As the spring season quickly approaches, senior captains of spring sports organize and prepare for what they hope will be an exciting and successful season. While each sport has its appropriate preparatory measures, the unifying goal of all senior captains is to make their final season the best one yet.
Girls’ lacrosse senior captain Olivia McCloskey prepares her team for the upcoming spring season by holding ‘Captains Practices.’ These unofficial training sessions welcome those who are interested in playing girls’ lacrosse this season and are led by the senior captains rather than the coaches. These practices, though not technically part of the season, provide the team with an important opportunity to play with future teammates and grow as a cohesive team. McCloskey believes that these preseason practices as well as other forms of preseason training prove highly beneficial in the team’s season performance.
Many student-athletes focus on their individual improvement as well as team improvement during the offseason or preseason. Baseball senior captain Dan Avillo spends time working out on his own before the spring season begins. Additionally, he, and many other baseball players, go to batting cages to practice their swings. This functional practice combined with other basic forms of training such as lifting is critical for players to stay in shape.
“[Preseason training] allows you to get a head start on the season and helps knock off any rust from the offseason,” Avillo said.
While lacrosse and baseball are majorly team sports, tennis is often played individually or in a partner setting. Girls’ tennis prepares for their spring season by organizing calendars, uniforms, team members, and even thinking ahead about themes and costumes for team spirit.
“We solidify doubles partners and make sure to have lots of team meetings to help support one another for our future games,” girls’ tennis senior captain Alicia Barnett said.
Needless to say, spring sport athletes’ hard work and commitment is a full-time job. While the student section may only appreciate a game-winning goal or an intense rival match-up, players work year-round to improve their skills, fitness and team bonding to bring victories to WJ.
![Social studies teacher Timothy Rodman holds a production factory simulation in his AP Microeconomics class. "Students remember running for class president or the mock congress or the production factory much more so than learning topics like circular flow," Rodman said. "[The simulations make learning] very tangible and real and then students down the road are able to use it."](https://www.wjpitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/IMG_4420-1200x675.jpg)
![Girls' varsity lacrosse head coach Christina FItzpatrick has made a significant impact during her two-year tenure. Fitzpatrick has not only been the head coach, but a friend to many players. “One of the things that stands out about [Fitzpatrick is] she expects a lot, but she always has this silly, fun side. You have to have that balance of getting athletes to do stuff for you, but because they want to, and girls want to impress her and they want to work hard for her. At the same time we could have the girls running 300 Thursday and everyone will just be cracking jokes. It’s that work hard, play hard mentality,” Herdman said.](https://www.wjpitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_5353.jpg)
