Girls' Tennis Takes on State
Munster High School has a long-standing record as the Girls' Tennis State Champions. This season, the team prepared to continue the streak; however, after losing to the number one team, Carmel, they take second for the first time since 2008.
The Mustangs, ranked 28 in the state, defeated Bloomington South Bend 3-2 in the semifinals before advancing to face Carmel in the final round of State. Melissa Fronzcek, a sophomore at Munster, explains the team's mindset and obstacles faced going into the postseason.
"In the postseason, our main struggle was staying focused," Melissa said. "It was a little rough to keep going to practice and giving it our all since school was out."
The team pulled together and advanced through Sectionals, Regionals and Semi-State.
"As we approached the postseason, we wanted to beat Crown Point at Regionals," Melissa said. "When we advanced to Semi-State and saw we had drawn Plymouth, we figured we would have a fair chance of beating them, too. Once we did, we were content in making it to State. Again, we drew favorably with Bloomington, moving us onto Carmel; a match we didn't expect to win. It was a great experience getting runner-up, nonetheless."
The players are extremely proud of their postseason accomplishments, according to Melissa.
"I am proud of my team for making it as far as they did," Melissa said. "Many didn't think we would even make it past Semi-State, let alone getting to the final state match. I'm extremely glad to have been part of this team."
The Next Chapter
The June sun has barely graced the horizon with its presence. The alarm clock on his iphone beeps loudly as he pulls himself up and out of bed. Less than 15 minutes later he is out the door, dressed in running clothes with turf shoes in hand. But, he will not see a soccer game until August, as for now he conditions with his new college teammates sometimes as much as two hours twice a day.
Mikey Jimenez, senior at Munster, has played club soccer for the Chicago Fire Academy most of his life. This year has been the first year Jimenez competed on the high school team, and will continue on to play at the University in Chicago (UIC). He credits the Chicago Fire Academy for laying the foundation for his soccer career.
“It feels amazing to be committed,” Jimenez said. “I’ve strived my whole life to play college soccer and I’m excited to be committing to play another four years- and hopefully more, which will all be another chapter in my life to achieve more accomplishments.”
Before Jimenez can turn the page to his college athletic career, he must condition his body to handle the rigorous requirements of his sport.
“My summer for UIC will be all running with and without the soccer ball every day except Sunday,” Jimenez said. “I think any conditioning will be hard if you are making the workouts tougher and more difficult which is exactly what I will be doing.”
Much of the workouts consist of sprinting and long distance running. However, Jimenez admits in order to play well, he must condition well.
“I remember in eighth grade my coach gave me a conditioning packet that I still use today,” Jimenez said “on my own, I usually run four miles then after that, I will run 10-20 yard sprints with a 30 sec rest; eight 40 yard sprints with 45 sec rest; six 60 yard sprints with a one minute rest in between, and four 80 yard sprints with a 1 minute and 20 second rest in between each.”
Such a heavy amount of running is incredibly difficult at first, but it gets easier as the workouts progress, according to Jimenez.
“At first when I started doing these workouts, it was the absolute worst and I could barely do it,” Jimenez said. “But I stuck to it and became one of the best defenders, as a player, in the nation at one point.”
As an athlete throughout high school, Dominic Lucito, senior at Munster, knows pushing one’s self is the key to success. As a soon-to-be freshman in college, Lucito will balance summer football conditionings with a summer job.
“My summer conditioning will be intense this summer because I am getting a job which I’m working five days a week,” Lucito said. “So I have to be sure to put in a lot of work on the weekends.” Even with the added work, Lucito anticipates wearing a Carthage College uniform with excitement.
“As a college athlete I am really looking forward to continuing to play the greatest sport in the world,” Lucito said. “Football has meant so much to me and I really want to make my last four years memorable. But, something I’m not looking forward to is that I will always be busy with conditioning, working, training and practices.” No matter how busy, an athlete should place high importance on summer conditioning in order to continuously improve alongside your competition, according to Lucito.
“I think it is very important to keep working out in the summer because competition gets very difficult,” Lucito said. “The best chance to play as a freshman in college is to constantly workout in the summer.”
Fun in The Sun
St. Thomas More church and school in Munster hosts its 24th annual Fun Days Festival June 24-28. The festivities include games, carnival rides and plenty of food vendors from across the area.
As an added bonus, a children's tent, specifically designed to entertain the little ones, will be available with plenty of games including a duck pond and face painting. Ms. Holly Harle, tent manager, runs this portion of the festival, but not without the help of her volunteers, students from all across the School Town of Munster.
"The student volunteers are incredibly important," Ms. Harle said. "I could not run the tent without them, we simply don't have enough adult volunteers. Their energy is also a wonderful part of having them help out."
Anyone in grades 6th and up is welcome to volunteer for the children's tent, but most student volunteers come from the middle school grades because of the mandatory volunteer hours associated with Confirmation at St. Thomas More.
Ms. Harle expresses how important the entirety of the festival is to such a tight-knit community like Munster.
"I think the festival is such a wonderful place to bring your family," Ms. Harle said. "It is safe, fun and has tons of great games and food. The great thing about the children's tent is it is run directly by the church so it can be a low cost event for families with little kids. All in all, it is a good time without spending a lot of money."