Spring break trips solidify team bonds for Brewers

Sarah Palermo Sports Editor

College sports teams in the Southern states generally start their season in early February and have had weeks of practice by the time Vassar’s spring break rolls around.

With only two games under their belt this March, the Brewers will be heading down to Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland to face teams that have already played in more than ten games.

Traveling from school to school will be an experience in itself for the players. Vassar’s baseball team’s schedule for the rest of the season is heavily based on traveling, with an equal number of away and home games.

Baseball co-captain Ivan Cedillo ’06 contrasted this spring’s trip to the one in 2004, when the team stayed in one place and played other northern teams who had also made the trek to the south to play in the warmer climates.

“This way feels like a minor league team,” said Cedillo. “We get on a bus, travel, play,—win, lose or draw—then it’s back on the bus.”

Traveling to the south forces the Brewers to step up their skills, as they face a higher level of play, one that they wouldn’t normally see until late in the season here in New York.

“Teams in warm weather are able to play all year round,” said Brian Sciubba ’08. Playing these teams “helps a lot because [we] are able to see live pitching and ground balls on real surfaces.”

Since Feb. 4, the Brewers have been holding practice in the bays of the Walker Athletic Field House, sharing space with teams such as men’s and women’s lacrosse.

The women’s lacrosse team is also heading down to warm weather when they travel to Florida, where they will play SUNY Potsdam and Colby-Sawyer.

Lacrosse player Bernie Wu ’07 agrees with many baseball players that “it’s great to be outdoors on a field.”

To pay for this experience of grass beneath their cleats, the lacrosse team has had several fundraisers, including the recent raffle for tickets to a Rangers’ hockey game and a gift certificate to the Haymaker Restaurant in Poughkeepsie.

The team isn’t just working hard selling tickets though; they are also working hard on the field, as they are a young team, with an entirely new defense.

“We have some very strong players on the team that we’ve retained from last year,” said Wu. “But basically our whole offense is new.”

According to Wu, it is difficult to start a season without the leaders of the past, but traveling together and spending a lot of time together always helps a team “solidify,” according to Wu.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the trip is that the team has time together to bond.
“We spend every single minute together,” said Cedillo. “It was [during spring break] last year when the guys who are really quiet come out of their shells.”