Palo Alto High School junior Liam Li discovered his love for fencing at an early age and has been competing ever since.

“I started [fencing] when I was five or six years old,” Li said. “I just finished watching “Star Wars” and I was like this stuff is cool. … I thought it was like “Stars Wars” at the beginning, and it got me excited.”

Over the years, Li’s love for fencing has only grown.

“It’s [fencing] like chess on steroids, just fast thinking strategies but also you have to be very physical and fast,” Li said.

On top of athletics, Li says that fencing is unique and has taught him lots.

“I think fencing is great,” Li said. “It [fencing] teaches you communication skills.”

For Paly sophomore Miles Joing found his passion for hockey after moving on from soccer.

“I used to play soccer,” Joing said. “But I shifted towards hockey and really fell in love with it. They were both during winter so I had to choose between one of them and I eventually chose hockey.”

Joing said he has made a lot of connections through hockey.

“A lot of the time you’re in the locker room with your teammates and you really get to know them really well,” Joing said.

 Joing said he loves the feeling of playing Hockey.

“I love skating. It’s just the feeling of being free on your skates,” Joing said.

Rugby runs in the family for Paly senior Anaiah Latu, who found her way into the sport through her relatives and her culture.

“Polynesians are really big on football and rugby and my dad  just wanted us to get into sports,” Latu said. “All my siblings played. I was kind of the last to get into rugby.”

Latu has a strong passion for rugby and dreams of playing professional rugby.

“I wanted to play professionally because you travel a lot with rugby,” Latu said. “But I know that a lot of it’s just not stable. … they [professionals] don’t have a life outside of rugby.”

Paly senior Oliver Rasmussen enjoys both the community and competition of the fast-growing sport pickleball.

“It’s been really awesome to see the sport grow because it means that there’s more potential to actually do it,” Rasmussen said. “From a social standpoint, it’s really awesome when I can play my sport and see my friends interested in trying it as well.”

Rasmussen believes he could play professional pickleball one day

“If I continue to take it seriously, I definitely can make a run professionally,” Rasmussen said. “I know that sounds cocky, but I know how hard I work and what I am capable of doing.”