Women's Basketball: Holiday holds no break for Panthers
Team only gets few days to see family
Collin Whitchurch/Staff Reporter
Issue date: 12/12/08 Section: Sports
While most Eastern students spend their holiday breaks stuffing their faces and relaxing with family, the Eastern women's basketball team will be hard at work in their pursuit of a conference championship.
Starting on Dec. 20, Eastern's campus will be on Winter Break through Jan. 11.
However, the Panthers will get to spend a total of five of those days at home with their families because they play five road games during that period, including a game at Indiana State on Dec. 19, the last day of finals.
"It makes for us to hold a little bit of a grudge," senior guard Ellen Canale said jokingly. "Sometimes it's hard when everyone's at home with their families enjoying their Christmas break, sometimes it gets a little tough to wake up and know that we're practicing early in the morning."
The Panthers' Winter Break schedule begins on Dec. 19 with a game against Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind. Eastern also travels to Illinois State on Dec. 29 before conference matches against Jacksonville State (Jan. 3), Tennessee Tech (Jan. 5) and Southeast Missouri (Jan. 10).
But Canale stressed the fact the amount of time spent at school during break is part of the job description that goes along with being a Division I basketball player.
"We take it for what it's worth," she said. "We're here to do a job and this is what the job entails, so we kind of have to just take it and enjoy it."
Canale said during Thanksgiving Break the team didn't get to spend any time at home because the Panthers were competing in a tournament in Cincinnati the weekend immediately following the holiday.
But she said that most of the team's family was able to spend the weekend with them in the hotel.
Head coach Brady Sallee said while he worries about his team losing focus during its five-day hiatus, he is confident the team will come back from the break and work just as hard as before.
"You put it in their hands," Sallee said. "You hope that you've got them committed and they bought in to what you're doing and they're not just going to go home, sit on the couch and eat sugar cookies for four or five days. All of them have access to a gym somewhere, somehow at home, and they've got to take advantage of it."
But while Sallee said he wants his team to stay focused and in shape, he stressed the importance of them spending as much time as possible with their family.
"They should take advantage of the break and enjoy their family and enjoy that time off and get refreshed a little bit," Sallee said. "But they have to remember that they have to come back, and they'll have a job to do."
Sallee said one thing that motivates his players is the practice he schedules for the day after Christmas.
He said those practices "go down in history" for being pretty tough, and that they're tough in order to get the team back in the swing of things after the break.
Junior forward Maggie Kloak said while it can sometimes be tough to be away from home while everyone is enjoying their break, she takes advantage of the few days she does get to spend with her family.
"We get five days this year, so we've got to make the most of our time at home with our family," Kloak said. "(Most of the team) is pretty close with our families, so we all enjoy getting back home and spending time with them."
Kloak said having a twin sister makes it tough for her as well because, while her sister is home enjoying her break, she has to stay at school and prepare with her team.
According to Canale, spending time at school when the rest of the campus is gone makes it easier to focus on basketball because there aren't any distractions.
"I think it gives us a little more time to focus on us as a team and as individuals because we have a little bit more time, and we don't have the schoolwork or the paper's due and tests," Canale said. "We don't really have a social life because no one is on campus, so it's pretty much just about basketball. It gives us a lot of time to really work on our shot and make sure you're doing the right things."
Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or at cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.
Starting on Dec. 20, Eastern's campus will be on Winter Break through Jan. 11.
However, the Panthers will get to spend a total of five of those days at home with their families because they play five road games during that period, including a game at Indiana State on Dec. 19, the last day of finals.
"It makes for us to hold a little bit of a grudge," senior guard Ellen Canale said jokingly. "Sometimes it's hard when everyone's at home with their families enjoying their Christmas break, sometimes it gets a little tough to wake up and know that we're practicing early in the morning."
The Panthers' Winter Break schedule begins on Dec. 19 with a game against Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind. Eastern also travels to Illinois State on Dec. 29 before conference matches against Jacksonville State (Jan. 3), Tennessee Tech (Jan. 5) and Southeast Missouri (Jan. 10).
But Canale stressed the fact the amount of time spent at school during break is part of the job description that goes along with being a Division I basketball player.
"We take it for what it's worth," she said. "We're here to do a job and this is what the job entails, so we kind of have to just take it and enjoy it."
Canale said during Thanksgiving Break the team didn't get to spend any time at home because the Panthers were competing in a tournament in Cincinnati the weekend immediately following the holiday.
But she said that most of the team's family was able to spend the weekend with them in the hotel.
Head coach Brady Sallee said while he worries about his team losing focus during its five-day hiatus, he is confident the team will come back from the break and work just as hard as before.
"You put it in their hands," Sallee said. "You hope that you've got them committed and they bought in to what you're doing and they're not just going to go home, sit on the couch and eat sugar cookies for four or five days. All of them have access to a gym somewhere, somehow at home, and they've got to take advantage of it."
But while Sallee said he wants his team to stay focused and in shape, he stressed the importance of them spending as much time as possible with their family.
"They should take advantage of the break and enjoy their family and enjoy that time off and get refreshed a little bit," Sallee said. "But they have to remember that they have to come back, and they'll have a job to do."
Sallee said one thing that motivates his players is the practice he schedules for the day after Christmas.
He said those practices "go down in history" for being pretty tough, and that they're tough in order to get the team back in the swing of things after the break.
Junior forward Maggie Kloak said while it can sometimes be tough to be away from home while everyone is enjoying their break, she takes advantage of the few days she does get to spend with her family.
"We get five days this year, so we've got to make the most of our time at home with our family," Kloak said. "(Most of the team) is pretty close with our families, so we all enjoy getting back home and spending time with them."
Kloak said having a twin sister makes it tough for her as well because, while her sister is home enjoying her break, she has to stay at school and prepare with her team.
According to Canale, spending time at school when the rest of the campus is gone makes it easier to focus on basketball because there aren't any distractions.
"I think it gives us a little more time to focus on us as a team and as individuals because we have a little bit more time, and we don't have the schoolwork or the paper's due and tests," Canale said. "We don't really have a social life because no one is on campus, so it's pretty much just about basketball. It gives us a lot of time to really work on our shot and make sure you're doing the right things."
Collin Whitchurch can be reached at 581-7944 or at cfwhitchurch@eiu.edu.
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