Though students Liza Pozhenko, Kjell Snyder and Madison Brooks differ in nearly everything from grade to sport, they all have one thing in common: their commitment to both in-school and club sports. From swimming, to soccer, to cross-country, the differences between school and club sports are vast.
SWIMMING – Liza Pozhenko, 11
Though her journey with swimming began at the age of five, junior Liza Pozhenko joined the Vandegrift Swim team in her freshman year and became a part of the Austin Swim Club at 8 years old.
“I started swimming when I was five because we have a community swim team,” Pozhenko said. “I started there and I really liked it, so I wanted to continue it for club, and then now for Vandegrift.”
Austin Swim Club (ASC) is a part of South Texas Swimming and USA Swimming, and offers ten different levels of club. Pozhenko participates in the highest category: ASC National.
“High school swimming is a lot different from club swimming, because you swim with people who you also go to school with, so you can talk to them or see them more often,” Pozhenko said. “It [has] more of a community kind of aspect to it. Especially for relays, you have a group of people that you swim with.”
For the in-school swim team, there are various team events such as team dinners and team travel meets. Pozhenko appreciates the opportunity these events give to form stronger bonds within the team.
“For Vandegrift, it’s definitely more interconnected, because you see each other more often at school and in classes. I’d say it’s more tightly intertwined than club.”
Besides the time spent together outside practice, Pozhenko believes the community aspect of Vandegrift swim is aided by it being a more team sport compared to club. In club, swimmers compete individually, whereas in school, every Vandegrift swimmer contributes points to the school as a whole.
“I do club every single night, so [I have] eleven practices a week,” Pozhenko said. “It’s kind of a huge time commitment.”
Pozhenko attends three one-and-a-half-hour high-school practices, along with eight two-hour club practices per week. Between in-school sports, club sports and school-work, there’s a lot of balance.
“I get home at nine and I start doing my homework then, and go to bed late and then wake up early,” Pozhenko said.” It’s kind of falling into a routine and working hard. You work hard in school, you train hard, and then you do meets, so it’s kind of [just] balancing your time.”
Despite the large time commitment, Pozhenko believes that her time in both club and school sports is worth it.
“I just really enjoy [swimming] and I want to swim in college, because it’s just really fun for me,” Pozhenko said. “I can’t imagine not doing it because [of] the connections with the people you make around you.”
SOCCER – Kjell Snyder, 12
Senior Kjell Snyder plays center mid for the Vandegrift soccer team, and is a part of ECNL (Elite Program) for Westlake Football Club.
“I’ve been playing [soccer] since I was four,” Snyder said. “I didn’t play [for] Westlake, I used to play Neighborhood Sports, which is the one in Steiner Ranch.”
Neighborhood Sports is a Steiner Ranch-based club focused on younger athletes. FC Westlake, on the other hand, has programs for nearly all ages, with the highest being ECNL, which is on the national level.
“Club soccer, it’s much more travel,” Snyder said. It’s very intense, [and] it can be overwhelming sometimes. It’s just a much larger time commitment because the practices are thirty-forty minutes away. I do that three times a week.”
Though the time commitment for club soccer is generally more than in-school, the structure of the club season doesn’t interfere with the school season. Snyder’s club season runs from Aug. to Dec. and April to June, with the school season in-between, from Jan. to April.
“For the club environment, it’s people that aren’t all going to the same school, so you don’t get to see them as often,” Snyder said. “As a result, I like Vandegrift better.”
Though a few other Vandegrift players are a part of FC Westlake, like Pozhenko, Snyder believes the in-school team is usually a more tight-knight group than club. However, he believes that the two work together to help one another.
“For club [and school], they’re both complementary to each other,” Snyder said. “So if you’re playing club, you’re going to get better. And then vice versa. That means that I’m just trying to get better at soccer.”
CROSS COUNTRY – Madison Brooks, 11
Junior Madison Brooks became a part of 620 Running Club in the summer of her eighth grade year, and has been a part of the Vandegrift cross country and track team since freshman year. Brooks runs the five kilometer for cross country, and the one to two mile event for track.
“I’d say like half of the Vandegrift cross country team is in 620,” Brooks said. “We’re pretty close in 620 and [when] we get to school, we just stick in the same group. A lot of kids hear about 620 once they get to Vandegrift, they come and join also.”
Compared to the previous clubs, where Vandegrift athletes were relatively separate from club athletes, 620 Running Club is largely made up of Vandegrift runners.
“A lot of [people] on the cross country team at Vandegrift are in that club because the [620] coach and the Vandegrift [coach] work really closely together for the training plan,” Brooks said.
In school Coach Colin Sully, and 620 Coach Gary Mathis work together to formulate training plans for the athletes. Plans are largely based on grade, prescribing hours of running for athletes to compete individually.
“I think [club] well prepared me for Vandegrift, [because] the running we did at middle school was like nothing in comparison to the amount of running that we do in high school,” Brooks said. “ Some of the kids that didn’t do 620 were like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so much running,’ when they showed up here. So it’s really beneficial.”
During the school year, Brooks attends Vandegrift practices in the mornings, and club practices on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. In the summer however, club practices are three times a week, with morning and afternoon practice.
“A lot of what we do in club is prescribed work, and you have to do it on your own,” Brooks said. “It’s more self led. So the longer you’ve been running, the more that you can run.”
