As the 2023-2024 school year comes to a close, preparations begin for the 2024-2025 school year, including readying up student-athletes for the next sports seasons at Seattle Pacific University.
The men’s and women’s soccer teams at SPU will lead similar summer plans to each other as their members disperse for the coming months. Head women’s soccer coach Arby Busey shared how multiple athletes will be competing in summer leagues.
“For the summer, we have lots of our roster playing summer league soccer. There are a few leagues around in the Northwest, so we’ve got girls that will play in Spokane, Portland, Vancouver, Washington and then a few local teams here in the greater Seattle area,” Busey said. “They’ll get training and games with those teams as well as us providing them with a workout packet to use at their disposal.”
According to the National Collegiate Athletics Association, college teams cannot conduct official practices together during the summer months. The men’s soccer head coach, Kevin Sakuda, appreciates summer leagues especially because of this rule. The competition allows athletes to maintain their proper training.
“NCAA rules don’t even allow us to train as a team, so the reason why these summer teams are so important is because we don’t get to be very hands-on in the summer,” Sakuda said. “We put a lot of trust in our guys that they’re going to stay fit, work out and come back in a good place in August.”
Physical fitness aside, Sakuda believes experience with leagues and players outside of SPU will only improve the athletes’ skills and attitude for their return in the fall.
“It’s a great opportunity for them to be in a new environment, to get different coaching, to play around with different guys. One of the things we talk about is trying to make the most of every opportunity. Those guys get to train, maximize their performances and come back better for us,” Sakuda said. “When you’re passionate about the sport, you love training, you love working and you love getting better.”
In addition to competing in outside leagues, student athletes will be provided with training packets from their respective coaches to substitute for team training. Jason Rhine, the head women’s volleyball coach, explained that he assigns packets that are particular to each athlete’s needs.
“We’re wrapping up our player meetings, reflecting on the season and working with each player to talk about what things they need to continue to work on as they start to get ready for the summer and next fall,” Rhine said. “As they go their separate ways over the summer, that time is really important physically. We still have workout plans for them to follow [so they’ll be] in their peak physical fitness coming into the fall.”
Coaches themselves will, of course, be available to speak with student-athletes if they need them. This practice will be implemented even by SPU’s newest coach. The inaugural head coach for women’s golf Tyler Copp plans to meet with his recruits and commits regularly throughout the summer once the roster is finalized.
“Once we have our team set, then we’ll start with some meetings and some areas of emphasis to focus on [as far as] instruction but also our mental game as well,” Copp said. “We’ll be meeting once a month, and I know a lot of our young players are going to stay connected and get to know each other before we get on campus in September. That’s a little bit of what the summer will look like.”
With preparations set or in progress for summer, coaches also have to anticipate challenges for the following fall season. The universal problem for college coaches is the yearly influx of freshmen who have yet to assimilate into the team culture.
“As much as we work with the players in the offseason, we have a freshmen class coming in each year,” Rhine said. “When we get to the fall, we need to quickly integrate them into the team, create good unity and vision and get them used to our standards and expectations but also let them bring some of their strengths.”
Busey’s goal every year is to integrate his new players into the team’s culture of working hard for each other and enjoying being together on the soccer field. This process starts almost immediately after the athlete is recruited.
“We’ll have at least five newcomers joining us in the fall who will need to assimilate into the group and get into that culture,” Busey said. “We’ve started that process already. All of the [newcomers] were brought in on the same weekend earlier this winter and started some of that process. The thing that we didn’t get the opportunity to do is be on the soccer field together, and that’s a little bit of a baptism by fire.”
Assistant coach for cross country Eric Hansen shared that he anticipates a large addition to the women’s team in the fall with the influx of new runners.
“We’ve got a good group of freshmen coming in. We’re excited to get them here and see what they can all contribute,” Hansen said. “We’re definitely going to have a bigger roster on the women’s side this year. That was not a problem for us this past year, but this year we’re going to have people fighting for those top seven spots to go to our championship, which is a good problem to have.”
Having only arrived at SPU a month before the 2023 season started, Hansen’s adjustment period was brief, so he is thankful to have more buildup and prep time to face this yearly challenge.
“I’m looking forward to having more time to build into the season this year. Getting here last year right as the season started made things a little tough to develop into the season the way that I wanted to, so this year, after being here for a year, the runners have a pretty good feel for the way that I like to do things.”
Staying in shape, working toward the upcoming season and welcoming new teammates culminate at the start of fall training and competition in August and September. Especially for newcomers, the anticipation and anxiety are released into the team’s new run toward the championship title.
“It’s been really exciting for us to build a good camaraderie with the ladies on the team,” Copp said. “I know they’re all anxious to get started in September.”
