Late in the Game: Students React to Delayed Preseason

Practices for fall sports began the same week as orientation this year, whereas previously, fall athletes arrived the week before orientation. After talking to first-year athletes, it became clear that this shift in schedule led to a tiring week for first-year athletes, reduced practice time, and missed orientation activities.

For soccer, field hockey, volleyball, and cross-country, the first practice was scheduled for the day after first-year move-in, while football began the following day. In 2023, the earliest fall practices were held on Aug. 23, while orientation started on Aug. 29, and classes didn’t start until Sept. 5.

Associate Director of Athletics Jennifer Chucks explained that this change happened because the 2026-2027 academic schedule had classes starting before Labor Day. NESCAC and NCAA rules dictate that soccer, field hockey, volleyball, and cross country teams can have a total of 16 “units” of practice before their first competition. Each day with practice before the start of the semester and not in the week of a competition is considered two units; a day with practice after classes takes one unit; and a day where classes are not in session but the week of a competition, is one unit of practice. The first permissible game date is the Tuesday after Labor Day. Football follows slightly different rules for practice; in most cases, unless the first game is on Thursday of opening weekend, football’s first practice is set 23 days before the first contest.

All of the first-year student-athletes interviewed said that their first week was difficult because of their tight schedules. Mandy Sutton ’30, who is a forward on the women’s soccer team, said she would go from early-morning practice straight to a full day of orientation. According to the orientation schedule, athletes who wanted to enjoy evening orientation events would have been busy from 6 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. Maddie Braun ’30, who is on the women’s cross country team, added that “it was always go, go, go, because you always had an event.” Braun also remarked that at times, “you [had] to pick between focusing on getting to know the team or focusing on getting to know all the other people at orientation.” Similarly, with limited time, Braun felt that she was not able to fully dedicate herself to either preseason or orientation events. 

Older student-athletes on fall athletic teams stressed the importance of preseason for preparing for the season. “Orientation does for first years what preseason does for the fall athletes,” Jacob Connolly ’27, a member of the men’s cross country team, said. “Preseason gives everyone a second to acclimate to this new environment, a new school, a new training protocol, new teammates [and] new coaches.”

For Connolly, striving to create balance for the first-years changed the way they ran preseason. “Orientation is a really, really useful thing,” Connolly said, “but pairing six days of orientation with six days of preseason, with six days of trying to move into college for the first time, can be a lot.” Therefore, in order not to overwhelm the first-years on the team, Connolly commented that the cross-country team had to dial back practice. Beyond training, there was less time for team bonding. “We like to do team outings … especially early on,” Connolly added. “[But] we noticed that we were just running out of time for people to be able to bond [with] the team and also rest.”

First-years affirmed that their teammates supported them through managing preseason and orientation. “[The upperclassmen] were super understanding,” Chloe Mensah ’30, who is on the volleyball team, said. She added that “they would share their experience, and how they felt, to ensure that I’m not alone.” Sutton also commented that she “always felt like she could reach out and ask them any questions.”

Orientation Leaders (OLs) noticed that fall athletes were unable to make it to all the events that others in their group attended. Alex Fox ’29 said athletes in his orientation squad made it to as many orientation activities as their schedule permitted and did a good job coordinating with orientation staff, but also noted that “they had to reschedule [orientation events] around mandatory [team] events,” and often had to miss group meetings. 

First-year athletes also recognized that their schedules made it difficult to get to every orientation event. Braun remarked that she was often late to her group because she was coming from practice; Mensah recalled that she had to go to an event with a different orientation group because of last-minute athletic schedule changes. Macy Li ’27, a returning OL, said that “last orientation, student-athletes were not allowed to miss orientation events for sports-related events.” By contrast, this year, athletes could skip group meetings and attend different sessions of mandatory events than those scheduled for their group, though Fox added that orientation leadership effectively facilitated these changes.

Furthermore, like Connolly, Fox strived to leave time for student-athletes to decompress. “It was kind of us trying to strike a balance of, ‘we have these things we need to get done, but we also want you to rest because you’ve been up since 5 a.m,’” Fox said. 

OLs also emphasized the significance of the activities that some athletes missed. In Fox’s view, these group meetings are an integral part of orientation, where games and icebreaker activities foster relationships between students. These orientation groups also share a first-year seminar, where engaging with peers in class discussions is often important. 

“[Student-athletes] missing the meetings removed opportunities for them to connect with the rest of the squad,” Li confirmed. Li and her other OL friends observed that this year, “[the student-athletes] just looked really drained” and that she “did not notice that to the same extent at all last year.” Li added that “the fact that they were so tired during the events that they were able to attend, I can imagine that would inhibit how much energy they have to socialize.” 

In previous years, some have critiqued the two-week preseason, contending that it leads to a student-athlete divide, since athletes get to meet and become acquainted with each other before other first-year students arrive on campus. Li acknowledged this when discussing her past orientation groups, sharing that “there were some students on the same team, who had moved in early and knew each other, so they basically stuck together for the entire duration of orientation.”

Still, a student-athlete divide persisted in some orientation groups despite the changes. “I didn’t see prior connections in my group [this year],” Li said. “But very early into the week, athletes naturally sort of gravitated towards each other.”

However, some first-year athletes did not think there was a divide in their orientation groups. Sutton affirmed that arriving on campus at the same time as most first-years allowed her to make a wide range of friends. “It was helpful to meet my teammates at the same time as my orientation group,” Sutton commented. Braun agreed that, despite having to balance her sport schedules, she felt she was still able to become close with people from her orientation group. 

The experience wasn’t all negative, though. Mensah appreciated the extra week at home. “I had more time to prepare to go out and leave for college,” Mensah commented. Others felt it built important time management skills early on: “It helped me balance my schedule,” Sutton said.