As fall season comes to an end, preseason for winter and spring sports are just beginning. Preseason for boys and girls basketball, boys and girls lacrosse, boys and girls wrestling are in full swing. Some sports, like girls basketball, have been in preseason for months already, and have been practicing in the offseason with the goal of helping players refine their skills and improving the team as a whole.
Girls (and boys) wrestling officially starts on November 18th, 2024, and the team is currently participating in preseason practices together at Conifer high school.
“Wrestling is one of those sports that you don’t really need additional training or conditioning to get fit enough to play, so in preseason we’ve been getting the basics down to the point where it becomes muscle memory,” Junior Olivia Adamson said. Adamson plays multiple sports, including rugby, lacrosse and swim. Even with overlapping seasons, she has managed to participate in both preseason and official practices for her sports, though her main focus is currently on wrestling.
(Amelia Hobgood)
Boys basketball starts on the same day as girls wrestling. Although preseason practices aren’t quite as often as wrestling, the players have been continuing to work hard. Jack Peterson is a junior, and plays both football and basketball for Conifer. With his football season nearing an end, he has been focusing more attention on basketball preseason.
“We do open gym, open shooting, training and plyometrics, which is box jumping, high conditioning training and intensity intervals,” Peterson said. The boys basketball team preseason practices currently consist of dribbling fundamentals, conditioning and drills.
“We practice a lot, and talk to coaches about what they want us to be doing. We’ve been doing scrimmages to teach us about game play,” Sophomore Taydin Severs said. This is Severs first year playing basketball for Conifer, and he has attended a lot of preseason sessions to take advantage of the offseason.
“Fall Ball” for boys lacrosse just ended, and their preseason starts in a few months. Fall ball consisted of one practice per week, and one game on the weekend.
“Starting in January we do box lacrosse, which is on an indoor field. It’s the same thing as the spring season,” Senior Payden Devaney said. Devaney has played lacrosse for 7 years, and is goalie for Conifer’s varsity team. During January preseason, it’s harder to find field space due to other sports, so they play indoors on a hockey rink with a pad covering the ice. The official start of the high school season is in March of 2024, where practices and games become a lot more regular.
“(Practice is) a lot of conditioning, mostly, and dialing in stick skills, figuring out which players go on Varsity and which players go on JV, and getting the team ready for
the season,” Devaney said. Girls lacrosse has a slightly different season schedule, but are also in preseason. Their season officially starts in February of 2024, and they have been in preseason since late summer.
“We have practice once a week right now, we do stick work, games and shooting, and we have a lot of fun,” Junior Keira Scanlon said. Scanlon has been playing lacrosse since third grade, and this is her third year playing for Conifer. She has been attending many different lacrosse camps to improve her strength, speed and skills alongside some of her teammates.
“We do shooting, some conditioning and ground ball drills, mostly,” Sophomore Lyla Devaney said. She has also been focusing on improving in the offseason, as well as participating in club lacrosse outside of Conifer. While girls lacrosse doesn’t start for a few months, girls basketball starts their official training next week.
Sophomore Marley Brown plays girls basketball for Conifer, and this is her first year. Preseason started in July, where open gyms and shooting practice were offered. Practices have been increasing in number since summer break, and focus on fundamentals has shifted to focus on game tactics and more advanced skills.
“We just go through our drills, getting ready for the season. We do this drill where we have to dribble two balls and run across the court,” Brown said. Girls basketball officially starts on November 20th, 2024, with tryouts on November 18th and 19th.
Starting to practice early and continue refining skills in the offseason can help teams grow closer and help players to improve.
“I’ve definitely improved. In the beginning of the season, I couldn’t even dribble, but it gets easier every day.” Brown said.
![The Conifer Lobo’s L4 Volleyball team celebrating their win against Little High School. After all 3 sets of the game, they felt the energy from the win and showed their passion for the game. “I feel pretty good about [our record].” Freshman Victoria Stewart said, “We’re doing pretty good.”](https://chstoday.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-08-4.25.47-PM.png)
