Parth Uphadyay
Basketball started as a middle school pastime for senior Parth Upadhyay when he first started playing in Cupertino Hoops and Silicon Valley’s National Junior Basketball (NJB) , two local leagues that helped him build his basketball skills and love for the game. Upadhyay faced challenges in the sport early on, including not making his middle school team — it was not until his freshman year that he earned a spot on the varsity MVHS basketball team. Throughout his journey, he’s drawn inspiration from late NBA player Kobe Bryant.
“I just look up to him because of his resilience that he shared with the basketball community and just around the world in general,” Upadhyay said. “I adopted this mindset freshman year, and that is genuinely what helped me make the freshman team because I just never gave up and always tried to accomplish my goals.”
For Upadhyay, Bryant’s influence is rooted in his mindset to overcome obstacles. He admires how Bryant played through his injuries and always strived to improve. Upadhyay says he tries to apply this to his own style of play on the court.
“One thing I particularly like is that he doesn't allow anything to stop him, injuries included,” Upadhyay said. “Sometimes if my ankle is a little iffy I still play through it, just because I'm not gonna let anything stop me.”
Beyond basketball, Bryant’s philosophy has shaped Upadhyay’s approach to academics as well, especially when navigating the pressures of AP courses and exams. He applies the same mindset to his academics, emphasizing the importance of mental preparation and staying confident.
“If you're confident and you tell yourself that you can do this, you will actually be able to process what's on the test, know what you know and be able to get the answers correct,” Upadhyay said. “I feel like if I don't have the right mentality before coming into a test, I get a little anxious, I start freezing and forgetting answers. So, I think I have also used Kobe’s mentality when it comes to academics as well and it's been helping in all areas.”
Joy Hsieh
One of many Kirsten Dodgen dances that Hsieh looks up to. (
Kirsten Dodgen )
After her parents enrolled her in a ballet and tap class when she was three years old, senior Joy Hsieh found a love and passion for dance and decided to join the competition team two years later to elevate her training at Dance Academy USA , a local studio in Cupertino, CA.
In her youth, Hsieh’s older sister introduced her to Kirsten Dodgen, a well-known dancer, choreographer and instructor from New Zealand. Right off the bat, Hsieh admired her dedication and movement quality, something that Hsieh has remembered throughout her journey with dance.
“I started watching her a lot when she joined Jam Republic and competed on a Korean dance show,” Hsieh said. “She was a dancer that really stood out, and her confidence and leadership was really enjoyable to watch.”
As Hsieh grew older and became a dancer on one of the better teams at her studio, her coach emphasized the importance of texturizing the moves in her and her teammates’ dances, an element of dance that reflects the feeling of the music. Her immediate source of inspiration was Dodgen, who inspired Hsieh to incorporate a more facially expressive side to her routines.
“Specifically for hip-hop, I really liked how she attacked all of the moves and wasn’t afraid to express herself in front of an audience,” Hsieh said. “ That's a part of what helped me perform more at competitions.”
Hsieh further adds that attending dance conventions and competitions in the spring exposes her to only a small handful of styles, getting extensive training in the traditional styles like jazz, ballet and hip-hop. However, Hsieh emphasizes how watching videos of Dodgen online exposed her to new dance styles and allowed her to gain more knowledge to hone her own style.
“She made me start to have an interest in afro movement and seeing her talent made me really want to get into Afro Hip Hop style dance,” Hsieh said. “In dance, it’s easy to draw inspiration from other people and use it to create your own style.”
Aadit Singh
Junior Aadit Singh, a striker on the Varsity Boys Soccer team, admired soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo from a very young age, as his family regularly watched games on the television, ultimately igniting his passion to pursue soccer at the age of four. Singh recalls some of his first memories of Ronaldo were when he was a player at Manchester United, one of the most well-known professional soccer clubs in England, where Singh lived for four years of his childhood.
“England is a big area for soccer, so living there made me enjoy watching soccer since it was a big part of the culture,” Singh said. “Ronaldo was popular around the time and he was really influential and inspirational because he put in a lot of effort to be where he is today and to receive all of the successes he had in his career.”
Since Ronaldo wasn’t with Manchester United for his entire career, Singh further emphasizes how his rejoining with the team in 2021 was an influential period for him, as he was nearing his high school soccer career and started to watch Ronaldo’s games more. Reflecting back on that time, Singh feels like Ronaldo’s story and upbringing gave him the hope that one day he could make it big in the soccer industry.
“I knew where he originated from and how his dad passed when he was young which was a setback,” Singh said. “Everything he had started achieving was pretty inspiring after that.”
Singh also points out the numerous skills that Ronaldo has acquired over the years, which have only served to strengthen his belief that Ronaldo is one of the best soccer players in the world. He notes that Ronaldo’s athleticism and his tough mentality are something that stands out from others, a trait that he would also like to see in himself as the soccer season recently began.
“I noticed that most of the time he never lets anyone get in his mind and keeps his composure throughout games,” Singh said. “Going forward with the season, I want to practice doing that more so it doesn’t interfere with my gameplay.”
