In mid-August, while most SDA students were still enjoying the lazy lifestyle that they had become accustomed to since late June, fall athletes began to train. Fall athletes, unlike any other season, are asked to give up their summers to start their schedule. While winter and spring sports are asked to practice before league to get back in shape, summer preseason practices often last for double the time of a normal practice, or happen more often. Some sports have end of summer traditions, to kick off their season, and make up for sucking the time out of the athlete’s last two weeks of summer.

Volleyball girls, after a grueling two weeks of two-a-day practices, bond at Swamis beach through obstacle courses and air-mattress surfing. “It was a team bonding experience, “ said Monica Lundren, junior, of the team beach day. “Varsity girls got to interact with the other teams, which made the program as a whole come together,” she saidA summer volleyball camp during June and the beginning of July is also strongly recommended, though not mandatory.

Although the cross-country team was given summer homework, with a rigorous self-training schedule, they met for a fun camping trip at the beginning of the two weeks of preseason. Sophomore Annie Goldstein said that “preseason made the Cross Country team stronger,” both in numbers, and in physical strength and endurance.

Field Hockey prefers to get straight to work. Girls were strongly encouraged to participate in a summer field hockey league during June and July before tryouts in mid-August. Coach Brooke Wilson says that preseason is important for getting the team in shape for games. “It’s a lot of endurance, running, conditioning, and sprints,” said Wilson.

Girls golf took a different approach. Because the program just welcomed a new head coach, they did not have an organized summer preseason. “The core of the girls have been practicing on their own during the summer prior to the fall season,” said coach Al Zamora.

As with many of the other sports, girls tennis practiced for at least two to two and a half hours during the two weeks before school started. Coach Joe Tomasi said that he worked with some of the girls over the entirety of the summer.

The newest varsity sport to SDA, water polo, quickly followed suit with the two-week training session in the summer. Coach Ryan Upper said that he used the summer training to work with individuals. Even though water polo is a team sport, it cannot function unless all the individuals know what they are doing.