Click here to subscribe today or Login.
They say practice makes perfect.
While it’s hard to discredit the adage entirely there is an alternative to reps in a batting cage or passing drills on a soccer field against cones rather than defenders.
This alternative is real games.
While the high school seasons run for a virtual blip on the calendar, there are several successful programs that can trace their winning percentage and their team chemistry back to competitive off-season leagues.
The Abington Heights High School girls soccer team’s starting lineup this year nearly mirrors that of a former roster for the Abington Storm, a fall and spring travel team in the Abington Soccer Club that boasted seven Lady Comets who all played together for several years.
The Abington Ambush team, another member of the club, was the off-season squad of four other Lady Comets.
Teams like the Storm and Ambush are part of travel leagues that are open to boys and girls ages nine to 16.
According to Mike Hargrove, president of the Abington Soccer Club, the players are exposed to a higher level of play outside of the area.
“It’s nothing special we do,” said Hargrove. “These kids just play a lot of soccer.”
Abington Heights High School girls soccer head coach Chris Davis sees the value of extra time on the field, and points to Abington youth soccer as a strong feeder system for both the boys and girls soccer programs.
Sarah Holmes, an incoming senior, was a member of the Storm and the defense that lead AH to the first round of the state playoffs.
For Holmes, the greatest benefit of playing with her eventual varsity teammates was chemistry. The skill of working as a team can be difficult to develop, but the game situations bred teamwork.
The same bodes true on the diamond for the 11-3 Lackawanna Trail High School baseball team, which made it to the AA District II championship game.
Coach Todd Peters has at least five players who also play for the Black Walnut Legion team. Among those players are team home run leader Keith Miller and his brother Nick Miller, who also plays for the Moosic Mets, another travel team.
The Black Walnut team is a mash-up of Lackawanna Trail and Elk Lake players, which allows the players to build chemistry with their high school teammates and relationships with their new ones.
Peters also sees benefits in teamwork, more in-game experience and the possibility of learning new positions while playing summer Legion ball.
The struggle to build an experienced team is complicated by the small size of Lackawanna Trail.
While other high school teams participate in fall baseball, Trail forgoes that season because so many baseball players also suit up for the Lions football team. This fact increases the importance of teams like the Black Walnut Legion team to Peters’ program.
Trail baseball and Abington Heights soccer are by no means the only teams that have tapped into the formula of using off-season leagues as building block for their high school teams. The areas most successful teams in nearly any sport can say it is tied to some other program.
During the high school and travel seasons there are hours spent in practice, but that isn’t the only thing making perfection. It’s playing that makes perfect.