The off-season: a term some athletes use as a break, while others see it as the time to work hard and get better. The off-season is where hardcore athletes believe champions are made, and where many athletes work hard to be steps ahead of their opponents. The off-season is believed to define one’s upcoming season and their glory in their life. 

With a wide variety of different sports to choose from and athletes with all kinds of training philosophies, each athlete tends to approach the off-season in a different way. Many athletes have different individual skills to work on compared to others. Whether it’s getting faster, stronger, or smarter in the game, there are always ways to improve.

Natalie Gomez, who plays girls’ varsity soccer at Don Lugo, has no off-season. Natalie and many other students are in club soccer, an organization outside of school, in addition to high school soccer, and once high school soccer ends they get right back into club soccer. With a busy schedule that could wear any athlete down, Natalie explains how she motivates herself to keep going, “I love to play soccer, I always tell myself that this season is going to be a great season, so keeping my goals and expectations high makes me strive to be nothing but the best in both high school and club soccer.” 

Some athletes play more than one sport and have always been multi-sport athletes even if their sports are right after one another. Athletes tend to play multiple sports because techniques many techniques can be used across sports. Cade Silva, who plays basketball and football at Don Lugo, describes how he prepares for his main sport, basketball. “I choose to play football before I go into basketball season to help with my endurance and strength. Being in football helps me because of the access to the weight room we have in 6th period athletic P.E., and enduring a high level of contact on the field helps a lot once I transition into basketball because my body is able to take a lot more pain and I feel tougher than I would if I didn’t do play another sport before the basketball season.”

Other athletes dedicate themselves to one sport and one sport only. Athletes tend to do this in order to perfect their craft in their sport and become the best player they can. Gabriel Villa, who plays baseball at Don Lugo has played baseball all his life, and it’s been his favorite sport since he was a young kid.

Gabe works out with the team every day after school by going to the batting cages and playing wiffle ball which helps him keep his eye on the ball as the ball can turn very quickly and suddenly. When asked what he would like to focus on improving for the upcoming season he stated, “I personally would like to focus on improving my defense because I feel like that’s where I can improve the most, but also improve myself as a whole to be as perfect as I can be.” As many different sports and athletes focus on what they need to work on to improve, the common pattern between athletes is that they are always improving in some sort of way as much as they can.  

The off-season can help athletes reflect on themselves, and what success they will have in their upcoming sport. Professional athletes always seem to ask themselves how they want to be remembered, which fuels their motivation to make them as great as they are.  High school athletes should strive to do the same.