Fall sports are not over when the weather gets chilly and the season competition comes to a close. On one hand there is a break, but there is always an alternative season to a fall sport and that is spring season.

Spring season is very important for many reasons. It allows teams to prepare for their upcoming season and train harder, in order to get better, and that is what is the plan for the Women’s soccer team. Freshman soccer player, Nicole McKevitt shares that, “Spring season is so important for fall sports because it gives our teams the chance to train hard and play together before the summer. It also gives us a chance to see where we are skill wise, and it gives us motivation to want to train over the summer to prepare for the fall season. NCAA rules don’t allow coaches to coach us during off season workouts, to a certain extent, so it’ll be a nice chance to all work together again.” Not only is it a little more laid-back than regular season practices, but there are many things that are worked on during a Spring season that helps a team or players develop their skills before the intense CCIW competition. For the women’s soccer team, that would be improving on certain aspects that needed to be improved upon from the end of last season. McKevitt shared that, “During spring season, I expect for us to work on our fitness. Fitness is a huge key in soccer, and it takes work to be able to play for the whole 90 minutes. We should also be working on our specific positions, and working together as a whole. We will probably do more team bonding as well.” Not only is spring season a time to work on improving as a whole, but spring season is a time to enjoy and cherish getting to continue to play a favorite sport for the full year. McKevitt stated that, “My favorite part about spring season is just being able to play together as a whole team. Off season training lets us play indoor games once a week, but it will be nice to be able to play outside everyday again.” Even though Spring season is time to work and make memories, it is also a time to set goals for the upcoming season because it is an ultimate time to prep for next years competition. Goals that the Millikin Women’s soccer team has for the Spring season include working together to improve fitness, skills, communication, and teamwork on the field. McKevitt notes that, “We are a young team with a lot of potential, and I think that this spring season will help us do great things during our fall season.”