Playing a spring sport in New England is not for the faint of heart. Spring athletes at Keene State start their practice schedule early in the winter and have to deal with whatever Mother Nature throws at them. These athletes do not let this phase them.
Athletes roll with the punches when it comes to practice times. KSC Women’s Lacrosse Head Coach Travis Wyant explained, “Our grounds crew is fantastic.”
“They clear [the snow] very quickly,” said Wyant. Wyant expressed his gratitude to the grounds crew as the teams had not missed a practice due to snow so far during the season.
On Thursday, Feb. 27, the women’s lacrosse team was scheduled to play in its second game of the season at home. Early Thursday morning, the athletics office got a phone call from the grounds crew. The tractor that is used to clear snow had broken down, and the field was unable to get cleared. This meant the game was no longer able to be played. Athletic Director Marty Testo explained what needed to take place next. After speaking with the opponents for the game, Norwich University, Testo became aware of the deadline on when the decision needed to be made about the game. Norwich needed to let their bus company know by 10:30 a.m. if they needed to cancel before getting charged. The game was subsequently postponed for the next day, and also moved to Norwich instead of Keene.
“We have to communicate very well,” said Testo. Fans, bus companies and officials needed to be alerted about the change rapidly. “The broken machine really impacts [the] lacrosse teams from even practicing,” Testo explained. This meant that the teams had to pivot their schedule and then practice inside.
First-year Caroline Demeo plays on both the women’s hockey and lacrosse teams. Demeo deals with the cold conditions by “layering up.” Demeo and Wyant both said they believe this does not set back the team at all. “We kind of thrive [off the cold],” said Wyant.
Demeo’s key for staying healthy for both seasons is taking breaks and spending time in the gym. Demeo and Wyant worked together to get Demeo time to rest before jumping into lacrosse, but also making sure she was acclimated with the team and cold. “I am so excited for the season,” said Demeo.
Playing on a natural grass surface changes things for softball and baseball. Baseball’s practice schedule is “all over the map,” Head Coach Justin Blood explained. The team practices at a different time each day. “These have been some long days for the guys,” said Blood. The biggest caveat to this is that each practice is indoors due to the field not being ready for the team. This changes year to year. Last year at this time the team was able to practice outside, but due to the brutal winter this year this has not been the case.
Due to the field’s condition, the team plays its first 15 games on the road. “I try to schedule our first 15-20 games on turf with programs I know will put the effort to get the game in,” said Blood. This minimizes the chance of losing games. Blood emphasised his appreciation to the donors. The donors allow the team to get field rentals and other things to help combat this setback.
Finding space at Keene State is not an easy task. The college utilizes a program called “25Live.” This service shows all spaces for rent and coaches use the program to schedule their practices within various facilities. The program gives priority to varsity sports that are in their traditional season. Other out-of-season sports use this system with second priority. Club and intramural sports also have access to the system to schedule games themselves.
Carson Flake can be contacted at
cflake@kscequinox.com
