Thanksgiving and winter breaks, for many DVHS students, mean relaxation and the ability to spend time with friends and family. However, many of the DV winter sports such as men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer and wrestling continue to practice during these breaks.
Athletes for the winter season often have to practice four to six times a week, devoting a majority of their free time to the team. Winter sports coaches use Thanksgiving and winter breaks to enhance their team’s chemistry and prepare them for the season ahead. Typically, the winter sports season starts in mid-November and doesn’t conclude until the end of February.
Head men’s basketball coach Mike Hansen noted “[High school practices] during winter break helps make guys commit to something bigger than themselves, like the program being bigger than the individual. It’s a commitment that [the players] made and teaches them that here on the court.”.
Since multiple winter sports teams have games or matches during Thanksgiving break, these practices are essential to keeping the team competitive, according to Hansen. Men’s basketball had a game on Nov. 30, the second Saturday during Thanksgiving break, while the other sports start their season immediately afterward on December 3.
Due to this quickened season, several athletes such as junior Parsa Mayhari, a varsity men’s wrestler, noted the need to stay competitive but also to gain much-needed coaching that would be difficult without the break.
“Winter break practices can seriously make or break your season in my opinion,” Mayhari explained. “One week is enough to really mess up your cardio and weight, and being disciplined in terms of working out every day or so and maintaining what you put in your body is really important. [These practices] definitely can help a wrestler improve, especially since they get more one-on-one coaching during this less-busy time.”
They both concluded that although winter practices are time-consuming, they ultimately lead to greater team success and team chemistry. According to Frontiers in Psychology , teams can find greater overall success if they utilize components such as group cohesion and team-building conventions.
Tessa de Guzman, a varsity women’s soccer player, explained how “the winter break practices help with team bonding because the game is all about teamwork, which involves communication, and with communication we are able to learn new things about each other and form friendships,” De Guzman said. “ In addition, when you spend more time with people, you create an environment full of trust and understanding.”
Hansen attributed both men’s basketball and men’s soccer’s multiple NCS titles in 2023 and 2024 to the rigorous practice schedule during winter break.
“Over the past couple of years, I’ve noticed how [winter break practice] is where we really come together,” Hansen observed, “as a team, as a unit, during the grind of winter break.”
Overall, athletes and coaches of winter sports seem to have the same collective idea that winter break practices not only improve team bonding, it also leads to championships and accolades for DV sports.
