Throughout the year, the athletes of Boulder High get back in shape for their season, and every sport does it differently. Preseason is one of the core parts of high school sports, but preparing athletes for a season of rigorous competition is no small feat.
Every sport is different, so of course every sport has a different form of preseason. Many coaches use the time to get their athletes in shape. I asked a few coaches about their preseason regimens, and all of them varied slightly. Women’s Soccer Coach, Carlos Real explains his team’s preseason, “Yes, Women’s Soccer has a preseason. We usually start the second week of January and the first three weeks consist of two-a-days with a full-body workout from 7 to 8 a.m. in the main gym where we do sessions to increase endurance, strength, and agility, and interval training with a heavy focus on injury prevention apart from conditioning.”
Women’s soccer is not just conditioning focused, Coach Real says, “After school, we do technical activities for soccer on Recht Field. When the weather is an issue, we have classroom sessions for team bonding, getting to know the new players, and introducing key concepts and the five core values that the Program lives by.”
Conditioning is such an important and fundamental part of a successful sports program. One of the Boulder High Swim Coaches, Emily Sampl says, “Swimming is different than other sports in that the only thing you can really do that directly translates to improvement in swimming, is swimming. Lifting weights and getting stronger helps, but swimming more outside of the season is what will benefit our teams the most so that’s what my intent was with starting the preseason practices this fall.”
Softball, however, is in a different situation from other sports when it comes to preseason. As a fall sport, the softball preseason is understandably limited. Head Coach Courtney Geib writes, “Softball does limited off-season/preseason. We do optional practices in the spring and a few in the summer before the season starts.”
Preseason, overall, is a useful tool for coaches and athletes alike. It creates time to build community and allows athletes to get more acclimated to their teammates and the competitiveness of their sport. Along with that, it helps encourage people to join sports. Softball player, Kendall Evans, ‘27, shares about her preseason experience. She says Softball does have a preseason, “It’s short so people are actually interested in joining.” Evans says she enjoys preseason and that it’s super fun.
Preseason comes with its fair share of pressures, but it is important to the success of athletes and teams as a whole.
