Unlike most of her classmates at Thomas Worthington High School, senior Julia Valentine wasn’t exactly overjoyed when she found out school was canceled Jan. 28 and 29. Sure, she loved the chance to stay home from school but as a swimmer, she knows there’s a hefty price tag for each time the Cardinals can’t practice. “Usually we’ll get that text (saying the morning practices have been canceled) at 4 or 4:30 a.m.,” says Valentine, whose team plays host to a sectional meet on Feb. 8. “It’s kind of nice to sleep in but at the same time, we know if we’re not staying in the water, it is eventually going to affect our performance at the sectional, district and state meets.” The arctic blast that rolled through Columbus last week threw a gigantic snowball into athletic teams’ planned events. By January, several area high schools have used all five days of the state allotted school cancellations. The time off this year is nearly equal to the total days missed from the past two years. Even college teams aren’t immune to the winter weather. The Capital University women's basketball team postponed their game at Baldwin Wallace on Jan. 25. The two teams met up a day later with the Crusaders pulling out a 83-68 win. According to Capital sports information director Chris Lindeke, that game was the first time the Crusaders postponed a game since Feb. 2, 2011. “It throws everyone a little bit of a curve ball,” says Jim Callahan, who coaches the swimming and diving teams at Thomas Worthington and Worthington Kilbourne. “The bottom line is it is what it is. You just have to deal with it. It’s out of your control. You have to roll with the punches.”Swimmers may be affected a little bit more when school is out. Throughout the bulk of the season, the Worthington teams practice twice a day, once in the morning and once after school. So losing a day of school can mean losing two practices instead of just one. Secondly, Callahan says, swimmers need to put in miles of pool time in hopes that their bodies will be refreshed as they relax the practices or “taper” to gear up for the postseason. Taking time off interferes with that process. “It’s like pressing down on a spring,” Callahan says. “The harder you press down on that spring, the more it’s going to jump up (when you let go). Any time you let off that spring, you’re not pressing down on it as much as you should. “The positive side of (the time-off) is swimmers get a little mental and physical break. That allows them to refresh a little bit but all year long you’re trying to work as hard as you can.” Some swimmers are so dedicated to maintaining the work needed for a strong taper they schedule informal workouts at nearby recreation centers when the schools were closed. “We have to be creative,” Valentine says. “We’ve been doing this so long. We know what we need to do to stay in the water and to stay fit for districts.” Swimming is not the only sport affected by canceled practices. Big Walnut girls basketball coach Steve Palmer says coaches worry teams will not be as sharp in games after not practicing for a couple of days. “I think the timing can be off,” Palmer says. “Some of our kids haven’t done anything for the last three days. Coaches fear they will come out flat. Sometimes after a couple of days off in a row, they’re ready to go again.” Palmer points to his team’s performance against Kilbourne this season. On Dec. 17, the Eagles shot 24 percent from the floor in a 46-33 loss at Kilbourne. The second time Big Walnut faced the Wolves, they had missed a couple days of practice and had the game rescheduled from Jan. 28 to Jan. 29. The net result was the Eagles shot 39 percent from the floor and pulled out a 50-43 overtime win over the Wolves. “Maybe a couple of days off at this time of the year aren’t that bad,” Palmer says. “It gave us time to rest up the legs. It gives them a chance to recharge the batteries and be that much crisper physically and sharper mentally.” Worthington Christian boys basketball coach Kevin Weakley’s team didn’t lose any practice time to the recent round of winter storms. Depending on the weather, the school allows after-school activities even if students don’t have school that day. What the Warriors lost was game time. The boys and girls basketball teams each had four games postponed this winter. Now both are scrambling to make up the league games that weren’t played. The basketball team had to play four games in a week to make up ground, defeating Grove City Christian 72-62 on Jan. 28, West Jefferson 66-41 on Jan. 29, Columbus Academy 65-61 on Jan. 31 and Fairbanks 67-54 on Feb. 1. The girls team will have to make up games after the Division III district tournament has started. Weakley says the string of games took its toll on the players. “You get into a situation where your kids are out late nearly every night,” says Weakley, who is also the school’s athletic director. “They’re getting home at 10 p.m. four times in a week and still have (homework to do). The biggest challenge for them is keeping their academic standing up as well as getting their rest.“(During those four games) it took them a little time to get going. It’s much better to be in a routine. Coaches like routines.”