Preparing for the Soccer Season 
 
Erica Carleton 

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    For many high-level athletes there is no such thing as an off-season. This is true especially for soccer players. In soccer there is club soccer and high school soccer which are two different seasons with two different teams, sometimes overlapping. In Georgia, you play club soccer in the spring and club soccer in the fall and winter. Many teams even practice for a majority of the summer to make sure they are ready to compete for games in the fall.  

    Many soccer players workout a lot over their month-long off-season to stay in shape. To get ready for the high school season the coaches of the Hillgrove soccer team have conditioning three days a week from the first week in November till tryouts in January. Just about every school in Cobb County does this to be prepared for the season and just to be able to compete with all the other schools in the region. Morgan Maurer, a sophomore who plays on the Hillgrove varsity soccer team, stated “Conditioning for last season was pretty hard and I know this season they are going to be harder so we can be a better team this season.” These conditioning sessions are overlapping with club practices, so many of the girls have to go from one to the next. This means they have two practices in one day. 

    For many of the girls on the team the hard part is not before the season it is before big games. The girls not only have to be physically prepared for the games they must also be mentally prepared. Bailey Baxter, a sophomore center back for the girls Hillgrove varsity team, says “I mentally prepare myself by putting my headphones in and listening to music by myself.” Many athletes need alone time before games so they can get themselves ready to play. Bailey Baxter also said, “I have to be alone before games so I can have time to think of everything I need to work on and do throughout the game.”  

    Creating good habits, such as staying on top of your fitness during the offseason, eating right on gamedays, and even being hydrated, can be so helpful in preparing for games. Many people forget that this is still a part of being prepared. It is easy for athletes to forget these good habits during the offseason and they tend to pay for it once the season starts. They have to play the first game and are not prepared. They are usually quick to pick them up again once they get back into the swing of things. 


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