Season Off Off Season

For many students, sports don’t stop at the end of a season. What is their sport like throughout the year, and how does playing a sport year-round impact a student?

By Madi Garrelts

For some students, as the leaves start to fall or the flowers begin to bloom, their sport season comes to a close and cleats get thrown into the closet while rackets are hung up. But for many BVN students, this isn’t the case.

Junior Anna Bundy’s track season doesn’t end in the spring. Instead, Bundy said she’s busy all year round.

“During school season, we practice Monday through Friday and we’ll have meets on weekdays. Then off-season, I’ll practice Monday through Thursday with meets on the weekends,” Bundy said.

Despite playing a continuous sport throughout the year, Bundy said school and club seasons are largely different.

“For school, you create a bond with your fellow teammates because you practice with them everyday, and you get to practice a lot more rather than club.

of a family dynamic,” Bundy said. “For club track, it becomes less of a team thing and more individual.”

Sophomore soccer player Cael Verzani agreed.

“[Sports are] more fun at school because you get to be with all your friends and it’s much more relaxed,” Verzani said.

Verzani said even with the positive atmosphere, there is an added level of pressure in his sport.

“There’s a lot more pressure for high school soccer because everyone expects you to win,” Verzani said.

“For club, it’s just team practice and during the summer, it’s individual practice, so there’s more pressure for school.” you’re competing against people from all other states,” Bundy said. “With school track, it’s much more local, so you know your competition, which makes it much easier for me.”

On the other hand, Bundy said due to the school team’s atmosphere, the pressure becomes more prevalent during the postseason.

However, some students say they struggle with keeping up with their sport during the postseason. Senior swimmer Emma Gaebler said she’s found herself stuck in this position this year.

“It’s a lot more competitive and there’s a strict schedule [during school season]. When it comes to off-season, it’s really how much you want to be committed to your sport,” Gaebler said. “Personally I just haven’t been swimming much this year.”

According to Gaebler, she has a packed schedule during the school season.

“One of the cons [of the school season] is trying to figure out how to balance the schedules with your schoolwork. A lot of the practices are either before or after school, which doesn’t leave a lot of time for going to talk to teachers if you need outside help,” Gaebler said. “On days when we have before and after school practices, I can be here for up to 12 hours at a time.”

However, Gaebler said she still enjoys the school environment due to the school spirit and the friendships she’s made.

“There’s a lot of school spirit that comes with [swimming]. There’s a lot of hype, and we use the mustang [mascot] a lot,” said Gaebler. “[Swim] is really great for meeting people in different grades. One of my best friends on the swim team is a year below, and I probably wouldn’t have met her if we didn’t swim together.”

Even though each student has a different schedule, they recommend playing a sport year-round.

“Playing year-round gives you a built-in friend group, it gives you people to be with and somewhere to go [and] it keeps you active. If you have a competitive spirit and you enjoy competing against people and winning, it gives you a good opportunity to find people like you,” Bundy said.

Like Bundy, Gaebler said there are many benefits of playing year-round.

“I would 100% recommend playing a sport year-round,” Gaebler said. “It’s something that keeps you active, takes up a lot of time so you’re not just sitting around bored and overall, just gives you something to be passionate about.”