Sports
Figure skater Michael Xie is a familiar face at the Oakland Ice Center, where he has been training for the past year and a half under coach Laura Lipetsky. The 16-year-old from Washington comes to Oakland for weeks at a time to master jumps and perfect his performances before national competitions. The rink is becoming more widely known in the figure skating community, having nurtured Olympian Alysa Liu, who came in seventh at the Beijing games this winter and until…
As the Oakland Athletics proceed to finalize a development agreement for the new baseball stadium at Howard Terminal, some community members who have been involved in the project worry that it won’t provide enough benefits to residents, including jobs and affordable housing. “This deal is going to bring value to the property owners and create more displacement,” said Jabari Herbert, a contractor and a member of the steering committee that worked on a Community Benefits Agreement. The committee, which included…
As they do every month, a dozen or so Oakland cyclists will strap on helmets for a casual ride through the city streets on Sunday, pausing along the way to look and learn about the art that others walk, drive or pedal past. “It’s all around us if we take the time to slow down and appreciate it,” said Tamara Sherman, a writer and Art Ride regular. “You might not see it whizzing by in your car.” The Oakland Art…
During every Oakland Roots home soccer game, Lisa Bonta Sumii stands on the opposite team’s sideline, carefully watching the players’ body language. At the end of a recent game, when she noticed defensive player Akeem O’Connor-Ward standing still with his hands on his hips, staring blankly as his opponents celebrated a 1-0 victory, Bonta Sumii walked over to comfort him. As the soccer club’s mental health and sports performance specialist, Bonta Sumii intervened to keep O’Connor-Ward from getting too down,…
Seth Evans, an Oakland middle-school student, won four gold medals this summer at the USA Weightlifting National Youth Championships in Detroit. Oakland North caught up with Seth and his father, Dion, during a weekly training session at SPS Gym in August. Seth talks about competition, his training regimen and his dream of competing in the 2028 summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Oakland recently released a draft of its environmental impact study on the proposed site of the new baseball stadium where the A’s will make their home.
On Nov. 25, one day before Thanksgiving, Squaw Valley in Lake Tahoe ushered in the first day of the snow season. At 9 a.m., the parking lot was already more than half full, with about 2,000 cars. People wearing their ski boots and helmets lined up in the 34-degree temperature to collect their season passes. It looks like any other snow season—except this year, everyone is standing six feet apart and wearing masks. Lake Tahoe offers world-class skiing and is…
The Athletics, the last professional sports team in Oakland, has found itself playing more defense—and little to no offense—in its grand plan to build a new stadium.
When the Golden State Warriors unveiled new jerseys earlier this month, Jason Wong was confused. Wong, 41, is a Bay Area graphic designer and super-fan, owning more than 100 Warriors jerseys. As he looked at the new release, with throwback colors and updated fonts, something was different.