Spring Season Chills

SPORTS Spring season chills Cold weather delays sports

Dylan Melnick Sports Writer

At the start of Ladue High School’s 2019 spring sports season, cold and wet weather has caused many of the sports to be interrupted.

The cold weather makes trying to play sports very hard sometimes. It makes it more difficult for players to run and prepare for games. Also, rain can cause fields to be very muddy and unusable for the teams to play on.

“When it is really cold outside you have to wear a lot of layers to keep you warm, and the layers really slow you down when you run. Also, all of your muscles are tight because it is cold,” freshman Kyle Cox said.

Many spring sports have turned to practicing indoors to combat the bad weather. However, practicing indoors is a lot different from practicing outdoors. Things that can be done outdoors are hard to duplicate indoors. Baseball has found ways to successfully work around some of these challenges and find ways to practice inside.

“If the team is in the batting cage, we will usually hit and pitch for a little bit, and then if we are in the gym we usually do conditioning or grounders. Sometimes, we’ll talk about plays for games at the end of practices,” freshman Jack Mitchell said.

Even though practicing indoors is a viable option when the weather is not great, space inside is very limited. Many different sports have to find space, but there isn’t enough for all of them. Especially at the Fifth Grade Center, lacrosse, baseball and soccer have to share the turf field and indoor facilities.

“When our field is too wet to play on and we have to play on the artificial turf field, sometimes there just isn’t enough room to run certain drills while having to share with other sports,” JV baseball coach Mike Hill said.

When the weather is too cold for a team to have a normal practice, the coach has to make a decision on possible changes to practice quickly and has to communicate with the players about changes as well. Sometimes, the change in practices because of the weather can cause a lot of confusion.

“One day when it was cold outside, I went to the track for practice with some other track members just to realize that it was changed to indoors in the gym and we were a bit confused from the situation,” Cox said.

The cold weather and practicing indoors can really affect a team’s ability to be ready for the start of the season. The teams have to practice on different surfaces that may be unlike the real field which can cause them to not be 100 percent ready going into the games. Also, practice indoors just isn’t the same as being able to practice outdoors.

“There isn’t a substitute for being on the field and seeing a situation or looking at a situation and trying to replicate indoors or on a turf field. It just doesn’t translate,” Hill said.

Alternative options Nick Fiacco trains indoors for track during the offseason. Fiacco has been participating in the javelin throw event since freshman year. (Photo by Lauren Pesce)