Ripon High School is known for a lot of excellent things, sports being one of them. Hundreds of students at the high school are enrolled in at least one sport. 664 students out of 914 are involved in sport activities. Most people don’t know, however, that many students that are involved, also play in other sports outside of the school.

Kung fu is one sport that a student at Ripon High is a part of. Jasmine Kaur has been learning Kung fu for eight years now at Moore’s Karate. To Kaur, martial arts plays a huge role in her everyday life, as she’s training daily to perfect her skills.

“This art has become more than just a hobby to me. Not only have I made good friends and relationships with those I train with, but Martial Arts has also taught me how to train myself both physically and mentally,” Kaur states.

Not only is Kaur taking down her opponents, Jaden Stanford is another student who enjoys throwing punches. Stanford has been boxing for two years now. She first started out doing karate as a kid but found out that boxing might be her passion.

“I feel like it’s a hard profession to have when you’re older, so I’ll probably just stick to doing it for fun, as a hobby,” Stanford mentions about her views towards the future with boxing. In addition to boxing, Stanford also plays softball for the high school.

You might have seen this student perform in Ripon High’s latest rally. Naomi Wilbur is a freshman at Ripon, who takes everyone she meets by surprise. Wilbur is extremely flexible! She was put into dance class when she was just two years old, and the passion grew from there. Dedicating twelve hours a week can get crazy, especially when Wilbur is also a part of golf and tennis for the school.

“If you’re interested in doing dance, you totally should do it,” Wilbur said with a smile.

There are many sports that Ripon High School doesn’t have on campus. This next sport might not be realistic to bring onto campus, however, considering it involves a horse. Gianna Brocchini has been horseback riding since the time she was born. She has been attached to this sport at such a young age that it has impacted her life tremendously. Along with running track for the school, she spends nearly 13 hours a week working with horses and preparing them for their next event.

“I encourage others to try horseback riding. You build great connections and bonds with your friends, mentors, and the horses themselves,” Brocchini preaches.
She attended New York last year to perform at Nationals, taking fifth out of 1,870 riders competing. Brocchini definitely wants her future to be revolved around riding, whether it’s coaching others or riding herself.

“My wise words of wisdom are, there’s going to be a lot of moments where you will face failure and take hits after hits. But the truth is, it doesn’t matter how many times you fall, what matters is that you stand up and get ready to hit back 10x harder,” Kaur passionately feels.