Athletes React Differently to Free Time when Seasons End

A row of now-empty lockers looks as forlorn as athletes faces now that the fall season has ended. (Photo: Katie Rodriguez)

The practice soccer field lies vacant except for leaves blowing around in the brisk fall wind. A trail of grass no longer leads to the locker rooms in the back hallway of the Commons. There are no soccer players in the training room nursing bruised shins, or women’s volleyball players heating up a sore shoulder, and cross country runners no longer stretch outside the team entrance to the Commons. The fall sports season is over.

Michael Jordan once said, “When I step onto the court, I don’t have to think about anything. If I have a problem off the court, I find that after I play, my mind is clearer and I can come up with a better solution. It’s like therapy. It relaxes me and allows me to solve problems.” Once the season ends, it is always difficult for athletes to transition back into life without the practices and games they used as a source of stress relief and “therapy.”

Junior men’s soccer player Jackson Maust said, “The first week after the end of the season felt so wrong, and was pretty depressing. Soccer was a source of a lot of inspiration and challenge and was a huge way to release stress and focus on something I really enjoy, so without that I was really off balance for a while.” Junior women’s soccer player Katie Lehman echoed Maust, saying, “The first week off felt really empty. I wasn’t ready to be done yet. I missed the release of exercise and the two hour break that I got from studying and all the things that stress you out during the day.”

These athletes also have to deal with not seeing their teammates everyday. “The first week off was really weird, not seeing the same people that you spent so much time with. There just isn’t much else like being on a team together. You just don’t have that same bond with many people, and after season you have to deal with going from seeing them at least two hours a day, to hardly at all,” said sophomore soccer player Mary Dunn.

Sarah Roth, an all-ODAC first team field hockey player, said, “The first week after the season is over is such a big adjustment, more than I think some people realize. The season is an integral part of your life for four months and it ends so quickly. It’s always bitter-sweet…. It’s nice to have more time and opportunity to relax, but I always want to continue playing.” Luckily for Roth, she has two more years to compete for the Royals.

The end of this season is unlike any other for senior soccer player Ben Yoder. “I think the hardest thing for me is knowing that there isn’t going to be a next year. My whole life I have always had the chance for a new start next year, and this year, cleaning out my locker was tough because I put all my soccer stuff in a big box and thought, ‘Man, I might not open this for awhile.’” Cleaning out the locker room is always hard for athletes at the end of the season.

“Cleaning out the locker room was a really eerie, depressing feeling. None of my teammates were around, so I was alone with all my stuff that reminded me of all the things I went through in the season, good and bad. I was just left with the fact that I’d have to wait nine months to play again, and that the next one would be my last. That’s a weird feeling,” said Maust.

After a few weeks of being done with their seasons, the fall athletes have filled their time with homework and catching up with friends. Many have also began running and lifting in preparation for next season. But in their minds, they still wish their seasons could have lasted a little longer.

Senior Ben Yoder leaves these words for the returning athletes: “Soak up everything in your four years of playing. Remember the good times and the good memories. It goes by quick, and before you know it, it is over. Also, play because you love to play, not because you think you should or you think somebody will be upset if you don’t, but play because you love the sport and you love the friendships and bonds you build with teammates that will last a long time.”