North Atlanta’s football field lies at the highest point of our 56-acre campus. It serves the role of a practice field and occasionally hosts games for an array of sports. In the fall, football has complete control, while the cross country team only borrows the track a few times a week. The winter is a period of respite, excluding the track team’s pre-season conditioning which is only a small percentage of the team. But, every year when spring rolls around, the football field’s schedule is swamped by soccer, lacrosse, and the entire track and field team. Spring sports are in full swing, and the next few months will continually besiege the field’s schedule.
The field’s main occupier is soccer; both varsity and junior varsity of the girls’ and boys’ teams. The limited field space at North Atlanta restricts coaching opportunities and forces coaches to endure, “more than a scheduling annoyance,” said boys head soccer coach, Jack Stenger. “Our competition is practicing all the time, but sometimes we can’t practice on account of lack of field space. Any team that is able to practice more will get ahead of the team that’s not practicing. The last thing we need is a disadvantage, but I’m afraid we have one.”
Provided a lacrosse game or girls’ soccer practice has stayed within their scheduled interval, the field opens up around 6:30 pm and the boys’ soccer team claims it so they can get to work. As a result of the late practice time, players are left stranded at school, waiting for the field to open up; but the players express gratitude for the opportunity to practice at all. Still, girls’ and boys’ lacrosse games can interrupt practices, further hindering the team’s growth. “We regularly come in timing conflicts with lacrosse games,” said sophomore Miles Glover.
According to players, the girls’ soccer team strives to have practice every day of the week, but lacrosse games have priority over soccer practice, so they don’t always have that luxury. Fortunately, when lacrosse doesn’t have a game, they are able to claim the 4:15 pm time slot. Lucia Touwsma, a junior, and the varsity goalie said, “Our practices are cut short and even canceled by lacrosse somedays, but we try to get as much out of those practices as we can.”
Lacrosse isn’t the bad guy though; they have their own woes about field availability. Sequestered by trees at the bottom portion of our campus and parallel to the parking deck, a small, turf practice field is put to use. The boys’ and girls’ lacrosse teams practice here on non-game days but have confessed that it has a disappointing atmosphere compared to the football field. Drew Coleman, a sophomore on the lacrosse team said, “The atmosphere on the football field is very unique because the track team is doing all their exercises and sprints. I love how energized it is.”
Effective scheduling between the soccer and lacrosse coaches requires constant communication and reports of upcoming practices and games. In spite of that, someone ends up with an unfair hand. The incessant connection between the coaches, although frustrating, has brought them closer together, and the result is two sports connected through a common adversary. Perhaps the scheduling dilemma has brought the teams closer together, not farther apart.
