Students all look forward to Christmas Break not only to be done with school, but also to have the chance to sleep and relax — for student athletes, this is not the case.

Some student athletes are opposed to the idea of having practices over break, others feel practices would be beneficial to the team.

“I don’t know, I kind of like having practice,” second season Varsity Girls Basketball player Maddy Edwards said.

Students usually spend their break on vacation or visiting with family. For student athletes, they must be prepared for practice, or be prepared to face the consequences that come with missing.

“It gives me something to do because I don’t have anything else planned for break,” Edwards said.

To stay in shape and to make sure plays are fresh in athletes’ minds are some reasons as to why coaches encourage practice over break.

This year, the Girls Basketball team is participating in a Winter Tournament, so coaches Ellen Allen and David Noonan are requiring their team to practice almost everyday over break in order to ensure their players are prepared to get right back into the groove of the season.

“I feel that practice is necessary over break,” Noonan said. “Now that we have a tournament, we need to try to prepare for each team a little bit at a time over each practice and scout teams before and after each game.”

Another topic of disagreement is whether these student athletes want to wake up early during their winter break.

Some think that having to get up early for practice over break is not the most ideal situation, but there are a handful of athletes that disagree with going in late for practice.

“I don’t usually plan anything for over break,” senior Sara Hume said.

In some players opinions, practice times should be varied, but since both the boys and girls basketball teams are practicing, their times are interchangeable.

“I personally like practicing early,” Hume said. “As long as I have time to still watch Christmas movies after practice, I have no objections.”

This winter, student athletes have to wake up and gear up to practice with their teams. Students and coaches are not only practicing over break, but enhancing their game by participating in camps and tournaments.

Coaches are always looking for a way to make their team better and by making practice over break mandatory, they are making room for improvement and giving way to a better season.