Pali High’s athletics program is going above and beyond the typical approach to practice. While athletes at Pali are often already practicing for multiple hours every day in hopes of claiming a city championship, players and coaches continue to work toward improvement outside of school. Many Pali teams are using alternate training methods, competing in tournaments with other schools in Southern California outside of scheduled league matches.

With these opportunities, Pali teams are able to play more games without feeling the pressure to win,  Games are scheduled during weekends or school vacations and players are often at the tournament site for the entire day. As neither transportation nor funding for these events are provided by the school, these tournaments require a large time commitment from the athletes.

“I think that this is a good way to improve our skills,” says Khuslen Otgonbayar, a sophomore on the water polo team. “The teams we play in our league can be less skilled than us, and playing better teams from different leagues is good practice.”

This isn’t the first time Pali teams have created extra opportunities for athletes to prepare for the season. Last spring, the swim team traveled to Canada to visit friends and to participate in a friendly meet with high school students in Vancouver.

The practice meet as well as sightseeing in Vancouver led Rebecca Yoo to believe that the trip was fun and productive. “After the practice, we all got together at the school and we had dinner all together,” she said.

Despite the extensive degree of dedication it requires, athletes say the tournaments are worthwhile seem to find these practices fun as well as helpful to their success as a team.

“I think it’s a great way to get more playing time as a team,” says water polo player Zach Wunder, a sophomore at Pali. “We’ll have nine full games under our belt before we have any league games. This experience allows us to work together, better as a team in a game setting, and to see the type of teams we are going to play. Overall, I think it’s a very good way for us to get much needed experience.”