Sports During Spring Break

Spring break is a time for students to go on vacations and take a much-needed break from school. However, that is not the case for athletes who participate in a spring sport. Those students have practices and games throughout the first week of April. Sports like baseball, volleyball, and lacrosse are in full swing when spring break rolls around. Instead of sleeping in or heading to the beach, these students are up early, hitting the field, court, or track, putting in serious work while their classmates relax.
While being present for the entire spring break is not mandatory, many players stay with their teams to get extra practice and win important games. Practices can be different from the usual practice during a school week. Junior lacrosse player Donovan Bantique said, “I’d say you can go a lot harder because everybody is energized and they have energy to go full hard for practice and not have to go through school.” Balancing school and sports is difficult for some, so having an entire week without school allows players to focus more on their sport. The lacrosse team practiced for around two hours throughout the week, had a tournament in Carmel, and two games.
The schedule for sports during spring break is similar to the one during the season. The Varsity baseball team had games on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and they had practices on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. The Thursday practice was about three hours, and the other two were less than two hours. For those three games, the team won one and lost the other two. “It was different because there were less people,” said Senior Colin Rutzen.
In volleyball, they had practices but no games. Players showed up throughout the week to keep up their skills and stay in shape for upcoming matches. However, the atmosphere of practices was not the same as during school weeks. “It is definitely less serious because we don’t have any games, and it kinda throws you off a rhythm since it's the middle of the season,” said junior Noah Henry.
Coaches want their players available during spring break, limiting students' travel abilities. “[Coach Mengo] doesn’t want people to leave for spring break, but he let people leave this year,” said Rutzen. One of the players whom baseball coach Julian Fiammengo allowed to leave was senior Reed Norton, who had a college visit. Senior Jonathan Wang said “We can go places for spring break; it’s just looked down upon. We’re not allowed to miss the games, but some people left on Thursday and some people left on Friday, so they missed practices but not the games.” About five or six people left for spring break and missed the practices.
Lacrosse senior Declan Anderson was one of the students who went on the Mexico trip to build houses, missing out on all of the games and practices. Anderson said, “I worked with [Coach] and I made a practice schedule for going on the trip and we came back strong.” Anderson would run and do different drills to make sure he was in the best shape for when he came back. Junior Luca Vezzali was another one of the players who went on the Mexico trip, and he then went to visit schools. Vezzali said his coach was not happy that he left, but he had a good excuse for doing so. Bantique said his coach does not like it when players go skiing because of injuries.
Being out on the field or court and playing instead of going on vacation takes a lot of commitment. Many of the players’ friends were out on the beach or taking a break from school, but putting work in was exciting for some players. Bantique said, “It felt good. It felt like I was on top of my [stuff].” While there is no school, there is also no vacation for the players who stay and play their sport. “It’s not as fun obviously as going on vacation but it’s ok,” said Wang.