Hit. Run. Jump. Spike. Score. Win. The life of an athlete may sometimes never seem to cease.  While some look to the end of their high school season as a time to relax, others take advantage of the time off to prepare for their upcoming club seasons.

Senior Kristen Dowell runs club track with a team in Cahokia.  She uses it as a way to stay in shape over the summer and improve her technique.  There is the communicating aspect that goes along with club sports as well.

“My favorite part [of club] is socializing and hanging with my teammates,” Dowell said. “Running in the summer heat would be a lot worse without them.”  Along with all of this bonding comes a lot of hard work, sometimes even more than that of the high school season.

Sophomore Austin Toby plays club soccer for St. Louis Scott Gallagher and says his main reason for playing club is simply to get better.

“It may not always be fun but it’s really good training and we play a lot of teams from out of state,” Toby said.

However, playing a club sport comes with big responsibilities.

“Going out of town does get old after a while because I don’t get to hang out with my friends from school,” Toby said.  This is a problem many athletes face.  When asked by someone else to hang out they tend to reply with an overused “Sorry I can’t, I have practice.”  Just ask any athlete and they will tell you that they have had to use this line or something similar.

Senior Armon Fletcher does not seem to mind the traveling, but wishes that his parents did not have to spend as much money on him for it.  Fletcher plays basketball for a team called the Jets out of St. Louis.

“My favorite part of club season is staying in the hotels with the team,” Fletcher said.  “You get to play the best competition, build relationships, receive exposure and get better.”

So much hard work goes into a season to try to make it better than the last, all in an athlete’s hopes to possibly play in college.