Smoke Creates Challenges for Owls' Practices

After three days of unhealthy air conditions that forced fall sports practices inside, Thursday’s opportunity for teams to finally hit the fields and tennis courts couldn’t come soon enough. 

Tennis, soccer, ultimate, cross country, and golf teams used the first practices as conditioning sessions, but Owl athletes were elated at the chance to start playing. “The Field House is pretty hard to practice in,” says Ultimate Co-Captain John B. (’19). “There’s no air conditioning in there and with three teams there was a lot of sweating.  A lot of our skills assessment is throwing the disc, and you can’t do that inside because if you overthrow you’ll end up having someone run into a wall.” 

Athletic Director John Wiley and Athletic Trainer Kim Stevens continually updated coaches on conditions. There’s an important reason why practices continue indoors instead of being cancelled. “The WIAA rule states that we need to get in ten practices before competition and having indoor practices count,” says Wiley. “Every school in the state is battling these conditions right now.”

The only team not impacted by the unhealthy smoke conditions is volleyball. Playing inside the gym, this year's team hopes to make a repeat trip to state. 

Cross country also has high goals. Last year’s boys’ team went to state competition, and two returning girls ran in the final race. Coach Micah Orr didn’t waste valuable practice time and had his runners working out in the Field House and Humanities Buildings. “Cross country is a sport defined by adversity, and the team has shown great flexibility and a wonderfully positive attitude,” says Orr. 

Wiley adds that this could be a record year for Overlake kids participating in sports and there will be multiple successes on and off the field. You can follow all our Owl athletes on our twitter feed and see all the latest photos and video on our Vidigami photo sharing site.  

Click here to get a look inside some of our first week practices. 

Go Owls!