Athletes work in the off season
Fall sports may be over and in the “off season,” but Utah State University’s student athletes are still as involved and busy as ever.
Though players are not competing in games, they still must balance conditioning, weight training and practices.
“The concept of an off season is nearly extinct,” said Mary Ellen Cloninger, senior associate Athletics director for Internal Operations.
Following the end of the fall season, women’s soccer coach Jen Kennedy Croft said her team gets about a month off before starting practice again.
“I know the student athletes wish we had probably a little bit longer of a break, but our individual sessions aren’t too taxing,” Croft said.
Players participate in individual practices during the winter and move into team practice and competition in the spring.
“I enjoy getting back into the gym and doing stuff and playing, and I think the kids do too,” women’s volleyball Head Coach Burt Fuller said.
Under NCAA rules, each player can participate in eight hours of supervised practice a week, including two hours of skill instruction, Cloninger said.
Time must be documented and submitted to the NCAA after being signed off by players and coaches.
The two hours of skill instruction players are allowed is usually spent in individual practice sessions with coaches.
For women’s volleyball, the players practice in groups of four for one hour twice a week. Soccer follows a similar schedule.
“I think I get to know the players a little bit better because there are only four at a time,” Croft said. “I enjoy the camaraderie of the camaraderie of just having a couple. Also, it’s nice to see them develop their technical skill a little better.”
Fuller said, “It’s nice because you get to work with your kids and it’s just a lower-key deal. It’s more individual technique stuff as opposed to tactics.”
Fuller’s players also said they like the time spent in individual sessions because of the difference in focus.
“It’s nice to just be able to focus on the little things,” outside hitter/defensive specialist Melissa Wilton said. “I think everyone is going to get a chance to do everything. We all get to do different jobs so we get better in the general sense.”
A potential problem in the off season is athletes losing focus, though players said they don’t feel it is usually a problem.
“We don’t practice as much so it’s a shorter time to stay focused,” soccer player Megan Edge said. “It’s more relaxed in the spring.”
In addition to the two hours of individual practice, players spend their remaining six hours of weekly practice time working on weights and conditioning.
Shawn Griswold, head strength and conditioning coordinator, said during the off season players work out four days a week for about one and one-half hours a day.
In addition to the time spent with the weight staff during workouts, Griswold said many players work out on their own time.
Cloninger said players may practice and work out on their own as long as there is no coach supervision and the practice is not mandatory.
“[For football] Wednesday is their day off and we’ll have 15 to 25 guys just doing extra work on their own,” Griswold said.
During the fall when teams are competing, Griswold said it is important to try to keep an athlete’s strength levels up, but when the off season starts, players must adjust to spending more time in workouts.
“It’s a huge transition,” Wilton said. “I’m used to lifting heavy weight, but I’m not used to doing a lot of the different exercises we’re doing.”
Despite the adjustments and time commitment, Griswold said the athletes stay focused and are self-motivated because they know the benefits of working out.
“Most of them enjoy it,” he said. “They realize what they can get out of it and it’s making them the best athlete they can be.”
Wilton said, “I love being in the weight room. I love lifting weights and I love the conditioning. It’s just going to do nothing but help.”
Football defensive lineman James Robinson said, “Coach Griswold and the strength staff set goals for us on our weights and our speed. It seems like we’re always working for something. There’s not necessarily a game every week, but you still have a goal.”
Following individual practices and conditioning, athletes participate in team practices during the spring as well as some competition.
Soccer will start at the end of February and volleyball will start in March. Fuller said volleyball will have six weeks of full practice as well as four possible competitions while Croft said the soccer team gets five competition dates during the spring.
One potential benefit of the off season is players are able to take time off to recover from injuries or have surgery.
Volleyball freshman setter Andrea Delsigne suffered a meniscus tear in her knee playing in the volleyball team’s second tournament of the year in Hawaii, but waited until after the season to have surgery.
“It helps us out a lot to have her with us during the season and this is a good time for her to get that fixed and recover,” Fuller said.
With time off for recovery, one worry for players is falling behind their teammates in conditioning.
“I feel like I’m going to be way behind,” Delsigne said. “I see all of them getting so much better.”
Delsigne currently spends three days a week in physical therapy and does upper body workouts and lower body workouts her knee will allow.
Delsigne may be worried about falling behind, but Wilton said the team supports Delsigne and is looking forward to her return.
Wilton said, “She knows she has a team right there to brace her up. We’re all excited for her to come back.”
Despite having a rigorous off-season schedule, players said they feel like they have more time off.
“We definitely have a lot more time,” football defensive tackle Ty Cahoon said. “During the season we had meetings all the time. We had meetings at six in the morning every day, but now we get to sleep in until our classes start.”
One of the biggest breaks for student athletes comes from not having to travel and getting weekends off. For some teams playing twice a week, athletes may miss three days of class a week during the season.
“Weekends are our savior,” Delsigne said.
Croft said she thinks her players like having the break.
“I would think the students get more involved in the university, so they like it,” she said. “They get to hang out more like a regular student.”
Delsigne said she she gets a chance to enjoy school more.
“It’s kind of nice to just be almost like a normal student,” she said.
Croft said, “To be a student athlete is a very difficult thing. You have to commit quite a bit, even in the off season and you have to maintain an academic standard. We have student athletes that are very focused and it’s tough to be a student athlete. They have to give up and sacrifice a lot to be a student athlete on this campus.”