The Webster baseball team is in Florida, the Softball team is in Arizona, the tennis teams are in South Carolina, and the volleyball team is in the Dominican Republic.
Each team has a different agenda behind their spring break trips, from improving their strength of schedule and preparing for conference play, to building memories and engaging in community service activities. Here is an overview of each team’s spring break trip at its respective destination.
Baseball
Consistently one of Division III’s top 25 baseball programs, the Gorloks organize their Spring Break trips with the intention of improving their strength of schedule. During their ten days in Florida, the team will play seven games, each against a top D3 baseball program. This year’s oppositions include Endicott College (3), John Hopkins (6), and Wheaton Mass. (18)(all rankings, included within brackets are from D3baseball.com).
The baseball team had been heading south over spring break even before Head Coach Bill Kurich’s first season in 2007. He says it is necessary to take these trips for multiple reasons:
“First, the weather allows us to play about 20% of our entire schedule over the course of nine days.”
Second, these tournaments, in either Florida, Arizona, or California, will have 150 Division III teams down there at once. Everyone congregates there to play a good number of games during spring break week. Many teams certainly use it to play the highest caliber opponents they can, which raises your strength of schedule number, and gives you an opportunity to qualify for the NCAA postseason.”
Jordan Smevoll, a senior pitcher on the team, labels the trip to Florida as “the biggest week of the season.”
“With the way the conference goes for us, it’s a little bit of a weaker conference, so we have to build our strength of schedule in the non-conference [games]. In Florida, we’re playing the best teams from all over the country. It’s one of those things where you gotta play the best to be the best.”
The Spring Break trip, coming hardly a month into the season, also contributes to creating a tight bond in a relatively large team. Smevoll believes being in a confined area, whether that’s a bus, plane or dugout, can boost on-field chemistry and allow players to get to know each other on a personal level. The relationships and understanding built during these times can even play a positive role during the latter stages of the season, when the team is making a championship run.
Despite the packed schedule, the team tries to organize fun off-field activities on the rare off days. In the past, the team has attended MLB Spring training games and enjoyed rest days at the beach.
To pay for the trip in the past, the team fundraised through various means. However, this year, the players had to pay for flights out of pocket.
“In a world where everything goes to plan you wouldn’t have to pay for those flights. But everything else is taken care of for us, so there’s not much to complain about for sure,” Smevoll says.
Softball
The Webster softball team will also travel south, but west, to Tucson, Arizona. Here, the team will play nine games in five days, against teams from the East Coast, and Northern Midwest.
This is the second consecutive year the softball team will spend their spring break in Arizona. Last year, the Gorloks were supposed to head to Florida, but lack of punctual registration from the previous Coaching staff meant all the tournaments were filled. Arizona, being the next best destination, was chosen instead.
Kaelyn Kearney, a senior utility player on the Webster softball Team, says the motive behind their spring break trip is to take advantage of the class-less time by getting games under the belt.
“Since we don’t have school, it’s an opportunity to play all week and get some games in before conference starts. It’s just good to see live pitching and see the level of teams from around the country.”
The focus of the softball team is to utilize their spring break to prepare for conference play. Ever since their SLIAC triumph in the 2021 season, the Gorloks have been unable to achieve similar success. A strong showing in Arizona can give them valuable confidence to take into the conference.
The busy schedule also enables squad rotation, which in turn allows the coaching staff to see where the newcomers fit in and test out new combinations in the field.
Kearney believes the trip will also go a long way in familiarizing players with their teammates. The Gorloks follow a room assignment policy where hotel roommates are picked at random. This can catalyze relationships between otherwise indifferent teammates.
“We’re kind of stuck with each other for a whole week, so you tend to bond over the smallest things. Especially with the room situation, you don’t know who you are gonna get. The people you talk to at practice may not be the same people you’re rooming with. It gives everybody the opportunity to bond with everybody else equally.”
The Gorloks fund their trip through online fundraising, where donors receive team merchandise corresponding to the amount they donate. Kearney says the team is planning to sell team gear at home games, once they begin, to raise more money for such causes.
Tennis
Over the past few spring breaks, it has been a custom of the Men’s and Women’s tennis teams to roadtrip halfway across the country to Hilton Head, South Carolina.
In fact, most DIII tennis teams travel for spring break; the common destinations being Hilton Head and Orlando. Webster’s head tennis Coach John Black says nearly fifty teams travel to Hilton Head while double the amount make their way to Orlando. The goal of the trip, according to him, is team bonding and competition.
While at the island, the teams will stay at a resort and compete against some of the many teams that made the journey. This year, the men’s team have three games scheduled, while the women’s have five.
Unique to other sports, the tennis teams embark on the twelve and a half hour drive in multiple vehicles, with senior players helping out behind the wheels.
“Coach (John Black) usually drives a big van and there’s three other cars that drive. Usually it’s the seniors driving. Last year I had to drive and it was brutal. It can be pretty daunting but it’s all worth it, I’ll tell you that, said Matthew Birchmeier, a senior on the men’s team.
The teams have plenty to do on the island during the interludes, from visiting the beach and going on swims, to going shopping. There is even a large banquet, with all the visiting teams in attendance, during one of the days.
Birchmeier says the customary team dinners and mingling with other teams are particularly enjoyable.
“We will do team dinners where someone on the team has to cook. Everyone comes over and watches them cook. That’s usually pretty fun. The other teams there stay in the same resort we’re at so we’re hanging out with other tennis teams as well. Creating friendships and meeting new people is always cool.”
As far as funding the trip goes, the teams engaged in volunteering activities at events over the summer and winter. These include the Hot Chocolate Run, Morgan Wallen Concert, and more. The balance is paid for by the team’s annual budget.
Volleyball
The Webster volleyball team will be spending their spring break in the Dominican Republic. This is the second time they are going to the Caribbean nation, having done so four years ago. However, none of the players who visited then are still on the team.
In the Dominican Republic, the team will play three games, against local club teams, and engage in community service activities.
Head Coach Merry Graf says she was first connected to the guide, through whom they will be traveling, by Bill Kurich, the Gorloks’ Head baseball coach. The baseball team had already journeyed to the island twice on previous occasions.
Having had a positive experience on their first visit, the volleyball team decided to go back this year.
Julia Frey, a Webster volleyball alumnus who was on the team that visited in 2020, says the trip provides a good opportunity to continue the charity work they do during the season.
“We try to focus on doing some sort of charity work throughout our season, so that was one way for us to do some charity work over there. It was a way for us to practice volleyball and have some competition over spring break.”
Last time, the service work included spending a day at an all girls orphanage, conducting a volleyball clinic for five to thirteen-year-old girls, and painting a house. This year, the team is scheduled to partake in similar activities.
This year, the team is scheduled to do all those activities again. They will also have dinner and take dance lessons with the Kansas City Royals team.
The trip is mainly paid for by the Nike Volleyball Camps the team operates over the summer. The more you worked [the camp] the more of your trip was covered,” Frey said.
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