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Sports

Sports Teams Try to Make the Most of Break

Gap between games, meets can be a challenge for athletes.

Unlike their peers in fall and spring, winter athletes are challenged with staying motivated and fit during a lenghty break from competition due to the Christmas and News Year's holidays.

While all athletes are in the same boat, how each team chooses to deal with the time off can differ.

Though most of the  varsity teams don't like having to take breaks that, for some, can surpass two weeks, athletes and coaches are trying to remain optimistic.

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The , for example, has to endure one of the longest breaks. The Bears last had a meet Dec. 16 and will not face an opponent again until Jan. 6 – a three-week span.

"The long break is rough, but it actually allows us to have longer practices with more intense yardage,"  said. "It can be frustrating having to work around the schedule of the school, but the boys are flexible and so am I.

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"Morale can be tricky during the break, as people go off on vacations and such, but most of the boys find a school or pool or YMCA to practice at, and I write workouts for them to complete. The only person they hurt if they don't choose to do the workouts is themselves."

Like swimming,  plans to concentrate on intense workouts until competition picks back up again Jan. 5.

"The long break I actually enjoy," Berkley assistant wrestling coach Chris Ekola said. "It gives us plenty of time to really grind and put a lot of mat time in. It's a good time to fine tune our technique and learn new things. There are no worries of weight or challenge matches.

Ekola said that to keep practices interesting, they play a few games. "It's not only fun, but works on conditioning at the same time," Ekola said. 'We try to get in the pool to get a different workout in (before) our daily routine.  We try to keep things interesting."

The swim team also tries to break up the monotony of lengthy practices with some fun activities. For example, the Bears will throw in a a game of water polo to change up workouts.

The coaches also held a pancake breakfast Wednesday for the second season in a row to help team members build some team chemistry.

"The boys come over and socialize while we put together a breakfast of pancakes, fruit, bacon, sausage, potatoes, etc.," Jenzen said. "It is kind of neat for the boys to see that the coaches are real people, too, and it's a time for everyone to interact outside of the pool." 

The is trying to liven up practices by playing music and throwing in an occasional lightening game for fun.

"Right now, it can actually be a very good thing for us just to be able to work on some more fundamental things," said Berkley girls' basketball coach Jordan Gruppen, whose team is 0-4. "Different things we couldn't work on at the beginning of practice and maybe adding in a few more defensive sets, things like that. In a way, it can help us, but also you lose the whole game-type situations so it's hard to simulate that in practice. There's definitely good and bad."

Despite having more than two weeks off between games, some of the girls are trying to get excited about the opportunity to fine tune their skills and build team chemistry.

"I think it makes us work harder as a team," Berkley girls' basketball senior co-captain Hanna Carter said. "I mean, it is a lot of time off facing competition, but I think it gives us a chance to challenge each other as a group and really make ourselves better as whole."

How difficult is it to return to game speed?

"I think it takes a little time," Carter said, "It really does, but I think overall once you get there, you're in the game, you're all pumped up and you're ready to go. It's not that bad because you haven't seen it for awhile, so when you do it's like, 'Yes, here it is again.' "

The , likewise, is trying to concentrate on the positives despite being faced with a double whammy. The Bears already had a 12-day span between games since beginning the season last month. They now have 13 days off for the break.

"This layoff can go both ways for our team," Berkley varsity boys' basketball coach David McGlown said. "Either we can get in the gym and practice and get better or we can get rusty and out of shape with all these holiday breaks. You always like to have games because practice can get stale and the kids can get bored and uninterested in it. When you have games the (guys) have something to look forward to and something to aim for.

"We look at the break at Berkley as a great opportunity to get in the gym and work hard to get better. We see it as another challenge along our road to our goals as a team."

One thing that will definitely work in McGlown's favor is the fact that none of the players are slated to head out of town during the break. "In the past, there were problems with this. But this year the kids have committed to being here over the break to get better together," McGlown said.

Overall, the Berkley sports teams are just trying to make the most of a schedule they cannot control.

"It makes your team stronger because that's something more you have to go through," Carter said. "And the more you have to go through with the group makes you better."

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