At New Ulm High School, this spring has had two constants: rain and a full voicemail inbox for athletic director Mr. Neubarth.

For Athletic Director Mr. Neubarth, this season has felt like a balancing act between forecasts, safety, and making sure athletes still get the competition experience they’ve worked for.

“Most times in the spring it’s weather,” Neubarth said. “You have to get in contact with the opponent or opponents…find common dates that are available, lock down facilities, officials, workers – it’s a lot more than just picking a day.”

Weather delays aren’t just about rainouts. Safety is always the top priority. “The biggest thing we look at is student safety. Is it safe to hold the event?” Neubarth explained.

“With tennis the other day, it was safe to travel to Hutch and play there, but a storm was rolling through for the return trip. We were in a tornado watch, and I figured it was not safe for them to travel back.”

Lighting delays also factor heavily into decisions. “If you see it, hear it, you clear it,” said Neubarth, quoting the league’s safety rule. “You have to wait 30 minutes after the last lightning strike before resuming, and if there’s another one, the timer resets. It can really prolong events.”

Assistant Coach Mr. Wuestenberg echoed the frustration of losing valuable practice and match time. “I feel like we haven’t had a real practice in two weeks,” he said. “We’ve definitely had a lot fewer meets so far this year.”

The team also lacks access to regular indoor facilities, making it even harder to adapt. “Sometimes we can go down to Vogel, but they need a couple of days’ notice,” said Coach Mr. Wuestenberg. “It’s kind of hard when you don’t know if it’ll rain until it actually does.”

Even rescheduling games isn’t always straightforward. Schools have to work around events like prom, academic testing, and facility limitations. “Most ADs are really easy to work with,” said Neubarth, “but it’s more about what they’re willing to do. Sometimes schools aren’t willing to travel even if the dates are open.”

New Ulm does its best to prioritize academics despite the challenges. “We try to keep kids in school as much as possible,” said Neubarth. “That’s why you are here – to get an education first.”

With the section two tournament quickly approaching, the tennis teams remain focused and resilient. “We’ve just got to be ready when it counts,” said junior Charlie Weidman.

For the New Ulm tennis team, it’s been a season defined not only by serves and volleys but by rescheduling calls, radar maps, and a determination to keep pushing forward, rain or shine.

The weather has not been ideal for the New Ulm High School track and field either. However, with a rainy, cold April, meets have been cancelled, postponed, or rescheduled. Trying to stay warm, individuals take warming up seriously.

“With our colder weather days, rain, and harsh wind, we’ve always made sure to warm up better to just make sure we can perform to the best of our abilities,” said junior Isabelle Longtin.

Individuals take warm-up laps, plies like lunges and high knees, and focus on stretching muscles. Not only is warming up taken into consideration, but the wind is as well.

With the location of the high school, the wind has always been a difficult task to get past. Runners, especially, have been affected by the wind and weather. Running towards the wind increases air resistance, making it harder to maintain forward momentum.

“The wind can be tough for some of our sprinters if they’re going towards the wind,” said Coach Mr. Rodriguez. “And then for distance runners, I think that really affects you a lot because you get a lot more tired and fatigued when you’re running in the wind because it’s just so much more resistance.”

With cancellations, coaches keep athletes busy by mixing up practices and the way practices go. To prevent any sort of boredom, the way things go is constantly a mix-up, switch things up on the regular.

“I think just changing things up really helps. Like, it’s what we’re doing, short sprints, and then maybe we’re doing a longer one, or maybe we’re playing, like, a game, or maybe we’re working on more field events this day,” explained Rodriguez. ” I also think mixing up, going in the weight room is also a nice change because then you get to go work with Mr. Lieser, and also just a different scenery, like, you’re not always running.” 

Despite the weather, both coaches and individuals plan on excelling in performances this year. With a large senior class in track and field, individuals hope to create personal records for themselves and possibly the school.

“But now, hopefully, the weather is getting better outside, and we should see some more PRs with that,” coach Rodriguez said.

On the plus side, students have been putting the student in “student-athlete.” With no meets or crazy activities, students have been able to catch up on schoolwork and allow extra time for studying for tests and quizzes.