By the end of the season, many of South’s fall athletes will be recognized for all of their accomplishments from personal records, to district, regional and state championships. As MVPs soak up their glory, there are components behind the scenes that led them to success that often go unnoticed.
The preparation process varies for every sport, but for girls’ cross country coach Steve Zaranek, it’s working around the clock to ensure that the team is prepared physically, mentally and logistically. Sorting out the fine details, he manages weather, workouts and scheduling in order to give each athlete the opportunity to succeed.
“In the home stretch of the season we’re really gearing up so that we hope every single girl on the team is at their peak in terms of performance, and in terms of mental preparation that’s needed to be at their best.” Zaranek said.
As for South’s football team, you can find wide receiver coach William Fleming spending his free time analyzing the team’s competition for the week any way he can.
“In football because we don’t play that frequently, we spend a lot of time preparing, so we watch a lot of film of the team we’re going to play,” Fleming said. “Each team is required by rule to give [their opponents] the film for the two games before they play, so we study those.”
While coaches do what they can to prepare their players, leadership within the team additionally plays a role in the team’s mojo. Field hockey captain Stella Fry ’26 takes pride in her role of getting the team excited and giving words of advice.
“I talk a lot on the field, and before we do our cheer to go out on the field I will remind everyone of what our goal is,” Fry said. “It’s like refreshing everyone’s brain that we know this so we don’t forget.”
A captain’s role is crucial, as players’ mentality is a major “X factor” in how they will do throughout the season. Zaranek pays close attention to his athletes’ mental game while he selects the best seven runners to compete on Varsity each week.
“A simplistic view is a ‘Who wants it the most?’ sort of thing as the season moves along,” Zaranek said. “My decisions for who will be varsity seven shift more from time based early in the season, to later season time and consistency.”
In any sport, players display “Who wants it” by the example they set for everyone else. Fry holds herself to a high standard in how she presents herself to the rest of the team.
“It’s hard to be [the captain] because sometimes you want to engage in the talking and whatnot, but as a captain you have to keep the team in order,” Fry said.
Regardless of how players and coaches prepare, nothing can control what will really happen when the games begin. In the excitement of planning, Fleming admits to forgetting this and getting caught up in the details.
“These games are games of momentum and emotion, which plays a lot into it,” Fleming said.
“You cannot, no matter how much film you watch, predict exactly what’s going to happen on every single play. You just got to go out there and play, and trust that your players know what they’re doing.”
