We train. We fuel. We play. We repeat. It’s more than just this endless cycle, though. How do the crowd, mid-game thoughts, and strategy play a role in athletic success?
Every athlete goes through a slightly different experience during a game, but you always have to think on your feet. Where do you go next? Who’s open? Who do you have to beat?
Ava Slivka is a freshman and a swing player for varsity and JV field hockey. She says, “If I’m in a game, I just stay focused and try my best to come up with an idea with my teammates.”
If Ava is on the bench, she is cheering for everyone on the field, trying to motivate them, too. In many ways, the team is like family.
“There are some games where we have to be really careful and strategic with everything. Where’s the ball? Where do I go?” says Katherine Patraitis, a freshman on the varsity volleyball team. She also plays basketball and softball for the school.
Of her mid-game mindset, she says, “Communication is a huge part of it, especially because volleyball is very crammed. You have to communicate. Sometimes you think that the person next to you is going to get the ball, but they thought you were going to get it, and you lose the point. Communication also provides morale, and overall, energy and positive words can help the team.”
What about the crowd, though? Does it have an impact on athletes?
Katherine says, “I think the crowd definitely helps. It feels so nice to have people supporting you.”
Vivien Bregman is a sophomore and a cross country, indoor, and outdoor track runner. Her take on it is this: “The crowd can give you adrenaline. Everyone’s cheering for you. Honestly, when you’re doing really well in the start of a race but are going out too fast, the crowd hyping you up can help you convince yourself to hold on. That’ll help you run a better time.”
The crowd isn’t always helpful, though. It can be detrimental.
“If you listen to what some parents say in the crowd (in some games), they’re constantly saying you should be doing this or you should be doing that. If you listen to that, it’ll drive you crazy. You have to do what you prepared to do and trust yourself,” says Howie Bottomley, an alumnus and famous figure at Sutton High. He has played practically every sport you can name, has coached at multiple levels, and still continues to show up to support students at sporting events and practices.
Howie adds that “In some sports, the crowd is so motivating, it’s unbelievable. In track and field, if you’re doing a sprint or a two miler, the crowd motivates you. They don’t distract from what you’re doing. In those sports like triathlons, running, track, and cross country, the crowd really gets you. In a basketball game, it can but not always. You try to block some of that out.”
Strategy also plays an important role in how athletics go. Coaches set the strategy and plays beforehand, so the team is prepared going in, knowing what they have to do to be successful. It’s up to them to carry out the plan.
In some sports, strategy is much more individual. For example, in cross country, if a runner is having a bad race, there may not always be a teammate with a close time to them to pick up the slack. A runner’s body has to be in very good condition for every meet in order to race well each time.
Vivien Bregman says, “We usually talk about strategy and goals as a team the day before a race. Going into every race I usually have two goals – one goal that I think is pretty reachable that’ll make me feel positive about the experience, and then I have a secondary goal or my ‘reach’ goal.”
She says to herself, “What do I need to accomplish for the team to do well? Who’s the person I need to hang on to? What pack (of runners) do I have to stay with?”
Scoring in cross country is based on what place runners come in, so it’s especially important in championship meets to pass as many people as possible and stay close to teammates.
When considering strategy, Katherine says, “ I just think of how I want to play like I want to be really energetic today and give it my all…In volleyball, I’m definitely thinking about how I can attack the net more aggressively. I think about how I can time my blocks better, and that’s important.”
Come back for part three next week to learn about preparation the night before a game and its importance.
