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At Wayland High School, most sport team captains host captain’s practices in preparation for the upcoming season. Captain’s practices are held by the teams’ captains during the weeks prior to tryouts. Captains encourage prospective players for their respective sport to come to the practices, which are typically announced in a Facebook group.
Track captain senior Giovanni Sebastianelli has been running since elementary school. Sebastianelli loves the Wayland track environment because he sees the team as a big family. He has high hopes for his track team this year, hopeful they have what it takes to win every meet they go to. Sebastianelli hosted some captain’s practices before the season began and felt they helped some of his teammates during the beginning of the season.
“At our pre-season practices, we split up into sprints, distance and throwers and then each group will practice drills and do workouts helping their events,” Sebastianelli said.
For underclassmen on the team, like sophomore Riley O’Driscoll, she feels that captain’s practices help with team bonding and make her aware of what to expect for the season.
“I like captain’s practices because they’re a great way to get to know the people you’re spending [the] season with, and it’s nice to know who the captains are and who to go to for questions if I can’t ask my coaches,” O’Driscoll said.
For baseball, the pre-season practices looked a little different. Baseball captain senior Ezra Wyner has been playing baseball for 12 years. This year, the baseball team is small in numbers, but Wyner enjoys his small team as this fosters a close-knit feeling for the team. Wyner believes that his teammates worked hard during pre-season and are heavily committed to the team. He is excited to win games, get closer to his teammates and put in the work as a team.
“Our captain practices are usually very similar to our normal practices where we start it off with stretching and running to warm up,” Wyner said. “We then move to the field and work on and go through fielding and batting practice.”
The boys lacrosse team has a different approach to pre-season captains practices. Boys lacrosse captain senior Charlie Lieb has played the sport for 13 years. He sees that the team this year cares about having fun and working hard. Lieb is excited about a new coach coming onto the field and he is ready for a competitive season. Lieb feels prepared because of the pre-season practices he has run.
“In the captains’s practices, I focused on running high-intensity drills with defense and offense because they are super fun and build the skills which I think will be most important for our team this year,” Lieb said.
Boys lacrosse players find these captain’s practices very beneficial and they believe that the practices impact how the season turns out.
“[Captain’s practices are] a good way to start off the season,” sophomore and boys lacrosse player Ben Hammond said. “The practices are usually super fun and a little more laid back then the real practices.”
There are many reasons why pre-season captain’s practices are useful for teams at WHS. For incoming freshmen and underclassmen, they help with understanding how to play a sport at a high school level, meeting people in different grades and understanding what high school is all about. For upperclassman, they help with understanding playing styles, bonding with underclassmen and are a great chance to try new drills and technique before tryouts.
“I think the practices can help show you who was putting in the work throughout the off-season, and I like how they bring the team together, which is always a good thing,” junior and baseball player Luke Chisum said.
