Cleats click on the concrete ground, players, helmets in hand, decked out in purple line up in front of a locked gate. For the second year in a row, Witter track and field will be closed over the summer.
“We were told that the entire facility will be closed a few days after graduation and stretch into mid August,” said head track and JV football coach Pouyan Assadi.
The closure will impact both the football team’s summer conditioning program and the cross country team.
“ It’s really difficult to practice without a football field,” said junior and varsity football player Jordan Alemania. “You don’t get the same width on the baseball field and that really hurts the team, especially the skill positions.”
Despite the field limitations, the football team had a successful 2023 season, winning WACC and making it to NCS Championships before losing in the first round.
“We have a great team but not having a field will make playing against our rivals that much more difficult,” Alemenia said.
Despite having to practice on the baseball field, the football team will continue lifting with their regular schedule.
“We have conditioning and lifts Monday through Thursday for the whole summer, and I think that despite not having a field this will help,” Alemenia said.
The closure of the Witter complex does not only affect the football team. The track has not yet been finished causing trouble for the track and field team while throwing summer plans for the cross country team in jeopardy.
“We only run on the cement track in Piedmont twice a week to minimize injuries,” Assadi said.
According to the Advanced Orthopedic Center, when athletes run on concrete, the ground doesn’t absorb any of the shock that travels through a runner’s feet, knees, hips and lower back. This can lead to an increased injury risk. With runners being limited on the track, the team has had to find ways to get their practice in.
“Not having a track has been one of the most challenging things I’ve taken on in my adult life,” Assadi said. “We had to prioritize certain workouts that emphasize certain parts of track and field, we were doing more hill sprints, and pliers.”
These workouts focus on explosiveness but have limited benefit on the endurance of athletes. Those problems could carry over into the cross country season.
“It was really hard to get our endurance up and get in shape for the season,” said senior and cross country captain Xander Schulte-Sasse. “Not having a track again would really hurt the team.”
Despite having to get creative with summer workouts, the teams are optimistic that the field will be ready by mid August.
“I really hope the field will be ready by mid-August because if it bleeds into more of the season it can really damage the careers of aspiring college athletes,” Assadi said. “These kids have worked too hard to have their chance at college athletics get taken away because of construction.”
