How SHS Athletes Prepare for the School Year

For Scituate High School student-athletes, athletic commitments don’t stop in June. Most SHS teams are involved in summer programs, leagues, and practices when they build the skills and values for their team that will be helpful during their season. 

This past summer, captains had to take roles they weren’t especially familiar with, as coaches had to take a step back due to certain rules by the MIAA limiting their off-season duties. Senior girls’ soccer captain at SHS, Samantha Roman, explained how “the team started to come together through the morning captain’s practices on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.” Roman explained how helpful these practices were, as they began to “build team chemistry and get the team prepared for a demanding season.” 

This past August, the girls’ soccer team and the Varsity football team got together to play a friendly–yet very competitive–game of soccer. The teams wanted to get the school comradery going before the school year started, and it has paid off as crowds have come through big at the football and soccer games so far. This friendly game ended in a 6-5 win for the girls’ team, but senior football captain Keegan Sullivan says they want a rematch. That is just one of the ways teams enjoyed a fun, inclusive, and productive summer.

Senior boys’ basketball captain Sam Benning was crucial in leading the team in their summer league against Division l teams, including BC High, Catholic Memorial, and Newton North. “This league was really beneficial for our team because we got to play bigger, stronger, faster teams than we will ever play in our season,” Benning explained. 

Along with junior girls’ basketball guard Lindsey Hausman, Benning did express some distress in their long commute to games that took place in Wellesley and Halifax, MA. Both, however, felt as though the hour-long drives were worth it to go up against some difficult competition in the pre-season and keep training hard during the summer months.

The football team also worked hard during the off-season, preparing for an exciting year ahead of them. Senior wide receiver and defensive back, James Cannon, explained how the team has been lifting and training all summer, led by lifting coach Quinn Sweeney. According to Cannon, the lifting program has “brought the team chemistry to another level before the season even started.” He went on to emphasize how it was “good to see all grades be able to work together to make each other better” before the season had even begun.

With MIAA rules, it can be tough for sports teams to keep up with practicing and conditioning together during the summer. However, despite the obstacles, SHS teams have proven their dedication through different inter-team organized training programs during the summer months.