By Austin Block, Jack Davis
and Alex Leichenger

 

Alex Silverman ’10 was last seen in goal for boys’ soccer, leading his team to the CIF championship game. Before that, there was rarely a time Silverman could be seen far from a weight room or a soccer field, whether during the school season or not.

In his four years on the varsity team at Harvard-Westlake, Silverman was never away from a soccer field for long.

As soon as the season ended, Silverman would dedicate his time to his club team.

But this year has been different, since Silverman was last on the field March 20 for the Senior All-Star game.

“I hadn’t stopped playing in a couple of years, so there was kind of a void of doing nothing,” Silverman said.

For Silverman and many fellow senior athletes who have completed their high school athletic careers, second semester is not only a time of less academic pressure, but athletic pressure as well.

“I work out a couple times of week just because it’s a little weird going from training and working five to six times per week to not at all,” Silverman said.

Since Silverman will try to walk-on to the University of Pennsylvania’s varsity team next season, he plans to spend much of his summer playing in a summer league.

Silverman says he had enjoyed the added time to spend with friends, but he does miss playing alongside his fellow Wolverines.

“It is really sad. I’ve had so many good memories and good experiences here,” he said. “I just miss those guys a lot. I miss the camaraderie.”

Caroline Hartig ’10 played volleyball in the fall. Since the season ended, she has filled her time by painting for her AP Studio Art class.

“AP Art really gets more intense starting November/December and that’s kind of when season was ending anyway, so it worked out pretty well,” Hartig said.

She said she will not play varsity volleyball in college, though she might play club. She still plays casually with friends.

For recruits like Nate Bulluck ’10, this offseason is like any other. Bulluck, a forward for the boys’ basketball team, has committed to continue his basketball career at Middlebury, a division III school.

Bulluck is motivated to enter his new school playing the best basketball he ever has played.

“I plan to outwork everyone,” Bulluck said. “I was never the star here at Harvard-Westlake and that helped teach me discipline, it made me always work harder. I want to be the star at Middlebury,” Bulluck said.

Bulluck’s plans to get better have included taking 200 shots a day, working out with a private trainer five times a week, and even daily yoga classes.

“Yoga might help the most,” Bulluck said. “The increase body control and flexibility I have help me so much out there on the court,” Bulluck said.