Student hobbies that redefine “peculiar”

Written by SOPHIE SPORLEDER

When the bell rings, most students go home to do homework, rush off to sports practice, or clock into their jobs. However, for some students at Las Lomas, their afternoons are spent trap shooting.

Trap shooting is just one of the many peculiar extracurricular activities students partake in. Trap shooting is a sport where participants use shotguns to break disc-shaped objects called clay targets or clay pigeons. The targets are launched into the air from a “trap house” at high speeds while shooters attempt to hit as many as possible each round. A form of shotgun shooting, trap shooting mimics duck hunting or bird shooting. Senior Heath Borst has been doing this sport competitively since eighth grade. The season for him starts in December and goes until June, with competitions every other weekend. “We go really far for them, like all over California,” said Borst. “And we have a state in Vegas. So it’s a big thing.” 

Junior Ava Adamson also competes competitively for her sport, sailing. She has been sailing since she was seven years old. “My parents were really big sailors, so I kind of grew up doing it,” said Adamson. She practices four days a week at the Saint Francis Yacht Club and the Tiburon Yacht Club year-round, with competitions mostly in the summer and fall. “We usually travel nationally, like to the East Coast and Miami, and then sometimes internationally too,” said Adamson. 

Sophomore Lily Lowen began learning to surf in Carmel two years ago, after her friend told her about it. “And that’s when I started and I kind of fell in love with it. So then I kept going,” said Lowen. She surfs every time she goes to a beach, and summer is her favorite time to go surfing. “I went five times over last summer, but it’s hard because of, like, how cold it is in San Francisco and like, all the beaches near us,” said Lowen. She shares the hardships of surfing in Northern California, such as the cold waters and disagreeable weather. Santa Cruz is another spot she surfs at when she visits it a few times a year.

Freshman McKenna Hadnot started horseback riding eight years ago with her aunt. When her aunt moved away, Hadnot inherited all of her horses and began doing rodeo about three years ago. Rodeo involves various timed events with livestock and horses, categorized under eight or nine different disciplines. Competitions are held between the two seasons: fall and winter, and then again in summer. “They’re kind of all over,” said Hadnot. “It depends on what district you’re in. But I’m in D5, which is like, Lincoln, Sacramento, and then San Luis Obispo.” Districts for rodeo vary and are used as a system for organizing and qualifying contestants for state and national finals. 

After school, most students go home to do homework or rush off to do sports. On the other side of the spectrum however there are those who engage in peculiar extracurriculars, redefining the average day in the life of a Las Lomas student.