The clock hits 3:30 on a cold November afternoon. Clubs will start to get together, students and teachers meet up for tutoring and most winter sports begin to head to their spots for conditioning and practices.

Because of the weather and the abundance of indoor sports, most teams have to resort to the building for their practices and games.    

The basketball teams occupy Gym I and II, wrestling in Gym III, Boys Swimming in the pool, Cheerleading in the cafeteria, baseball on the second floor and track on the third floor.

Since track is such a big team, Boys Varsity Track coach Roof said how the school and some clubs have to make arrangements around when and where they can use the third floor.

“So we have exclusive rights to the third floor because the boys and girls teams are so large and it’s a major safety issue,” Roof said. “So we actually have a permit with the Board of Ed specifically for the third floor.”

Track ulitizes mostly the “big square” from staircase D, to H, O and A on the third floor. If they were to use other parts of the floor, Roof would have club officers know ahead of time.

“There’s a lot of times where a club is dancing, I’ll say, ‘Hey you’re good for the next 45 minutes but we might need it at 4:00,’ but yeah technically, clubs aren’t supposed to be up there,” Roof said.   

While a fall or spring athlete may not be able to fathom being indoors for 2-3 months, Varsity Basketball player Kayland Jones, Div. 859, said she would much rather stay indoors for cardio rather than go outside in the cold winter weather.

“It’s kinda cold and basketball is an indoor sport so I like doing it inside,” Jones said. “Although, working outside does helps you wake up a little bit more because it’s cold, but it keeps your focus away from the actual conditioning because I’m thinking too hard being too cold.”

Despite this, distance runners are outside as much as possible, unless it’s below freezing or there’s a strength workout set inside, Roof said.  

There’s also mixed feelings about running indoors for teams.

While it may be ideal for basketball players since it mimics the floor they constantly play on, track runners and baseball players don’t find it as helpful since the floor is hard on their feet as opposed to the rubber surface of the track or the outdoor fields.

Being inside allows track and baseball to focus on more strength workouts before the season starts, which is especially important for baseball since they play six days a week during the season.

To compensate for the demands of using the weight room, there’s a master schedule with in-season sports having priority to arrange time for their teams.

Oftentimes, there will be more than one team using the weight room, so communication with the other coaches is important, according to Roof.

Being inside does provide a different scenery compared to always being out on Rockwell turf or Clark Park. For one, all teams are much closer together and see each other more often than being outside.

This gives winter athletes more personal opportunities to see each other and cheer them on, Jones said.

“We always cheer on the lacrosse team when we see them work out,” Jones said. “Logalbo likes other teams to support each other and create this community with all the teams. If we have friends in a certain sport, we cheer for them.”

This season girls basketball is coming out more often to boys games since they came out to the girls’ games last season, Jones said.  

Conditioning is more than physically getting ready for the season, Varsity Girls Basketball Coach Molloy said.  

“I feel like there’s mental preparation, mentally trying to prepare them for the season and obviously physical conditioning, so we do a lot of running, weightlifting, strength and conditioning things, as well as just trying to get them in the right mental mindset for the basketball season,” Molloy said.

This season Girls Basketball has been conditioning more often than previous years said Coach Molloy.

“The more we condition, the more serious our players are taking it because they’re putting more time into the season and they’re investing more into the season,” Molloy said.

In addition, mental preparation includes adjusting with a new group of players. Molloy sees conditioning as an opportunity for new players to have an understanding of the values and work ethic of the team.

This leads to more interactions between upper and lower classmen, which for track can be more advantageous since their conditions are “no-coach” and are led by student captains said Roof.

All teams are looking forward to new change. Girls Basketball is stepping up to a new conference, wrestling with their new coach and baseball and track with new players.

Assistant head Varsity Baseball Coach Mr. Telles is confident in his team for the year.

“Our team is coming strong and we are hoping to get out of that semi-final hurdle and get the championship and win it, then also our goal is to go deep in the state and try to win a regional for the first time ever,” Telles said.

“We got the team to do it, these guys work hard off season. We’re gonna be good,” Telles said.