This year CIF has merged many winter and spring sports into a single season. Spring athletes have already started conditioning and practicing for their upcoming seasons, which are expected to start around February or March, leaving students who typically play both winter and spring sports with the dilemma of having to choose which sport they want to play.

Senior Jackson Treiger said, “To be honest, I was a little bit relieved because the last couple years have been a lot in trying to play two sports and maintain my grades and everything.”

Treiger has been a varsity tennis starter since freshman year and played his first season of varsity basketball last year.

About his dilemma, he said, “It would depend on the practice schedule. I don’t want to have to drive to school for basketball and then come back later for tennis, for example. I just feel like that would be a lot of time commitment. And the past couple years have been hard, if I’m being honest, in playing two sports and maintaining my grades and everything.” 

Referring to Treiger, varsity tennis coach Brian Held said, “Two-sport athletes at the Varsity level are rare. I encourage players to play multiple sports, but at the Varsity level, it’s just very difficult to be a multiple-sport athlete. And in my career as tennis coach at Loyola, there have never been any two-sport varsity athletes – besides Jackson – that I’ve coached. Obviously, we would love to have Jackson play tennis, but he should pick what’s in his best interest and what will make him happy.”

Held said that he was encouraged when CIF came out with a plan for sports in September. He said that the tennis team started workouts with training coach Andre Woodert, and they have to be ready to get back on the court, whenever that may be.

Another athlete that plans to play two varsity sports—baseball and basketball—is Junior Peyton Lodge. Lodge was on the junior varsity team for both sports last year, so he hopes to move up to varsity this year.

Having talked to varsity baseball coach Sean Buller and varsity basketball coach Jamal Adams on his ability to play both sports, Lodge said, “They said that they know it’s gonna be a lot of practices and workouts. But in terms of playing actual games, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Coach Buller said that whichever team I’ll have a bigger impact on should be the team I play for – it’s really up in the air right now.”

When Lodge heard that CIF made both sports the same season, he said, “I was really upset because I didn’t think I could play both baseball and basketball, and I’ve been really committed to both for a long time, so I didn’t want to give either up.” 

Lodge is hoping there will be a spring season, but claims that games are going to be almost all scrimmages. 

He said, “It just takes one player to test positive in the league and that’s it.”

Sophomore Trent Turner, another two-sport athlete, was on both varsity basketball and lacrosse as a freshman.

Unlike Treiger and Lodge, Turner is indifferent about what he wants to play this season. He said. “I’ve invested lots of time and energy into both and they both shape me into the person I am today. Both basketball and lacrosse have taught me life lessons and have provided me with some of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had.”

Turner said that he was really frustrated when he found out that basketball and lacrosse were going to be the same season. However, he believes there will not be any sports seasons at all. 

He said, “We live in one of the most populated areas around the world which is southern California and as you can see the number continue to rage on and break records for most cases across the country.” 

Although Turner, as with many other athletes, wants to play both sports this season, he is more focused on whether there will be a season at all. 

He said, “Regardless of circumstances, I will continue to keep working hard and get better to be prepared for a miracle!”