As spring sports come to a close, I can’t help but notice a striking similarity between the 2011 season and the past several years. After months of indoor sports such as track and basketball, WS athletes look forward to enjoy the nice weather that should come with Spring-time. Unfortunately, the past few seasons have been plagued by rain.

Rain is one of the most dreaded events during the spring sports seasons, especially for baseball and softball players. When the fields get wet, proceeding with a game or practice can permanently damage the playing facility and create a negative atmosphere for future events. Adults and players alike can be seen caring for the state of the art baseball and softball facility (which includes a high-tech drainage system) to ensure that games can be played as soon as possible.

One team that doesn’t let rain get in their way is West End Rugby (the WS rugby team). Although they practice on grass, the field is not school property and they are free to tear it up as much as they want.

“Rugby players go hard, we don’t let a little water get in our way,” said junior rugby player Cody Henson.

WS has a reputation for academic excellence, but let’s face it. We’re also known for having a sub-par building. However, luckily for spring sports, one of the nicest physical aspects of our school is our turf field. As there is no chance of the turf field getting destroyed by the rain, sports such as lacrosse and soccer can still play in bad weather.

“Rain doesn’t bother us too much since we have the turf,” said sophomore lacrosse player Jordan Trunfio. “We’ve had some away games rescheduled because the other schools have grass fields and it’s really hard to play lacrosse in the mud.”

The soccer team has had a similar experience with the weather.

“It hasn’t been too bad,” said junior soccer player Jake Ray. “The only reason we wouldn’t play is if there was lightning.”

Although the 2011 spring season has been a particularly rainy one, there has been relatively few thunderstorms. Similarly to the soccer team, crew and track will still compete in the rain unless lightning forces them to leave the competition area.

“Rain doesn’t bother us, that’s just Spartan weather,” said junior track runner Austin Farquhar. “If there’s lightning, we would probably just reschedule. Wind is what really bothers runners.”