For most Oswego State student-athletes, the season ends either shortly after winter break or toward the end of the school year, but not for two-sport athlete Leah Czerwinski. 

After posting a career-high five goals and three assists for the women’s hockey team and being among the top of the team with a .114 shot percentage, it was off to the softball diamond.

“For hockey, it is fast pace, high intensity and creates much more fatigue on the body than many other sports I have played,” Czerwinski said. “Being in shape for hockey is extremely important to be able to perform at a high level on the ice. In softball, conditioning and strength are important but not to the extent it is for hockey. So, transferring from one sport to the next is always a struggle. It takes me about two to three weeks to be at my absolute best for each sport.”

One thing her softball coach, Abby Martin, has noticed is her intensity that comes from a hockey background.

“She’s super aggressive. She’s flying all over the place,” Martin said. “Sometimes she has to harness it so it works to our benefit. It’s a slower-paced game, and so far, she’s done a good job with that.”

But, if there has been any rust for Czerwinski, it has not shown. She is hitting .280 this season in softball and is a mainstay in the Lakers’ starting lineup. Some of those hockey skills transfer well into softball season. As she describes it, the hand-eye coordination needed as a slap hitter is a skill learned from hockey.

“The one skill from hockey that has helped me tremendously is my hand-eye coordination,” Czerwinski said. “You need good hand-eye coordination to be able to stickhandle and shoot the puck. Those skills from hockey have helped me at the plate my whole life. I am a slapper, so that means I run through the box while hitting the ball, trying to put the ball in a specific location.”

Another adjustment Czerwinski has had to make is an entirely new set of teammates going from hockey to softball. But, with her outgoing personality, that has not been too challenging.

“Having two different sets of teams is so amazing and makes each team so unique in their own ways,” Czerwinski said. “The dynamic of each team is completely different in every way imaginable. Having two teams allows me to bring knowledge and experience from one team to the next, which I think is very beneficial to both teams.”

That spark is something that Martin has noticed, something that reminds her a lot of herself.

“Leah reminds me a lot of myself,” Martin said. “She’s a bulldog, and when I’m out recruiting, I’m looking for kids like her that are loud and running all over the field. She does it in such a positive way that I love it. I love every second of it.”

Balancing academics and athletics is never easy for a student-athlete playing just one sport. But two sports makes it that much more difficult. However, Czerwinski was named to the SUNYAC Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll in 2017—2018 and has balanced her busy life well.

“It is very tough being a two-sport athlete, but it is not impossible at all. It takes very good time management,” Czerwinski said. “Every day, I have to plan out when I am doing almost everything. That means I am planning exactly when I am eating and for how long, and when I am doing homework and for how long. And I am talking about this timing being down to the minute. It’s not easy, but I love it. I love being busy from the minute I wake up to the minute I go to bed.”

Even with the juggling act, Czerwinski would not change a single thing about it.

“Although my life is pretty stressful most of the time, I wouldn’t change my life and the way I live it for anything else,” Czerwinski said.

Graphic by: Maria Pericozzi | The Oswegonian