For student athletes, summer break doesn’t mean a break from sports but rather a time to train for the upcoming season.

Senior Megan Stanislowski of Wall plays volleyball for Wall High School. She starts practicing with her team in July. Tryouts are held in August, after which practices are held every morning.

The Wall senior will put in about 50 hours before her season even starts.

“Practice is a lot of drills to make sure our technical skills are perfect, and then practice games within the team to use the skills in a real life situation,” Stanislowski said.

For Stanislowski, the day starts at 7:15 in the morning, when she arrives at the gym to set up the net. Practice officially starts at 7:30. A tough day includes conditioning such as sprints and a “sock drill” to practice diving. It also consists of technical skill drills to improve passing, footwork, and movements. Practice concludes at 10:00.

Sophomore Meredith Prud’homme of Ocean, who plays on the Ocean tennis team during the fall, experiences a similar preseason schedule. Her practices start in July and then become daily around mid-August. Each practice lasts for two hours and involves “match play” in order to rank the players prior to the season’s start.

Both Stanislowski and Prud’homme do training on their own on top of team practices. Stanislowski plays in a volleyball league while Prud’homme teaches tennis.

This kind of commitment to sports can affect different aspects of an athlete’s life.  Stanislowski said she misses out on sleeping in due to the early morning practices. For Prud’homme, practices are later on, which means her sleeping schedule is unaffected but she must sometimes miss out on time with friends.

Senior Mary Lykes of Howell, who does not participate in any sports, said this much training for a sport is something she would never partake in.

“I can see why [the athletes choose to train this much], it’s just not the life for me personally,” Lykes said.

Despite the drawbacks, both Stanislowski and Prud’homme said that there are major benefits to their hard work.

“All the effort my team puts in pays off for the season,” Prud’homme said. “The training and practicing beforehand creates a strong union between me and my teammates.”

Stanislowski said that her coaches make practices enjoyable.

“We get to listen to music and play some really fun games and just enjoy volleyball,” Stanislowski said.

Prud’homme and Stanislowski agree that summer preseason training, although time consuming, is necessary to build a strong team come fall.

“In order to have a good season, you have to start practicing and playing before the actual season … our preseason helps us to rebuild our skills from scratch and practice new moves and plays which strengthens our team and helps us to do better in the regular season,” Stanislowski said.

Overall, the athletes said that they are more than willing to devote their time and energy to their sports.

“All the preparation that goes into the season is very worth it,” Prud’homme said. “Ocean Township is very good athletically and it makes me very proud to call myself a member of such a dedicated and successful program.”