Fall sports teams train with rigorous pre-season practices

Jer Isseks Sports Editor

Walking through campus early on an August morning, a passerby is generally met by closed doors concealing students in their third REM cycle, an empty quad, an emptier All-Campus Dining Center, and general tranquility in all directions.

All but one, that is. If you cross Raymond Avenue, and hike down the Town House path past Vassar Lake, you will come to the Prentiss Fields, the epicenter of fall sports. There, you will find Vassar’s athletic squads, having already spent hours on the fields for hours in the morning running sprints, suicides and drills. They train for the upcoming season with cutthroat intensity. Coaches and players scream encouragement. When all is said and done, they march their grass-stained bodies to the dining hall, an icepack strapped to each knee, having been through more physical exertion in three hours than the average non-athlete has experienced throughout the entire month of August.

Before school begins, teams like men’s and women’s soccer and field hockey do “two-a-days,” (two practices per day) which means that the gap between dinner and bedtime is tiny or non-existent, and the gap between practices seems to be just as small. But the athletes are not complaining.

“It’s not the most fun in the world, but it’s going to pay off in the end,” said co-captain Court Steiner ’07 of the rigor of his many pre-season practices.

Elsewhere, the rest of Vassar’s teams are training just as excitedly for their seasons. The men’s and women’s cross country teams have long been running in preparation for the Vassar Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 9, which kicks off a jam-packed fall schedule that features a different race almost every weekend.

“[The team] has high hopes for this season,” said Jessica Monmaney ’08, a member of the fast-growing women’s pack. “Judging from the times of successful teams in the past, it is definitely feasible that we could do really well at those races.”

In addition, the men’s and women’s rowing teams begin their practices this week under Head Coach Rodney Mott. Four fall regattas loom ahead at the Head of the Genesse (Rochester, NY), Navy Day (Philadelphia, PA), the Head of the Charles (Boston, MA), and the Head of the Fish (Saratoga Springs, NY).

“Both Coach Mott and Assistant Coach Cherith Greenwood are really excited to start this season, much like the rest of the team,” said second-year women’s rower Elyce Opheim ’09.

Rounding out the set of fall sports teams is women’s volleyball, who played their first match on Wednesday, Sept. 6; the men’s and women’s tennis teams, both of whom begin with tournaments on Saturday, Sept. 9; the men’s and women’s rugby teams, who hold their season debuts on Saturday, Sept. 9 and Sunday, Sept. 10, respectively; and women’s golf, who also has their first tournament, the St. Lawrence Invitational, on Sept. 9 and Sept. 10.