A Wintry Start To The Spring Season
Freezing cold temperatures kicking in affect normal spring sports practices
Soccer athletes get their footwork drills done inside. Cold weather has forced many practices to take place indoors.
March 5, 2019
When you think of spring sports starting up, we don’t think of weather so cold that we have to stay inside for practice.
Teams starting their new seasons have limited space to work with as being away from the fields and tennis court have made the coach’s plans a little different to begin the season. Coach Kleekamp, head coach of the girls soccer team, believes that the cold weather forcing indoor practices has made it a more difficult environment to practice on for the first week.
“The playing surfaces are a big [difference] for us as outside we have the turf that we’re used to, and inside is the gym floor which is a different style [of practice],” Kleekamp said. “Outside, the field is a lot bigger where we can have long runs on the sidelines whereas the space is limited inside.”
The indoor practices have made changes to the way the teams have practiced. While soccer has had some disadvantages with practicing indoors, track and field has had good workouts and other plans to make success from their time indoors. They were only inside one time of the first week so they got to practice as much as they could outdoors. The long distance runners still do their running outside, but the sprinters have had good workouts made by Coach Tutterrow and Coach Zangriles of the sprint team. As long as the track athletes are in uniform and getting work in then they are doing their job.
The track team warms up inside due to frigid temperatures to start the season.
“The biggest thing that we make sure of is that the kids have pants on and hoodies and make sure to stay layered up,” Coach Glavin, who coaches track, said.
Spring athletes have done their part on being prepared for the cold weather. Track athletes have had to have more mental preparation as they spent all but Friday outside for the first week running and staying conditioned. One of the track athletes, senior Bruce Jordan, has done everything he can to prepare for the times that the runners practice in the cold.
“For the first week I’ve brought gloves and hand warmers to keep my hands from freezing so I can get my [fitness] in,” Jordan said.
Although the spring sports have started up at Liberty, the winter season is still in full affect. Coaches and athletes are only hoping the weather gets warmer soon so they can get back out to their normal fields away from the gymnasiums inside.
