It’s 5:45 a.m. on a wintry Thursday morning. All I want at this unearthly hour of the day is to be sound asleep under the warmth of my covers. But pre-game preparation begins now, and my ice hockey team will take to the ice for practice as the sun rises over a chilly New Haven.
Yale students are involved in a tremendous variety of extracurricular pursuits. On this Thursday morning, I am off to participate in my primary extracurricular: ice hockey. As a sophomore on the varsity team, I dedicate a significant portion of my free time to practicing and competing with my teammates, both on and off the ice.
During the 5 months that hockey is ‘in-season,’ my teammates and I spend 4 days a week practicing and preparing for our 2 game-days at the end of each week. While we typically practice in the afternoons, Thursday practice is shifted earlier in the day so that we have maximal rest time after practice to get on top of our schoolwork and get the rest we need for Friday’s game.
Waking up on game-day Fridays is one of my favorite feelings. I find great excitement in athletic competitions, and representing one of Yale’s varsity teams on the ice only adds to the experience. I arrive to the rink before noon to lace up for pre-game skate. From then on, my day is hockey:
12:00 p.m. Pre-game skate
3:00 p.m. Pre-game meal
3:30 p.m. Video (watching segments from our opponents’ games to best prepare our defense/offense)
5:00 p.m. Get ready for warm-up
5:20 p.m. Team Meeting
5:45 p.m. Off-Ice Warmup
6:22 p.m. On-Ice Warmup
6:53 p.m. National Anthem
7:00 p.m. Puck drops and game begins
9:30 p.m. Post-game meal
On Saturdays, this schedule shifts a few hours earlier and repeats.
Whether it be one high-commitment extracurricular or a handful of clubs and hobbies, I find myself surrounded by people who find their extracurricular pursuits both engaging and exciting. Hockey consumes much of my free time at Yale, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.