Even if game season lasts only a few short months, being an Aquinas athlete takes year round commitment. Away from teammates and campus in the summer, training and development continue. Many students take a break from the books and head for bonfires or beaches during their down-time, but for a fall sports athlete like Michael Gagnon, a member of the AQ men’s soccer team, summer means pre-season training. “I can't go to parties at night or lay out at the beach during the day,” he said, “I need to focus on my workouts and the season ahead.”

Gagnon usually takes a weeklong break after spring finals to relax with family and friends and to recuperate from the semester. The period of rest does not last long, however, due to the need to maintain fitness levels for the upcoming season and of course, his passion for the sport. “During this [break] week I am normally itching to go to the gym or kick a ball around,” Gagnon said. “It’s this itching that motivates me for the rest of the summer to keep working.” Gagnon trains every day in the summer at varying intensities. A sample of how Gagnon spent summer 2011: “I played games in local leagues on both Tuesdays and Saturdays. I would do a conditioning/cardio workout in the morning and then play a game at night. On game days I mainly focused on playing well in the games.”

Gagnon feels that the commitment soccer requires is sometimes difficult to balance with other aspects of life in the summer. Relaxing while keeping up an athletic regimen takes discipline. Gagnon hails from Grand Haven where “the biggest week of the year is Coast Guard Festival.” During that time, Gagnon finds “it really hard getting the right amount of sleep, eating the right thing, and staying motivated to work out when you have all of these distractions going on around you.” The festival falls at the end of summer and any distraction from practice will make the next practice only more difficult. “It is especially important to stay focused during this week [of the festival] because our preseason [big] week is normally the following week.”

Athletes are not left on their own to train in the summer. Gagnon’s coaches give the team training manuals to consult during off-season times that include soccer specific drills, weight-lifting, and track workouts. Gagnon said, “The players on the soccer team use it more of a guide then a rule of thumb. By this point in our careers, guys know what is best for them to be doing in the offseason both to improve their soccer skills and to get bigger and stronger in the weight room.”

Gagnon feels that the off-season training is actually much tougher than in-season. “In season you get mentally drained,” he said. “Twenty games is a long season, especially when you are competing for your playing time throughout those 20 games and countless practices.” The off-season, on the other hand, is more physically draining because of the conditioning workouts and weight lifting. The physical expectation in-season is to be ready to play the best one can. “Our coaching staff demands the very best and because of that you have to bring it every practice, every game if you expect to be on the field,” said Gagnon.

“Having a fall sport is both a blessing and a curse,” Gagnon said. “You can't do all the fun things that your friends do in the summer, but it also gives you a lot of free time to come in to the new season at your very best.”