UNIVERSITY PARK — What makes a championship-winning team?

Pure talent? Cohesion amongst players and staff? Experience? Luck?

There’s no correct answer. No evidence to fully comprehend what it takes to reach the summit. But over a given high school athletic season, programs align the pieces, check off the boxes and identify the values that make the engine hum.

In rare instances, the segments click into place. Blossom into a gold-medal outcome.

I had the privilege of covering both PIAA boys volleyball champions this spring. On Saturday, I assisted in the coverage of Manheim Central lifting its first Class 2A title in program history. At my previous employer, I thoroughly followed Cumberland Valley, the Class 3A victor.

The Barons imposed their payback at Penn State University’s Rec Hall, dispatching District 10 champion Meadville 3-1 — by scores of 21-25, 25-23, 25-16 and 27-25 — after settling for silver against the Bulldogs in 2024. The Eagles, completing an undefeated campaign, swept District Seven stronghold North Allegheny in 25-21, 25-21, 25-12 fashion.

“It’s probably the calmest I’ve been in a championship match,” Central coach Craig Dietrich said, “because they knew what they needed to do. Very few small adjustments we made today, but I trust them very greatly.”

Two teams. Two identities. The same result.

What Central thrived in, CV was shorthanded. What the Eagles succeeded in, the opposite for the Barons.

Don’t twist it, there was plenty of crossover to go around. Senior leadership, for example.

Central started five seniors. CV fielded six. Most logged significant minutes as underclassmen and juniors, the springboard to their fruitful ending.

“We said (to each other), ‘Stay focused. Stay in the moment. Stay present,’” Barons senior outside Reagan Miller said. “Because the state championship only happens once a year. So that was kind of the message throughout playoffs.”

COLUMN: Manheim Central will enjoy view from the top of PIAA Class 2A volleyball mountain

Speaking of the postseason, that’s where the Barons and Eagles’ one-way ticket to gold mapped separate routes. Manheim met its adversity in the Lancaster-Lebanon League final, suffering a 3-1 setback — its only loss of the season — to Cedar Crest. Cumberland Valley, which hadn’t dropped a set all spring, was momentarily derailed when Central York stole a game in the District Three title tilt.

Where did the eventual PIAA champs recenter? In each match following their respective delay.

The Barons used Crest’s clipping as scripture and won their ensuing 18 sets. The Eagles, albeit a set loss to Governor Mifflin in the state semifinals, ousted Unionville, Abington Heights and the Mustangs with game victories of 25-7, 25-9, 25-10 and 25-11 nature.

Central and CV were vulnerable to the knockdown. But they regained anchorage, raised the flags and set sail with little turbulence.

“We’ve all been in that situation before,” Barons senior setter Dylan Musser said. “… It’s just something we know that we can do, that we’re capable of. And we showed it.”

“Showing it” can come in all shapes and sizes. From the front row to the back corners of the court. The Barons and Eagles hugged the parallel line of talent.

Manheim landed six players on the District Three 2A all-star list, as did CV in the 3A contingent. For L-L Section Two, Miller and Musser shared MVP honors, and six Barons earned all-star admission. In the Mid-Penn Commonwealth, Eagles setter Isaiah Sibbitt was tabbed Player of the Year, leading six all-division selections.

It doesn’t get more linear. Covered from the front, back, middle and outside. No empty gaps, no holes to exploit.

“Our whole team knew what was at stake,” Musser said. “For us seniors, this was our last shot. We just gave it our all.”

Desire was the gulf between Central and CV. Not that the Eagles didn’t have the gold-medal itch. But the Barons’ itch, after two prior whiffs and a rematch with the Bulldogs, became a scratch and then a scar.

Central clotted the proverbial bleeding Saturday. All the aches, cramps and throbs of last year’s sting were bandaged. No more “what if?”

“We wanted this all year, getting back to the state ‘chip, and we knew we could,” Musser said. “Playing Meadville made it even better. You get that rematch, and then especially beating them. It feels amazing. We felt we were the better team last year, but it didn’t go our way. But this year, we just battled through it and got our revenge.”

CV didn’t have the dejection, the sorrow of a state-championship loss hanging over its head. The Eagles’ last final appearance — and only other — came in 2008 when they outlasted Central York in five sets. Manheim Central joined Hempfield — a 10-time PIAA champion — and Conestoga Valley (1983) in L-L boys volleyball royalty.

“It’s a very small group of teams that have done it,” Dietrich said. “It is pretty cool to bring it back, and I think the community really rallied around us and supported us.”

The question still stands: what makes a championship-winning team?

The Barons and Eagles don’t have the answer key, but they had the tools to solve the riddle. The means to reach the summit.

Two teams with two identities, authoring the same result.

MOSES LAKE – When the Moses Lake School District 2024 educational programs and operations levy failed for the first time, coaches like Mavericks volleyball coach Krystal Trammell were unsure what would happen if it failed a second time. What they were certain about was their dedication to the kids at Moses Lake High School.  

“I don’t think there was one coach or one program that wasn’t in to do it for the kids,” Trammell said. “We knew exactly what we needed to do. We just didn’t know how to go about it, how the teams were going to look, our transportation equipment, etcetera. But relying on each other really helped things kind of materialize.” 

After the levy failed a second time, Trammell knew it was real and had to figure out how the team was going to have a volleyball season. She said the hard work of the coaches at Moses Lake and the Community Athletics and Activities booster helped the season come to fruition.  

Trammell said parents stepped up and helped organize transportation for the athletes to get to games and tournaments throughout the fall season. When they had to figure out how to have a season, it was clear that their culture was in jeopardy, according to Trammell. Over the years, she said they have worked hard to build a culture of students first, athletes second.  

“When that opportunity could have been taken from us, we turned to each other, our parents, our coaching staff and our athletes, and came together as a group stronger than before. We were going to do everything in our power to make the program even better and get more hands involved. That’s exactly what happened with our parents and athletes and coaches,” Trammell said.  

The Mavericks volleyball team managed to put together one of their best seasons in a long time, according to Trammell. They finished the season with a 12-6 record and secured a highlight 3-1 win over West Valley, which Trammell said was their first in program history. Trammell could see something shifted in her players’ last season that made a difference.  

“Program-wide, the girls had something to prove. They were not going to let the levy failure and the fact that we almost didn’t have a season ruin anything. I think they came out more on fire to show everyone ‘no, we’re not going to stop, and this is what we’re going to do,’” she said.  

Trammell said her team excelled with court awareness, mental toughness and utilizing everything they have worked on over the last couple of years. She said she liked what she saw from her team last season, and it makes her excited for this upcoming season since they will have nine returning players. She said they will benefit from coming in with more knowledge and experience.  

However, now that a new levy was passed this year, they will still have another season without a budget until January 2026. Though Trammell said it will be business as usual heading into the season. She said their experience last season will help them navigate this season more effectively as they learn more throughout the summer.  

According to Trammell, she is confident they will have another season after seeing all of the support they got last year. She is confident in her community, she said, and believes in Mavericks athletics. In the meantime, Trammell plans to prepare for the fall season the same way she always does.  

“We’re just concentrating on the workouts and our summer league and preparing for the season, and we’ve been through it once, and so going through it again, it won’t be as difficult this time,” she said. “It brought all the coaches together and I think sportsmanship is different. I just think everyone came together as a whole league instead of just one community, one town, one school.”  

    Krystal Trammell breaks down a huddle with her players before a game. Trammell said her players played with something to prove this season in the wake of the 2024 levy failure.
  

    Mavericks Maddy Bond prepares for an incoming ball during a set. Bond made the All-League first team in the Big Nine conference.
  

    The Mavericks’ Makenna Stuart serving the ball in their game against Sunnyside last season. Stuart was an honorable mention in the Big Nine All-League team announcements last Fall.
  

    The Mavs’ Kardyn Martinez spikes the ball in their game against Sunnyside last season. Martinez has been All-League first team the last two seasons, and Trammell hopes to see that continue heading into her senior season this Fall.
  

Before the start of the 2025 MLS season, pundits and analysts across the media had their fun with predictions, hot takes, and potential storylines ahead of the season. No one, however, could have predicted the early success of Major League Soccer’s newest member, San Diego FC.

Like most expansion teams in American sports, predictions about SDFC’s inaugural season generally followed the assumption that they would struggle throughout the year, ending up near the bottom of the league and building up from there.

Yet the San Diego squad is not one to abide by precedent, as not even hometown media could have predicted this level of early success. With a 10-3-5 record and sitting alone at second place in the Western Conference, SDFC is not only poised for a successful inaugural run but also a potential inaugural playoff run that borders on title contention.

Expansion clubs in the MLS have found early success before, as seen most recently with St. Louis City SC, which finished first in the Western Conference in its 2023 inaugural season. This, however, is very much the exception rather than the norm.

To better understand this unexpected development and where it might all be heading, it is important to break down some key developments that occurred both before the start of the season and during.

Blooming culture

Team culture is the foundation of any professional sports club, and SDFC Head Coach Mikey Varas and his staff have built a bedrock that players have fully bought into and built on.

Varas speaks often of maintaining a growth mindset in the squad, not allowing complacency to creep in. He promotes playing with bravery, always looking for ways to improve, and remaining focused on the task at hand.

“Making sure our feet stay on the ground, making sure that we’re not getting too high or too low, and part of that is just remembering that our first and ultimate goal is to be fighting for playoffs in our first year,” Varas said during a media availability regarding the group’s biggest challenge.

Underrated and hungry talent

Before San Diego’s inaugural season got underway, many of the players the team acquired were relative unknowns to the city. Outside of players named Hirving Lozano, you would be hard pressed to find someone outside of soccer fanatics who knew much about the squad.

When taking a closer look at this group, however, a fine collection of talent is revealed. Up and down the squad, players are making their mark not just on the team but on the league as well. Whether it’s Danish forward Anders Dreyer’s calculated offense and league-leading nine assists, team captain Jeppe Tverskov anchoring the midfield with veteran Aníbal Godoy, or supersub and Escondido native Milan Iloski putting his heart into every score off the bench.

The true depth of that talent will be put to the ultimate test over the course of the next few weeks, with many starters on the team missing due to injury or international duty.

Controlling the flow

Well before opening kickoff, Varas was clear in his desire to see his team play with relentless press and bravery on the ball against opponents. His squad heard him loud and clear, making SDFC’s offense in competition with some of the best in the league, holding a top 10 position in most attacking statistics.

Tied for first in the league in possession statistics, San Diego doesn’t let other teams dictate the game either, putting opponents on the back foot and forcing them to play uncomfortable and out of scheme.

Defensively, the squad has made incredible strides as well. After bouncing back from an abysmal April where the team allowed nine goals in four matches, the defense displayed real tenacity, stifling the opposition to allow only five goals in the last eight matches.

“That’s something we’ve been working on from day one, how we defend together,” defender Christopher McVey said of the improvement. “It’s a collective thing, a lot of times people think it’s just the defenders, but it’s a team effort, and I think we’ve been taking big steps in all of the positions, but especially up on the start of the press.”

With 16 matches to go, there is still plenty of gametime left and questions to be answered. Though barring a disastrous collapse, San Diego FC is well on its way to its first-ever postseason in its first-ever season.

As long as the squad remains consistent in their form, their destiny will remain in their own hands. With the supporters who have made Snapdragon Stadium a homefield bastion backing them, the sky is the limit for this young club.

In today’s fast-paced world, achieving work-life balance is more crucial than ever, especially for those in high-demand careers such as hospitality, the culinary arts, and wellness. These industries require not only long hours and intense focus but also the ability to maintain physical and mental wellbeing to thrive. Without a healthy body and mind, the challenges of leadership, creativity, and personal growth become even more difficult to navigate. 

The benefits are well-documented – individuals who prioritise their health experience more energy, improved concentration, and greater overall satisfaction in both their personal and professional lives. Indeed, the most successful leaders recognise that their wellness is directly tied to their impact, and therefore it’s essential to foster habits that promote longevity, resilience, and clarity.

We spoke to five professionals who embody this philosophy, each offering unique insights into how they integrate wellness into their demanding careers. From the luxury hospitality sector and the culinary industry to nutrition, these individuals show how self care plays an integral role in achieving success. 

Whether it’s through daily fitness routines, mindfulness practices, or conscious eating habits, these dynamic leaders demonstrate how maintaining personal wellness helps them navigate their roles with greater ease, focus, and satisfaction, ultimately benefiting their teams and those they serve.

Sander Looijen

General Manager at The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali and Multi-Property Vice President – Bali (Premium & Select Properties) of Marriott

For the general manager of The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali, staying active is crucial to both his wellbeing and leadership, especially when he’s performing a dual role as well. 

“Staying active keeps me sane,” Sander Looijen shares, and even with his packed schedule, he makes time for swimming and water polo. Beyond fitness, Sander incorporates daily rituals such as meditation and journaling, recognising the importance of mental clarity in achieving work-life balance. “Wellness isn’t just about physical health, it’s about emotional balance,” he adds. 

At the resort, wellness is about creating a holistic environment where multiple wellness experiences work in tandem. Guests can choose from yoga sessions, spa treatments, and nutritious meals, but the real benefit lies in how these elements layer together, helping guests reset and reconnect with themselves. 

He highlights that wellness is integrated into every part of the experience, from the calming atmosphere on arrival to the personalised programs tailored to guests’ needs. Sander recommends exploring personalised wellness programs, which have proven to have a lasting impact on guests, ensuring they leave feeling rejuvenated, both physically and mentally.

Yuda Bustara

Chef and media figure, winner of Netflix’s The Maverick Academy

Chef Yuda Bustara approaches wellness with the same passion he applies to his career. Known for his boundless energy, he integrates weight training, cardio, and meditation into his routine. “It’s less about strict routines and more about making space for what keeps me energised,” Yuda explains. 

When it comes to nutrition, he follows a balanced approach, opting for high-protein meals including ayam kecap and telur balado while indulging occasionally in favourites such as nasi Padang. Yuda believes that mental resilience is just as important as physical health. “You don’t have to choose – your health fuels your passion,” he advises, encouraging young chefs to find harmony between what drives them and their wellbeing. 

For him, cooking is therapeutic, especially when preparing simple meals for himself away from the kitchen’s pressure. “Cooking at home, when no one is watching, helps me stay grounded,” Yuda reflects. With media appearances, brand work, and culinary projects often taking centre stage, he relies on tools such as Google Calendar to keep himself organised. He advises young chefs to take time for themselves and build wellness into their routine, ensuring they remain healthy both physically and mentally in an otherwise demanding industry.

Aulianty Fellina

Senior Director of Marketing Communications & PR at Sofitel Bali Nusa Dua Beach Resort

Aulianty Fellina knows that wellness is not a luxury, but a necessity, especially in a fast-paced, high-demand environment like the hospitality industry. Achieving work-life balance is key, and she’s rigorous in her approach to daily habits that help maintain both her physical and mental wellbeing. 

Her mornings start with a calming walk, a ritual that helps reset her mind before the day’s responsibilities begin. She’s mindful of the need for mental clarity, which she achieves by stepping away from screens, enjoying a proper coffee, and taking time for quiet moments of reflection. Her approach to wellness revolves around small but essential routines. 

Physical movement is a non-negotiable for Aulianty, whether it’s a morning walk or a session at the gym, setting the tone for the day. She also values mindful eating, prioritising fresh, local ingredients, and makes time to truly enjoy her meals. When it comes to rest, sleep is treated as a priority; Aulianty ensures she gets at least eight hours each night, understanding that adequate rest is essential for staying sharp and grounded in her demanding role. 

Her morning ritual helps her prepare for high-pressure moments, especially when juggling the demands of her career. Her daily routine includes walking her dogs, stretching, and having a quiet coffee to set her intentions for the day. 

At Sofitel Bali Nusa Dua, wellness is deeply embedded in the guest experience. Aulianty encourages guests to embrace sunrise yoga and soothing spa treatments, both of which are woven into the resort’s holistic approach to wellness. “We’re creating a space where people can reset and feel like themselves again,” she says.

dr. Ayu Diandra Sari, MM, M.Gizi, Sp.GK

Clinical nutritionist and media figure, former beauty pageant titleholder of Puteri Indonesia Lingkungan (Miss Indonesia Environment)

Clinical nutritionist dr Ayu Diandra Sari advocates a personalised approach to health. “A healthy relationship with food starts with understanding your body,” she explains, emphasising the importance of evidence-based nutrition. 

She encourages people to tune into their hunger and fullness cues, choose whole foods, and align their meal times with their daily activities. This foundation helps individuals avoid falling prey to fad diets, fostering a sustainable approach to eating that encourages long-term health and achieving work-life balance. 

For dr Diandra, wellness is a balance of nutrition, exercise, and mental wellbeing. Her morning begins with self-reflection and a high-protein, fibre-rich breakfast to fuel her body for the day ahead. She believes in the power of regular exercise, incorporating swimming and power walking into her weekly routine. 

To manage stress, she also practices meditation and deep breathing exercises. Despite her busy schedule, she recognises the importance of quality sleep, aiming for six to eight hours of rest each night to ensure her body and mind recover fully. 

When it comes to nutrition, she sees athletes as an ideal example of discipline and consistency. She encourages non-athletes to adopt the same principles, focusing on food quality, hydration, and meal timing. “It’s all about consistency,” she says, noting that athletes’ discipline can teach us valuable lessons about nutrition. Small, gradual shifts, such as increasing vegetable and fruit intake, prioritising sleep, and engaging in physical activity, can significantly improve overall wellbeing.

Rahma Susanti

Director of Wellness Pre-Operations of The Meru Sanur

At The Meru Sanur, Rahma Susanti focuses on creating transformative wellness experiences through a balance of ancient Balinese healing traditions and modern wellness practices. 

“Wellness is about finding balance, not just within yourself, but also with the world around you,” Rahma explains. Her approach as the resort’s director of wellness pre-operations is rooted in Bali’s Tri Hita Karana philosophy, integrating elements such as grounding rituals and energy healing. 

Each guest’s wellness journey is personalised, guided by their Weton birth calendar, to ensure a deeply meaningful experience. Rahma’s own daily routine includes a simple but grounding morning ritual, starting with deep breathing and an affirmation: “Om Awignam Astu Ya Namah Swaha,” which translates to “May everything unfold with kindness.” 

This practice, paired with calming music, helps her stay balanced and focused throughout her demanding day. 

Looking forward, Rahma is excited to introduce a Wellness Botanical Garden at The Meru Sanur, which will offer guests an immersive, eco-friendly space for healing and connection to nature. “Small wellness habits like mindful breathing can make a huge difference in your life,” she adds, encouraging others to incorporate this practice into their daily routines. For Rahma, wellness is about relaxation as well as creating lasting, meaningful change.