Lockdown Interrupts Tennis Tourney
March 4, 2019
The boys’ tennis team was trapped inside with hundreds of other students at James Logan High School when that campus was locked down in response to a student stabbing on February 22.
The team, which was attending the James Logan Invitational Tennis Tournament, was rushed into a classroom near the tennis courts as the alarm rang.
According to Logan’s head coach and tournament director Shawn Dolgin, the lockdown alarm spurred the players into action. “As I am putting people into the tennis classroom and into the pool area, the Vice Principal was there. She told me it was not a drill. We have done this many years and we move everyone into a safe area,” he said.
Players were accounted windows were covered with blankets as part of safety protocol. Communicating in the midst of the chaos, junior Sanjeev Sarin said, “I am pretty nervous right now, but it was pretty scary because when we walked in we had no idea what was going on and nobody was telling us anything.”
Junior Rish Bellakka, a tennis player from James Logan High School, noted that the incident was an abnormality. “I got kind of scared because this doesn’t really happen often. A couple of people got stabbed. That is kind of scary, but since we are a bit off campus, it was okay considering what happened.”
Sophomore tennis player Noam Ayalon said that “people were too happy and upbeat for the situation in my opinion. They started The Incredibles 2.”
The perpetrator, a 15-year-old student at Logan High, was identified and apprehended at a grocery store in Hayward, and subsequently placed in custody. After 2 hours of lockdown, the tennis players resumed the tournament.
Campolindo finished in 4th place.
