For most Prospect students, such as sophomore Heidi Herling who wants to go to Italy to see family or junior Sandra Parys who is going to Poland and London, the ideal summer looks like vacations.
However, others have different thoughts on what the perfect summer entails.
Junior Evan Carlson is a pitcher for Prospect’s varsity baseball team. Having played baseball since he was four, it has become a significant part of his life.
During the school year, a large portion of his time after school is spent at baseball practice, late games, lifting and pitching. And when summer hits, his schedule doesn’t slow down; it just gets busier.
Luckily for Carlson, his continued love for the sport makes his summers worth it.
“I’ve gotten a lot better from playing summer baseball, for sure,” Carlson said. “I’ve [also] met a lot of cool people during it.Obviously, it does take up a lot of time, but I think it’s time well spent.”
But balancing it all is especially tricky during the school year as well as summer time. This pressure, though, has only made Carlson look to the future.
“The thought that days that are less busy and less stressful are ahead, that’s definitely a big motivator for me to get my work done, or be productive.” Carlson said.
Summer baseball isn’t all that different from the regular school year. However, summer sports camps still make a huge difference to many athletes, and not just because of sports improvement.
Having hour-long practices everyday and tournaments on the weekends, baseball has a huge impact on Carlson’s summer experience.
Last summer, the team played a tournament in Cincinnati, a memorable experience for the group. The car rides, hotels and long games helped better connect the team. All this time together and travel helped build great friendships.
However, Carlson reflects on the other relationships in his life that are affected by this.
“I don’t think I’ve went on a family vacation on a weekend with my family ever since high-school baseball started,” Carlson said.
This is because tournaments take up the entirety of summer weekends, except for the final three weeks. Luckily, Carlson has been able to make these final three weeks of summer memorable. Two summers ago, his family took a trip to Poland to visit his mom’s side of the family.
Even though it sounds intimidating, summer baseball has many benefits for serious athletes. One of them being especially important: recruiting.
Recruiting is a crucial part of being a successful athlete Carlson says. When trying to continue progression in baseball or other sports and move on to play at college or beyond, scouts need to watch and analyze players. The exposure from tournaments and events in the summer create multiple opportunities for such.
However, there are other reasons for summer sports.
Coaches especially push summer camps because of the improvement that it allows athletes. Because some opportunities aren’t always available during the seemingly short school season, athletes can better expand them by learning new things not always covered.
The final reason for summer sports is probably the most obvious: friends. Friends are for sure a main reason for anyone doing sports.
But, regardless of how teens decide to spend their summer, teens like Carlson believe making memories is what makes the perfect summer.
“[Baseball’s] been some of the best times of my life.” Carlson says, “When I’m thinking back to my high school summers, the first thing that’s gonna come to mind, for sure, is gonna be summer baseball, in a good way.”
- Never miss important news: every Monday, get a preview of what’s going on this week at Prospect, and what went down last week. To sign up for the Knight Notes newsletter, click here.
DELETE THIS LINE OF TEXT AND LEAVE THE STUFF BELOW, UNLESS YOU NEED TO CHANGE THE FOOTER OR FORM TO A DIFFERENT FOOTER OR FORM:
Never miss important news: every Monday, get a preview of what’s going on this week at Prospect, and what went down last week. To sign up for the Knight Notes newsletter, click here.
