It’s the beginning of the school year and fall sports are rolling into action. For one week during the summer, students who participate in fall sports were required to go to school and practice their sport/activity for several hours each day. This week soon became known as “H*ll Week” due to the grueling time and effort put into the practices by the students.

Practices from August 6 until August 10 generally lasted between eight and twelve hours each day depending on the sport. One group that had the longest practice hours was Guard. Practices started at 8am and ended at 8pm, and athletes were given one hour for lunch and one hour for dinner. Their daily routine would be the same all week, and attendance was mandatory because they learned a new part of the routine each time.

“[We would] go to school and be out there by 8am. We would normally be out there until 12pm doing whatever [lesson] we needed to get done that day and dismiss by which section would be most spirited. We’d have lunch from 12pm-1pm and then stay inside or go outside until 5 pm,” said junior Vivian Santiago, who is on the Guard team.

Practices lasted twelve hours for Guard, but practices for Band and other sports such as football were only 8 hours. Many students were extremely tired after practice because they were constantly practicing.

“The worst part about hell week was genuinely how bad our feet hurt. We were standing constantly and [we] would constantly put out feet up against the wall during breaks in order to feel better,” said junior Eliza Snipes, who is in Band.

This week also greatly affected students’ plans during the summer too. Many were not able to go anywhere because there would be a penalty if you missed one practice. If you missed a day, it was possible that you would not be ready for their competitions.

“It affected vacations because if you missed [this] week, there was a big possibility that you would be cut out from part of the show,” said Santiago.

Though practices seemed very tough and tiring, many athletes favored parts of practice. Each day, students dressed up differently based on the theme.

“The best part was most definitely dressing up for spirit days and seeing everyone get so hyped for lunch,” said Snipes.

Though all of the athletes and band members were constantly tired due to the amount of work they had, in the end they were proud of the performance they could give at each show without error.