Girls’ ultimate head coach Seija Stratton said while she enjoys coaching the ultimate players, practice and attendance issues have come up, causing difficulties with the pre-season practice schedule.

Stratton said the coaching team faces difficulties scheduling winter practice because of the limited amount of playing areas available.

“Some things that (the coaches) have done to prepare for the season are to get together and identify practice days,” Stratton said. “The season is a little restricted in that (ultimate) is typically an outdoor sport, so we have limited access to indoor space within St. Louis Park.”

Junior Ronen Pink said he enjoys playing ultimate, but wishes he saw higher attendance.

“I really love ultimate. I love everything about it,” Pink said. “It’s unfortunate that not as many people show up to the practices because they are in the winter, but for me they’ve been going really well.”

According to Pink, the winter practices benefit the team and individual players’ strength.

“(The practices) help with team dynamic and getting everyone excited for the season, and also to get back into shape and work on throws and fundamentals,” Pink said.

According to junior Makayla Jones-Klausing, despite attendance and scheduling issues, the winter practices provide a good way to hone her skills.

“Practices have been going pretty well. It’s nice to get back into it because it’s been a couple months since we’ve been practicing and working on our throws,” Jones-Klausing said.

After a previously challenging season, Pink said he looks forward to playing with the new team.

“Last year was a rebuilding season, so I am hoping this year we do much better,” Pink said.

Stratton said she works with a team of three coaches to develop schedules for the girls’ season and they are currently working through scheduling conflicts.

“Practices in January and February are getting to be a little bit sporadic,” Stratton said. “I do have assistant coaches helping me: Audrey Phillips and Callyssa Ozzello. We are a coaching team and something that we have done to prepare for the season is to get together and identify practices days.”