Monday, August 24, 1998
Bruins shape up to begin season
TEAMS: Summer practice for fall sports athletes includes
everything from hard workouts to camping trips
By Steve Kim
Daily Bruin Staff
Before a season can begin, there has to be practice. For the
fall sports at UCLA, preparation for the upcoming season has
begun.
Most athletes keep in shape with their own conditioning drills
for the summer, but the serious workouts begin about three weeks
before the season opener.
Because of the difference in academic schedules of UCLA’s
quarter system and most other schools’ semester system, student
athletes often start full-scale practices two months before they
will take their first class.
Football’s preseason training kicked off Saturday while the
men’s water polo team starts today. Athletes of other sports have
been training for a week or two.
For the ones whose season’s started earlier, it’s been a lot of
drilling, weightlifting and overdosing of sun.
"We’re pushing every practice to get to the next level," UCLA
senior soccer player Louise Lieberman said.
Both the men’s and women’s soccer teams started practicing Aug.
15 and spent four hours on the field plus weight training each
day.
"It gets tough after awhile because our bodies don’t get much
rest," said Lieberman, "It’s every day, twice a day, and we only
get one day off a week."
Fresh is the theme for women’s soccer this season. The team has
a new head coach, Todd Saldana, and a handful of freshmen. Everyone
got together for the first time for summer practice and had a taste
of the team’s freshness.
"Because there are a lot of new people, we’re working on getting
everyone involved and keeping the confidence level high," sophomore
Karissa Hampton said, "Our coach isn’t putting too much work on us.
It’s just right as far as what he demands of us on the field."
For those that followed the recommended individual workouts
during off-season, summer training can be a whole lot easier. For
those who haven’t, it’s another story.
"Their attitude when coming back depends on how much work
they’ve done during the summer," said UCLA men’s cross country head
coach Bob Larsen, "If they worked out hard they’re anxious to get
going. And they kind of want to punish those guys who didn’t do a
lot of work by running a little harder."
The men’s and women’s cross country teams will travel to Mammoth
Tuesday for their annual training camp. For 10 days, they’ll train
double days in an altitude which makes breathing, let alone
running, more difficult.
"Camp is one of their hardest times," Larsen said, "They’ll
challenge themselves pretty well up there with the high volume,
pretty high intensity training."
Workouts may be challenging, but that’s exactly how the athletes
like it, according to the women’s cross country head coach Eric
Peterson.
"They love to run like that," Peterson said, "When you sit them
down and ask them two or three things they aren’t going to miss
during the day, one will be running. It’s exhausting, but it’s also
rewarding."
The cross country teams aren’t the only ones going to camp. In
fact, the women’s volleyball team already went camping on a Malibu
ranch two weekends ago, not necessarily to train but to build team
spirit and unity.
"We went rock climbing, horseback riding and slept under the
stars," incoming freshman Angela Eckmier said, "We all came back
more fired up and together since that weekend. You think you know
everyone by looks but that weekend, we got to see everyone’s
heart."
With about half the team being freshmen and practically no
seniority, the women’s volleyball team, similar to the women’s
soccer team, is emphasizing building and bonding as well as all the
technicality of training.
Head coach Andy Banachowski remembers the when the team first
got together to train – freshmen and all.
"There was a lot of nervousness and enthusiasm because it was
all new to the freshmen and they didn’t know what was going on,"
Banachowski said, "It was actually a refreshing start to see all
the new faces in the gym. Now they all are working really well
together."
Every team starts with a clean slate, and all are anticipating a
great season as they start preseason practice. Even as training
gets tougher, these enthusiastic athletes come back for more.JUSTIN
WARREN
Karissa Hampton (left) and Larisa Kiremidjian practice on the IM
field this summer.