“Most teams have breaks in between the hardest parts of practice, but we don’t,” said junior Katy Kaugher. “Every second of practice makes you push yourself to the limit.”
Every day after school, dedicated sports teams are testing their limits on the field and in the pool. These rigorous practice regimens are known to be true for many sports, but a select few can be classified as extreme.
Whenever the girls on the Women’s Water Polo team step foot on the pool deck, they know they are in for a rough practice, every time. Juniors Lindsey Laporte and Katy Kaugher experience this intensity first hand.
“All water sports are hard,” said Laporte. “We practice five days a week for three hours, and have tournaments almost every Friday and Saturday.”
The coach of the girls Water Polo team, David Riddle, has a similar view of the underestimated intensity of the sport.
“I would rate water polo practice as one of the hardest practices in any high school sport,” said Riddle. “Many don’t realize that water polo players are constantly treading water, swimming, and using physical contact every single day. I think it is the most underrated sport because people don’t realize how hard these girls actually work.”
“I think the main reason it’s so difficult is because we swim in sweatpants and tennis shoes,” said Laporte. “We have to swim to the bottom of the pool in all that gear and bring up benches that were thrown into the pool.”
“It seriously takes all of the energy and oxygen you have to make it to the bottom and swim all the way up with the benches,” said Kaugher. “It really makes us work as a team.”
Even though these difficult practice routines may seem too hard to handle, Coach Riddle has a different, more positive view.
“The practices probably do tire the girls out, as it should,” said Riddle. “We work hard to achieve our goals and in order to get there, they need to work hard every day, even if they are tired. They all know that their hard work will pay off in the end, so I think it drives them to become better players.”
The women’s lacrosse team seems to play in rain or shine, snow or sleet. No matter how bad the weather, the devoted girls are on the field improving their already flawless game.
“Unless it’s lightning, we have never cancelled a practice,” said senior Andrea Mahem. “I’ve played in a snowstorm before. When school was cancelled, we still had practice.”
“When there is bad weather, we have to wear hoods to protect our faces,” said junior Sarah Norris.
The fact that this focused team plays no matter what the weather can explain their strong players and winning seasons.
“Our coach, Jen, always has a specific schedule for each day, so that can’t be affected by cancelling practices. This helps us to do well,” said Norris.
Every spring, the girls on Maple Motion dance their way to the national championship in Orlando, Florida. How they get to that point each year depends on the motivation of the team and some especially challenging work.
“I think we work the hardest the last week before nationals,” said junior Allison Mullen.
For the dance team, every practice is a part of the struggle for the continuous success they receive at competitions.
“My sophomore year we had a practice over February break when we had to do all three of our dances twice and then had to do 100 kicks after every dance with no time to rest,” said senior Rachel Galante.
“I realize how our hard practices pay off when we walk off the floor [at nationals]. It’s really worth it to see how far we’ve come due to working so hard,” said Mullen.
