Get ready for game day with Laguna’s top athletes. WORDS by ALEXANDRA SIEGEL and ELLI WESTMACOTT ART by CLAIRE TOLLES and ALEXANDRA SIEGEL
This winter, athletes from both soccer and basketball have busy seasons lined up. In preparation for gameday, athletes have their individual pregame routines that help showcase their skills. Junior Jenna Johnson and senior Foster Smith share their personal routines that best prepare them for gameday. Q: What is the first thing you do in preparation for a game? A: First I get dressed in proper attire. I put on my cleats, then I put pre-wrap on my forehead. Q: Do you have a specific food or drink that you prefer before games? A: I usually don’t eat before a game at all even if it’s in the morning. I feel like it just hurts my stomach, so I just don’t eat or drink anything beforehand. But after a game, I have blue Gatorade, which has to be blue, because I hate other types of Gatorade. Q: What exercise drill best prepares you for a game? A: Probably little sprints we do with our coach at Laguna. I also do those for my club and that really helps. Junior Jenna Johnson started playing for Laguna freshman year.
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Q: Are there any full-team traditions you do before or after a game? What are the best team bonding activities? A: For my club team, when we go in a huddle, we all have to touch our toes—even the coach does it! For team bonding activities with my club, when we go on tournaments, we rent out a house and we stay there and we have dinners together, so that’s really good bonding. Q: What are your favorite hype up songs? A: I listen to my sister, Sadie’s, soccer playlist that she made for the team. Currently, my favorite song on the playlist is “Pursuit of Happiness” by Kid Cudi. Q: How do you take care of your body before a game? A: I have a hip injury, so I usually tape my hip with KT-Tape, or put creams on my hip and take three Advil. Q: What’s your favorite memory before or during a game from this season so far? A: My freshman year, we were on the way to a far-away game and our bus broke down! We had to stop at a gas station and we were 20 minutes late to the game. My mom was driving behind us and had to come pick us up and we all had to fit in this small little car to bring us to the game. That was funny.
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