Interview Questions

Cody Groskreutz, Senior Baseball player

What does your team do in order to prepare for the spring sports season, before being able to go outside?
- Since many spring sports are hindered because of the poor weather, it's a great opportunity for the baseball team to be able to travel to Florida over spring break. It's always nice to be able to play on an actual field, outdoors.

What disadvantages does this bring?
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How does your team handle not being able to practice/compete outdoors?
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How is the early season effected by the winter weather?
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In what ways does not being able to go outside effect your practices and practice schedule?
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For Athlete 1: Jack McDevitt, Senior Baseball player


What are the differences between practicing indoors compared to practicing outdoors?
- Practicing outdoors is way more benficial. When the weather is bad, and we have to practice indoors, we have limited space, and limited time to practice. We (the baseball team) has to compete with boys and girls track, boys and girls lacrosse, softball, and lower level baseball teams as well.

How do practices go without being able to practice outdoors?
- We are cramped in a small gym, and are very limited to what we can do. We have 2 batting cages which help, but being outdoors is the ideal way to go.

Is playing in harsh weather conditions a disadvantage?
- Playing in poor weather conditions has its ups and downs. Bad weather usually brings the level of competition closer together. So a good team doesnt like playing in bad weather, but a worse team might actually advantage from playing in poor weather.

How is the early season effected by the winter weather?
- The early season is cold and wet. Last year we played our first week or two of games with snow in left field. I think we are all kinda used to it by now. Its just Minnesota baseball

How do you prepare for the season without being able to practice outdoors?
- We do everything we can to get prepared and sometimes have to be creative. We hit in garages or unfinished basements, and often go to other indoor batting facilites and hit in batting cages. We expect bad wether at the start of every year, so nobody gets too upset. We all realize that our competitors are in the same situation, so we try to make the best of what we can.

For Athlete 2: Brandon Hoshaw, Junior Lacrosse player

How do you handle not being able to practice outdoors early in the season?
-It's definetly hard not to be able to play Lacrosse on the field. Playing in a gym just really isn't the same. It can be very frustrating because practice is always the same and we don't get to go through our full practice routine.

What are the disadvantages to Minnesota weather once the season gets started?

-Usually none of our games are effected by the weather, but many times we are forced to practice inside because of the poor weather.

How is practice different during the early portion of the spring season?

- It's frustrating because there just isn't enough space to get the things that we need to get accomplished accomplished.

How are practices limited during the early portion of the season?

-We basically can only work on our passing. The gym isn't larger enough to simulate the playing field. Since we can't work on the game as much we try and focus on our conditioning a little more.

What are the disadvantages of having to practice indoors?

- Pretty much not being able to be outside holds us back. We just can't get going until we can hit the field. But all of the time in indoors really gets us excited to go outside to play.