Fall 2021 Semester Thoughts

Fall 2021 Semester Thoughts

And just like that, the fall semester has come to a close.  Our athletes have returned home for a much deserved and needed break.  As coaches we plan and plan and plan for a semester and in the blink of an eye it is over.

In all honesty I wasn’t sure what to expect this fall semester with so many new throwers joining the team.  In total we had 11 throwers this semester.  Five freshmen and six returning throwers.  

I didn’t know what to expect because you never know how a group of individuals are going to come together as a TEAM.  It became quite evident early on that they were going to get along just fine.

Now that isn’t to say that there weren’t some hiccups along the way, but for the majority of the semester we were able to put together a solid string of training sessions that produced nice throws at Houghton College and Utica College at the end of the semester.

As I’ve written previously, when the weather turned we were only able to practice indoors on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.  A much more reasonable set up compared to training from 8:30pm - 10:30pm last spring semester.  

In my opinion, the most difficult part of the competitive season begins - winter break.  It isn’t difficult in the sense of being away from the throwers, but how the throwers spend their time when they are away.  Essentially, all the great work that has been completed this fall semester can quickly become unraveled if the throwers don’t keep up with their training regimens.  

I understand that it may be difficult to throw over break.  In my four years at SUNY Fredonia, I never brought home a weight or shot to train with over the winter break.  Now that I think about it, I’m not quite sure I was able to bring one home.  What I was able to continue building upon was my strength levels.  My younger brother and I got winter break gym memberships at a local powerlifting type gym and made a lot of growth over the five weeks we were home together.  At that time, we didn’t do much of anything besides go train at the gym and play video games while we were home for break.  He was a freshman and I was a senior, the perfect training partner.