If you think that rolling out of bed, eating breakfast and catching the bus at 6:45 a.m. is hard, imagine having to get up, drive to an ice rink, wear layers of padded clothing, lace up skates and have a full intensity practice all before 6 a.m. As if that isn’t enough, as you step onto the ice, a wave of tiredness hits your sleep-deprived body and you suddenly regret your decision of not getting that one extra hour of pillow time. This is more than a familiar feeling for many devoted hockey players. With the start of the season looming in the distance, the girls on the hockey team prepare themselves for these early morning practices once again.

As senior Erica Edwards hesitantly sets her alarm for 3 a.m. the night before her practice, she realizes that a full night of sleep may not be in her future. She wakes up tired and reluctantly steps out of bed to begin her day on a very early note. She walks out the door, numerous bags in hand, and eats in breakfast in a hurry while thinking about how her comfortable bed would be feeling at that period of time. And right when she thought she was beginning to feel fine, at the last moment, she realizes that she forgot to do an important homework assignment the night before. These all are things that you deal with when you sign up to be on the team.

“I generally wake up at around 3:30 a.m.,” said Edwards. “I like to blast the radio in my car while I am going to practice so I don’t fall asleep. I also go to bed really early after getting all of my stuff ready for the next day.”

Edwards has been on the Storm hockey team for four years now and has become accustomed to this way of doing things. Although it may not be her first choice of practice time, she is compliant because knows that practicing will not only make herself better, but her team better as well.

“I don’t really like them because we have to wake up before everyone else. But, I’ve gotten used to them,” Edwards said.

Many teams have morning practice because they are able to be productive in a small amount of time. It allows the players, parents, and coaches to have the rest of the day for their own time. It saves the players the stress of having to hurriedly scramble to finish homework, the parents from having to worry about getting home in time from work in order to provide a ride, and the coaches from having to deal with the varied school dismissal times.

Because the hockey team includes players from North Kingstown as well as from Narragansett and South Kingstown, it would be difficult for all of the girls to each arrive at URI’s Boss Arena for practice at the same time in the afternoon.

Early practices for Storm and many other hockey teams is also necessary because ice time is restricted. It is usually very hard to get and expensive so they take advantage of the early morning slots available to them.

“There are five high school teams that compete for ice time at the URI rink,” said Dave Cannon, head coach of the Storm girls’ hockey team. “Also, there is a men’s and women’s team at URI as well as the youth league and other ice rentals. The rink is booked all day from 5 a.m. to around 11 p.m., seven days a week.”

Although these practices may have the downfalls of waking up early and being tired in school, there are some reasons to be happy about them. Often times as a student, it has become our main goal to complete our responsibilities as soon as possible and leave as much free time for other things. With these practices, a full-time student-athlete can perform well at practice and still perfect the many homework assignments in no time after school.

“You definitely feel more awake for first period because of starting the day off so early,” said senior Alexandra Lindo. “I also love it because you have more time to do stuff after school such as make up a test, do homework or go home and nap.”

So, as the weather becomes colder and the hockey season gets closer, the girls on the hockey team prepare themselves for a long winter of lacing up their skates at those early morning practices.