Are CSC athletes dedicated in summer?

With Castleton spring sports coming to a close, that means summer is coming. But with summer fun comes other responsibilities for athletes to keep their bodies tuned for when they return in the fall.
Some will likely come into camp in the fall out of shape and may not be able to do the running or requirements. But for the baseball team, that may not exactly be the case.
Castleton Baseball Coach Ted Shipley said he supports his players in whatever they chose to do over summer – as long as they are improving and working on individual elements of their game.
"We expect our players to compete in a collegiate summer baseball program. We start searching for these programs in the fall and it allows our players to work on different elements of their game," Shipley said. "Some of our players work over the summer as well, so it might not be ideal for them financially to be able to just up and leave to North Carolina or somewhere like that. Others take the summer to rest because they have played too much."
 But Shipley said he believes hard work in the summer pays off.
"If you're not trying to improve, then you're going to get passed by," he said.
Even though daily summer workouts are expected by athletes in just about every sport at Castleton, it doesn't mean that they are in fact being completed. Without coaches hounding them, they can be easy to skip. But for Castleton football player Kyle Higgins, he gets that at home too.
"Well over the summer I am home in New Jersey with my family, but that doesn't mean I'm sitting at home on the couch playing Madden," Higgins said. "My dad is the head football coach at our local high school, so I like to go and do workouts with him and try to learn and help out some of the younger guys."
Higgins continued on expressing his love and passion for the game and what it truly means to him to be a Spartan and be the best player he can be.
"Football has always been a huge part of mine and my family's life. My father was just inducted into the New Jersey Football Hall of Fame for coaching, my uncles and brothers are involved with football at other levels also. I just want to make them proud, so it would be stupid of me not to stay in shape and do the workouts. I want to succeed at Castleton and playing football, but more importantly I want to succeed in life and so far football has been my calling."
Castleton softball player Ruby Bushey also does what she can to stay at the highest level while on summer break.
"We get required workouts from our coaches, but I don't live near a gym because I live in the middle of nowhere Vermont," Bushey said. "But my job as being a life guard allows me to work out as much as I want and on a beautiful, hot, summer day, who doesn't want to swim in a pool or lake?"
 But some feel summertime is a time for vacations, spending time with family and friends, having fun and getting a break away from the college life. So although some athletes like Higgins and Bushey are trying to stay in shape, others may have other priorities.
"I try to follow the workouts as much as I can," Castleton Football player D.J Keough said. "But I am just so busy in the summer that it gets hard to fit time in for a set workout. I have a job which keeps me constantly moving all summer, but I do find time to work out other ways like biking, hiking, swimming, and playing other sports. I won't lie and say I do every workout every day, because I don't, but when it's time to get serious, then I know what I need to do."
As some athletes can continue to play sports throughout the summer, it may be a bit more challenging for a team like the women's hockey team, but Head Coach Bill Bowes said a lack of ice shouldn't stop players from staying in shape.
"Brittany Higgins, our strength and conditioning coach, hands out a set of workouts for the summer that include cardio and weight lifting. Some workouts get missed because of working, social lives and spending time with friends and family, but most of our athletes do some sort of working out," he said.
According to Bowes, his athletes accomplish this in various ways.
"Some play hockey in other places like overseas, and some like to get away from hockey because that's all they do from September until May. But we like to have them shoot a lot of slap shots, even if it's in their driveway at home," he said.

 

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