing together for a long time so we have good chemistry. I think we will surprise people this year,” said Alex McMillen, senior.

With the confidence and ability this team has, there is a good chance that they will give their opponents a run for their money.

With scrimmages on November 14 at Thomas Jefferson High School and November 16 at MEH as well as their home opener is December 12, the Mustangs are ready to hit the court.

Following the district cross country meet October 24, senior Jesse Schaffer was awarded the title of District Runner of the Year. This award is given to the best runner in the Bull Run district, decided by the winner of the district race.

This is a huge honor for any runner and he clearly earned it passing the top two runners in the district early in the race and holding the lead throughout and finishing strong.

To get an idea of how Jesse won the race, it is good to start off with how he preps for the race.

“I start off by doing some stretching and warm-ups, then I listen to some music to calm my nerves, nothing in particular, just whatever comes on my iPod. I spend a lot of time thinking about my strategy for the race and getting in the zone. I just like to keep it simple and do my best,” said Schaffer.

During the race, Schaffer said “I felt good and confident, I started off patiently and after about the first mile I began to pass people and sooner than I knew it I was leading the pack. The adrenaline rush you get when you charge towards the finish line with fans cheering is awesome.”

After the race Schaffer stated “It was good to win and a great way to end my last district race. It took me a while to realize I had even won!”

Thanks to new coaching and an ambitious attitude, Schaffer believes that the cross country team will continue to do well. Their plan is to win the District, then the Region, and finally States; one step at a time.

The George Mason competition team performed their new routine at the Bull Run district competition October 27 at Clarke County. They received the title of fourth place and Clarke County received first. The Mustang’s new routine consisted of more advanced stunts and some new choreography.

For many seniors, it was an emotional occurrence because this is the first time the team has been offered a spot at regionals. Unfortunately, the team didn’t get a chance to attend due to scheduling issues.

To see the squad in action, check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZVT4r_CLBE&feature=youtu.be

It is common knowledge to many that yoga can help with relaxation and that students are stressed about many different things.

According to dictionary.com, yoga is a system of exercises for attaining bodily or mental control and well-being.  Yoga has helped many stay relaxed for thousands of years. It’s getting more and more popular among students and faculty as people realize it great benefits. Not only does yoga relieve stress, but it can help develop flexibility, strength and balance.

“Yoga really helps me develop more flexibility for wrestling” said Jacob Willson, junior.

Just about anyone can do yoga. Young or old, healthy or sick, anyone can benefit from practicing yoga. It can be done anywhere but is mainly practiced at yoga studios or health clubs such as Bikram Yoga in Falls Church.

“Yoga is a fun and relaxing way for me to relieve stress” said Juliette Hagadorn, who does yoga every week.

There is no better feeling than having all your stress simply go away.