Although summer is seen as a time for relaxation and vacations, for Pacer athletes, it’s often a time to work on their sport, either through extra workouts or through club sport participation.
For soccer players, they work just as hard as football players, lacrosse players, and cross-country runners.
“[We] do weight lifting in the summer for preparation,” said Lilo Baird-Gonzalez, junior varsity girls’ soccer player.
Senior Bet Aleu was playing girls’ club lacrosse over the summer.
“I traveled to the East and West Coast all summer, while practicing twice a week to prepare,” said Aleu.
Many others have practiced since the summer for their fall sports. Senior Matthew Rodrigano did lots of conditioning over the summer for the fall cross country season.
“I ran six days a week all summer, averaging over 50 miles per week! It’s most important to prioritize your health during the summer so you don’t get injured or burn out when the season starts,” said Rodrigano.
Varsity assistant Coach Andre Hughes, known as “Coach Dre,” spent the summer training the football team for the new season and held a rigorous routine for the players.
“Work out four days a week, first the linemen lift weights while the skill players are doing running and conditioning, then they switch,” said Hughes. “Afterwards, everyone works on football skills on the fields. Besides doing that, we also install plays daily.”
But the athletes aren’t doing this alone: coaches play a key role in preparing practice sessions. Coaches collaborate closely with their athletes to ensure they are ready for the season, both mentally and physically. Coaches are essential for the improvement of both athletes themselves and their teams.
The football players, if you haven’t thought about it yet, are always tackling a problem head-on.
Summer preparation not only builds up athletes’ bodies to be ready for the season but also offers them a time to get used to the team environment and how practice normally goes, and get to know their teammates well.
“[Summer practice] sets the tone for the rest of the season. Going to the summer workouts gets us into the rhythm of how practices go, making it easier for us to do better when the season starts, because we are already used to the rhythm with the team and how practices work,” said Baird-Gonzalez.