As fall fades away and winter slowly creeps around the corner, many exciting events await. One of the most prominent is winter sports tryouts. Tryouts are, as they say, “what it all comes down to.” During the winter season, Saint Viator athletics provide students with numerous sports to participate in, including basketball, wrestling, hockey, cheerleading, boys swimming and competitive dance.

Every winter athlete in the upcoming month will be, in one way or another, mentally and physically preparing themselves for this deciding moment.

“[Every morning] I head to the gym around 5:30 and shoot some baskets,” said freshman Patric Natindim. “I try to go for at least four hundred makes.”

Junior swimmer Micheal Balcerak said he has been swimming for his club team since September.

These are just a few of hundreds of possible winter athletes that will be attempting to secure a spot on their respective teams.

“I’m kind of taking it day by day right now, focusing on my cross country, but once the winter sport time comes around, I’m going to try out and put my best effort in,” said junior basketball player Brady Collis.

Athletes who do both a fall and winter sport, like Brady Collis, virtually get no break between seasons. To further clarify with an example, the cross country state meet is on Nov. 5th. Boys basketball tryouts take place on Nov. 7th. For athletes like Collis, this tight time frame puts a tremendous amount of stress on the athlete.

The physical aspect is only half of it, as mentality also plays an extremely crucial role in any athletic sport.

“Well you know there is a little bit of nerve, but you’ve got to overcome that,” said Collis. “You have to have some confidence going into it. You can’t be too confident about your abilities, but you have to have just the right amount. You have to think ‘I can keep up with these guys, I can play with them.’ You know it’s nothing new to me.”

Every athlete has their certain mentality that works for them. Junior swimmer, Richard Rinka stated, “Well the whole sport [swimming] is mental, you’re holding your breath underwater, and you have to have [the] mentality that day that you will finish and if you think that, you will.” Most athletes will have a certain way in which they think during a game, match or meet. In the same way most athletes will have a certain way they prepare for those events.

Going in to tryouts an athlete must trust his/her abilities that they have developed in practice. As Balcerak said, “I just go in and I take it as the first day of practice and I take it as day one, and from day one to the end of the season, you have to stay focused on being number one.”

Meanwhile, for returning athletes, mentalities change and confidence rises. Going into something new freshman year can be and probably always will be extremely nerve wrecking. But, as for sophomore, junior and senior athletes, competition may get harder but the nerves ease up a bit.

“Freshman year was different,” said Collis. “[Now] I’m trying out for the varsity team and I’m a junior. It’s a senior filled [roster]; there are going to be a lot of kids trying out for the team.”

“This year is different,” said Rinka. “Last year was my first time swimming for a high school swim team, [and] now that I know I’ve done the workouts last year, I know I have an obligation to do them again and to do them better.”

Needless to say, this time of the year is busy and chaotic, but winter sport athletes must find a way to perform their best in the upcoming weeks.