Hanover is finally heating up as spring is winding down. The seniors are enjoying their last weeks on the Green, juniors are reminiscing about the glory days of 13X and freshmen are dreading leaving the place they’ve just learned to call home. There is one lucky class, however, that anticipates the arrival of one of Dartmouth’s best traditions: sophomore summer. From swimming and sunbathing to the occasional class (just kidding, go to class!) or road trip, it’s a different campus atmosphere than anything most of these sophomores have experienced thus far.
Personally, I am jealous that I don’t have this term still ahead of me, but luckily as a fall athlete, my team arrives back on campus before the summer term is over. This overlap, however, was also one of the hardest adjustments as I finished up my own sophomore summer last year. I was excited to have my teammates back, but I wasn’t quite ready to let go of my summer term as a student and as an athlete.
The athletes at Dartmouth may sometimes be out-of-season, but there is never truly an ‘off’ season. The summer is one of the hardest times to keep that in mind. Usually, the upperclassmen are stuck in some kind of job and the rising sophomores enjoy their last free summer, but somewhere in the mix of all that, they follow a regimented workout packet. This packet typically includes a calendar and corresponding workouts ranging from biking and sprints to weight-lifting and plyometric core work.
It’s hard to stay motivated working out on one’s own, so teammates who are spread out across the world record running times and track their progress to share with the team.
On the other hand, the sophomore class gets to experience a different side of Dartmouth athletics. Because they are on campus, they can access all of their usual resources, except for the seemingly most important: their coaches.
For just this one term, your sophomore teammates become the closest thing you have to a full team. For field hockey, there are only about five girls in each class, whereas there are upwards of a dozen on some other teams. With so few people, Dartmouth Peak Performance and the strength and conditioning coaches create a new team comprised of all of the sophomore athletes. This team met in the mornings for “fun runs,” where athletes competed against other teams’ members, both men and women. We laughed watching guys and girls duke it out during conditioning drills. Every team is on a different fitness level, but the friendly yet intense competition is high.
Many teams do not require the all-athlete sessions, but it is an incredible experience even if you attend just once. Last summer, the field hockey ’15s generally did their own thing while training. With access to the strength and conditioning staff, we put a fun twist on our workouts to keep in the laid-back theme of sophomore summer. From playing children’s field games at high speed to running to the river (or at least trying to), it gave the five of us a much-needed change of pace from regular team training.
While we pushed each other to get faster and stronger, our class formed a tight bond that carried into the team atmosphere in the fall.
Sophomore summer was one of my best Dartmouth terms. I was nervous that a monotonous version of training was going to be the damper on the summer fun, but the all-athlete team and the just-us-five field hockey crew created an exciting atmosphere to challenge and be challenged. I look back to almost a year ago with a smile on my face. I am excited for the ’16s to experience a new side of their lives as student-athletes.
Inside the Locker Room is a weekly column, alternately written by Phoebe Hoffmann ’15 and Sarah Caughey ’15.
