Some teams practice outside on hills while others practice on the court, but no matter where they compete, every sport at St. Paul Academy and Summit School has unique pre-season regiments. In particular, practices before the season are led by team captains or sometimes outside coaches.

According to the Minnesota State  High School League, coaches are prohibited from being involved in pre-season activities.  This includes team practices.

“It’s on a sport-by-sport basis, but captain’s practices have transformed from practices completely organized by captains into practices run by outside coaches hired by parents to ‘get more out of’ the practices,” Assistant Director of Athletics Mike Brown said.

Activities at captain’s practices include workouts to get into shape and running drills similar to those during the regular season.

The girls basketball captain’s practices are more focused with an outside coach running them. “This year when coaches weren’t there and it was just the captains, it wasn’t as decisive. The outside coaches make it more intense and structured so that the captains can focus on working hard and not running a practice,” sophomore Lea Moore said.

In contrast, fencing is not a Minnesota State High School League sport and therefore can have coach participation in the off season. But despite this, fencing captain’s practices are lead by captains.

Sophomore fencing captain Colin O’Hern aims to get to know everyone on the team during captain’s practices while getting a good workout. “We run our warmup so the new fencers know it.  We do some workout stuff and then we play games in hopes to be closer as a team,” O’Hern said.