Snow Makes Preparing for Spring Sports a Nightmare

It's the beginning of March and, what a surprise, the snow is still falling. Welcome to life in New England.

This year, however, the inclement weather has become a particular hassle for those who play spring sports on the varsity level. The teams have yet to get outdoors, and with eight inches still on the ground, the prospect of normal practice seems more like a distant hope.

The men's lacrosse squad was scheduled to open their season last Wednesday against Holy Cross. However, both that game and today's contest against Ivy-rival Cornell have been postponed.

"It's frustrating," freshman George Reed said. "We want to get the season going."

Besides not being able to play, the team has been forced to deal with an odd practice schedule. It has been sharing Lavietes Pavilion with the women's team, the baseball team and the softball team as well.

The result of all of this competition for gym time has been a tough practice schedule for everyone. The teams alternate morning, afternoon and night workouts.

That means that on one day the baseball team might have 6:00 a.m. practice in Lavietes while the women's lacrosse squad is practicing at the Business School.

Later that night, the men's lacrosse team would have their limited turf time at 7 p.m., and then, the softball squad would take over at 9 p.m.

The next day, this whole complicated schedule would get turned upside down.

"Sure, the schedule is tough, but you get used to it when you're doing it everyday," men's lacrosse co-captain Chris Wojcik said.

The weather has clearly put the Crimson at a disadvantage early in the season.

"A big part of lacrosse is the transition game, and that is particularly true for our team," Wojcik added. "You just can't practice that inside and that will clearly be noticeable in our first few games."

Much of this holds true for the women's lacrosse team as well. They, too, are struggling through an awkward practice schedule at Lavietes, an area entirely too compact for an effective workout.

The team is scheduled to open its regular season next Tuesday at home against Boston College. As of now, the game is still on, but it will most likely be moved to either Boston College or Boston University, both of which have astroturf fields.

"It's definitely disappointing to have a home game moved because we play so few of them," said junior defenseman Mary Eileen Duffy.

However, the women have not been totally crippled by the weather. The team had the luxury of spending last weekend at a pre-season tournament at William and Mary in Virginia.

"That's a big advantage for us against local competition," Duffy added. "We got to play a lot of games outside and we got to work on a lot of things that we can't do here."

The feelings of the lacrosse teams are echoed by members of both the baseball and softball squads, who may not get outside until their traditional spring break sojourns to Florida.

The bad weather has also affected those competing for both Harvard and Radcliffe crew, who are waiting patiently to get out onto the water.

The record amount of snow that has besieged Cambridge this winter has left Harvard athletes struggling to cope with limited activity. Members of the spring sports teams may be awaiting spring even more than the rest of us.