School is starting in a week or so for many of you, and with the K Mart commercials there to constantly remind you, how can anyone forget. In roughly a week, we will have to go back to long days of class and longer nights of practice and homework (or rather, practice then dinner then shower then facebook then stumbleupon.com then more facebook and then maybe, just maybe, some homework). And it doesn't seem like there's much to look forward to now that late August is here. (The Green Day song, Wake Me Up When September Ends has always confused me. Why do they want it to be October? And wouldn't you rather wake up when May ends, when school let's out? But this is besides the point.)

The point is that although the end of August looks bleak, there are a few things that you as a high school athlete have to look forward to. For example, pre-season is almost over! You survived! All those sprints you ran and crunches you crunched and push ups you pushed are starting to have a purpose. Which brings me to my next point... you'll finally start playing games! You're starting to remember why you were practicing in the first place. Why you were conditioning. Why you were interrupting you're lazy days by the pool to go soak in the heat from the nice turf fields (which is another issue entirely). I love packing my uniform in my bag before heading off to school, pumping myself up throughout the day, counting down to 3:15 (even though it makes that slow, boring, last class of the day go by that much slower). We practice to play games. And we play games because we like playing them. And so even if homework has gotten you down (my summer reading not quite done...), the idea of classes and quizes and tests and grades and G.P.A.s and SATs has you feeling a little sad, remember that at least your season is finally here, it's finally game day and you're ready to play.

And for those of you who play winter or spring sports... you'll survive. You always do.

Agility

Today, I worked on my agility. Now I don’t know if any of you reading this have ever been to China, but for those of you who haven’t, imagine a place where traffic laws are not obeyed. Imagine a place where pedestrians don’t have the right of way, turning signals aren’t used, and red lights are ignored. Then, you are in China.

Being a driver, these rules, or lack there of, can be considered an advantage. But being a pedestrian, you consider it a lucky day when you’ve crossed the street without getting in the way of a speeding bus or taxi. As for the native Chinese people, everyday is their lucky day. Their ability to stop as a car whizzes by, and then quickly dart across the road astounds me. Only with the help of my Chinese teacher can I be so lucky.

After crossing the street a final time today (and after uncrossing my fingers that were held behind my back), I thought about how all of this stopping and starting I was doing was improving my agility. Agility is important in every sport. The ability to stop quickly, turn around, and run at full speed in the other direction is a necessary skill that improves your game, whether it be football, basketball, soccer or lacrosse.

But what about those of you who don’t have a major Chinese city at your disposal? What can you do? Well, don’t fear my worried readers, there are plenty of things you can do. One exercise I’ve found particularly helpful, which I’m sure many of you would know, is running through the flimsy ladder that’s been laid flat on the floor. By stepping each foot into every square as quickly as you can, you get a good work out while focusing on your quickness and agility. Also, jumping rope and short suicides can improve your dexterity as well.

You could even work on your agility by playing red light green light. Yes, you might be too old for this game. But if you get your younger siblings, cousins, or even neighbors to play with you, you won’t feel as stupid or childish. You might even enjoy it, remembering why you liked the game so much when you were younger (although you would never admit it).

Packing

           Today, I leave for China on a school trip. Now being me, I left all of my packing to the last minute. Major mistake. Thankfully, after jumping up and down on the top of my suitcase a few times, and then getting my brother to sit on it, I finally got it zipped and ready to go (after frantically throwing my things inside, crinkling my shirts, shorts, and skirts with care).

            Because I'm going to be away for 5 weeks, I packed tons and tons of clothes. Now you're probably wondering, why is she telling me this? Why do I care? Isn't this blog supposed to be about sports? Well, try to be a bit more patient. I promise, I'll get to the point.

            Bringing tons and tons of clothes means that my soccer ball and cleats sadly just couldn't fit. (Which makes me feel oddly guilty, because after recently watching Toy Story 3 on Demand, I've started having this reluctance to leave behind inanimate objects.)Yes, I did get my running shoes smooshed in the bottom, and a few pairs of socks, so I should be able to work out and get ready for my season fitness-wise. But what about my foot skills?

            If any of you find yourself in the same boat, don't fear. We won't sink. Because I thought of a solution. If you aren't a soccer player, I'm sorry if this doesn't apply. But I decided to bring a hacky sack. Hacky sacks are much easier to squeeze into my already bloated suitcase, and I can hacky sack pretty much in any setting in order to work on my foot skills.

            For those of you who don't play soccer, there's also another solution. See if there's a sports store where you're staying. And then, I would recommend buying your football or basketball there. It'll be much easier on your pack-mule of a suitcase, and you'll still be able to get in your training before the season starts.

Juggling

For those of you who don’t play soccer, I apologize for the specificity of this following entry. Now, I’m not trying to discriminate, or play favorites among the sports, but juggling really only applies to soccer. (Although, it might improve your general quickness, because it requires quick feet. And quick feet make for a quick person, you know.)

Juggling is not the circus act of tossing big red balls into the air and trying to catch them at the same time, without letting anything drop (or tossing and catching oranges, if I’m reenacting it in my kitchen. However, I wouldn’t recommend doing so, unless you like eating bruised fruits). Nor is it the metaphorical term used when busy moms worry about getting little Timmy to baseball practice by 5 and little Tammy to ballet by 5:30. Juggling, or at least the soccer player’s definition of juggling, is keeping a soccer ball off of the ground by tapping it up with your foot or thigh (or, for the more adventurous of us, with your head, shoulder, foot, or thigh).

Although you will never really use juggling in a game (but if you’ve proven me wrong by juggling the ball up the field in a game before, props), juggling has helped me a lot with my quickness with the ball and my foot skills. Now I’m sure I still have a lot of room for improvement, but juggling has helped me tremendously when trying to control the ball and move it up the field. It’s also something you can do when you don’t have a lot of space, and when you don’t have a lot of time. You could even try hacky-sacking (which I have to say, is really really fun) to work on the same skill sets when you’re nervous about breaking something with your giant soccer ball in the only-for-nice-occasions dining room (although I would never recommend juggling there in the first place, much too risky).

And for those of you playing other sports, I’m sorry I don’t have much advice to give. You are always welcome to try juggling (although it might be a bit difficult with a football or hockey puck). Above is a video of some pretty insane juggling. Enjoy! (With some practice, you might even be able to make some money as a street performer like this guy! Gotta love Iya Traore.)