After finishing a long day of school, student athletes head to their sport practices, having to switch mindsets quickly from an academic to athletic setting. Different sports practice at different times — before school, after school or even later in the day — but which practice time is actually the best?
Cross country senior chooses his ideal practice time
The cross country team practices right after school at 4 p.m. for anywhere between 1 to 1.5 hours. Senior Jack Tong said that he typically goes into practice slightly sleepy from a whole day of school, but that makes it a good practice time because the exercise serves to wake him up.
Still, Tong’s chosen practice time would be before school, with sports as the only factor in mind. Other factors like showering and commute time make morning practice slightly more complicated.
“I like the weather when it’s early in the morning. However, it’s not easy to go home, take a shower and come back to school,” Tong said.
Swim practices early morning and after school
The swim team practices after school from 4 to 6 p.m. but also has early morning practices from 5:45 to 7:15 a.m. Senior Taewon Yim, a longtime and talented swimmer, prefers the mornings, even if they are early.
“I kind of like the morning practices because it wakes you up and gets you going in the morning,” Yim said.
Girls’ volleyball teams fight over the gym
The JV girls’ volleyball team practices from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Freshman Lillian Ma finds this practice time unideal, preferring an earlier start. The awkward time gap between the end of school and the start of practice cuts into time to complete homework.
“When you get home, you have a little bit of time to do work, but then you have to get ready for practice. Then once you get back from practice, needing to take a shower also wastes my time,” Ma said. “By the time I start homework, I’m really tired.”
Unfortunately, the JV team is forced to have this later practice time because varsity takes the slot right after school. Freshman Siena Baldwin considers this the best practice time.
“It’s easier to go from school right to practice. You don’t have to drive home and then drive back and you can get all of your homework done after practice instead of getting cut in the middle by practice,” Baldwin said.
Field hockey senior prefers a later practice time
Field Hockey has previously held practice from 4 to 6 p.m., but due to different availability of coaches and the upper field, they switched to 5 to 7 p.m. in the most recent season. Senior Sophia Farone notes the impact of daylight savings on sports across different seasons on deciding practice times, but ultimately chooses 5 to 7 p.m. as her ideal practice time.
“You get a little time to do work, but you also have a break in the middle. 5 to 7 p.m. isn’t crazy late but I feel like most people would probably prefer 4 to 6 p.m.,” Farone said.
Football senior finds the block schedule problematic
Football practices start at 4:15 p.m. on red days and 4 p.m. on blue days. Senior varsity player Larry O’Brien is satisfied with the start time on Red Days.
“But on Blue Days, it’s kind of annoying because there’s an hour between when practice starts and school ends, which is not enough time to actually get stuff done and get ready for practice at the same time,” O’Brien said. “It’d be better on Blue Days if it started right after school at 3 p.m.”
Dance team has tried afterschool and evening practice times
The dance team has previously practiced right after school, but the schedule of the new coach has led to an adjusted practice schedule of late in the evenings, around 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Senior captain May Gendeh prefers the earlier practice time.
“It’s more productive. If practice is right after school, dance is my break from school work. When I go back home, I can immediately jump into doing work,” Gendeh said.
Having practice in the evening wastes time, as a break is necessary right after school to recharge, leading to less time to work with peak productivity. Gendeh also brings up another problem — dinner time. Eating before 7 p.m. feels a little early, but after 9 p.m. is also too late. She recalls practice during 7th period in freshman year as her favorite practice time.
Across these different sports, there is a general consensus that sports practice is most ideal when it is right after school.
