The holiday break means two full weeks off for most students, but for student athletes, it’s a time to continue practice and get better for season as wrestling and basketball continue working to improve skills and head further into district play.

Wrestling will compete in their second Coppell tournament on Friday with the girls’ in the Mrs. Clause tournament and the boys’ in the Santa’s Sleigh tournament.

“We have three or four guys that will hopefully make it to the finals and place, and our girls’ will do really well too,” wrestling coach Tim Brennan said.

Over the break, the wrestling team will spend days working out to prepare for their two toughest tournaments, the Grapevine Duals and the Trinity tournament after break.

“We are working out next Monday and Tuesday, and then we are working out the following Wednesday through Friday,” Brennan said. “We don’t have an tournaments over break.”

Basketball also takes to the court over the holiday, playing in tournaments and continuing district play.

“We basically practice everyday except the five day mandatory break for Christmas,” junior Mara Casey said. “After Christmas we have a three day tournament in Duncanville, and the Tuesday before we come back we play Independence.”

The extra practices allow the team to focus on their game, without the stress of school and extracurriculars getting in the way.

“We more so focus on our stuff, how we can better our offense and defense,” Casey said. “We don’t have to  focus on scouting anyone or watching film we can really focus on ourselves and making us better.”