Springtime brings sunny days, nice temperatures, and the delightful promise that summer is nearby.

However, the spring season also brings a slew of practice times that are as various as the sports that they are for.

Since the number of sports in the spring is greater than that of any other season, teams battle over playing room like a group of fussy toddlers fighting over a toy. Not only are the athletes competing against other schools, they are vying with their fellow teams to obtain the practice time they feel they deserve.

I have not been told of the woes from some beleaguered friend; I have experienced these field time inconsistencies directly. I play for the Junior Varsity lacrosse team, one of many teams whose practices jump from day to day.  We have all rushed to practices that have start times ranging from both 2:30 PM and 7 PM.

Not only do these unpredictable practice times make it tough to gauge how much time one will need to hurriedly throw on sports clothes in the locker room or make a sprint to the car to grab equipment, but they make it almost impossible to plan anything else during the week.

Personally, I have had to give up five work shifts this month because of these various, awkward practice times.  Trying to manage a bulky bag of lacrosse gear is easier than fitting the medley practices into my schedule.

The inconsistent practice times that plague spring athletes also make homework an even bigger nightmare than it already is.  The practice schedule forces students to either rush through their assignments and do a sloppy job or stay up to some ungodly hour doing homework and do an even sloppier job. The unpredictable practice times forces students to lose precious sleep, causing them to doze through school and their next practice.

The inconsistent practice times create a lose-lose situation, as they force students to squeeze in homework and perform energetically in their sports at the same time. 

Yet, I must admit that while inconsistent practice times are a grueling burden, they are not unbearable and are certainly worth all the fun that spring sports have to offer.  The heartache that planning one’s day around a practice involves immediately disappears after a good play in a game or a last-minute goal.  After all, without the practice, those incredible plays and goals would not even be possible.