It’s early, really early

At 7 a.m., the first five girls start off sitting in a line on the turf. They do crunches, push-ups and speed exercises like bicycle kicks.

They’re starting to wake up and become more attentive to instructions from DeVries.

They are excited that it’s finally Friday.

“It’s my last individual,” one says with a smile. They know full team practices start Monday.

Huge nets fall down around the field, protecting the walkers on the track.

It’s time to get serious.

They pair up to hit balls into the net. They run in what seem like random patterns with the ball through cones that are spread out across the field — somehow without crashing into each other. The gunshot-like noise that comes from a ball being slammed into the goal is harsh enough to wake anyone who is still lagging behind. Then they hit “air balls” — volleying the ball up in the air with their sticks.

They don’t even get a break as they retrieve the balls. They jog around and pile them in their shirts to take back to the basket. A quick sip of water is their only relief.

As they go one-on-one, they become humorless and the first signs of frustration peek out. They attack every exercise as though in the middle of a real game.

Being seven months pregnant doesn’t stop DeVries from joining in to show correct motions and stick placement.

Toward the end of the practice, the girls start to liven up.

They line up to shoot into the goal. Each girl approaches the ball and strategically attacks it — as a predator would its prey — and slams it into the goal with an echo.

They cheer at the good shots and laugh at the misses.

By the time practice is over, they’re not even tired.

“I’ve had worse,” Rahaim says. “Today was more stationary. Sometimes we do a lot more running, and that’s more tiring. As long as you’re standing in one place, it’s not too bad.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t too bad today,” several other players agreed.

“Don’t say that too loud,” another girl laughed as they all look around for DeVries.

By 8 a.m., the next group of girls is ready for individual training.

Maybe because it’s later, this group seems more energetic from the start.

Freshman Lauren Grandinetti, whose laughter often rings above the rest of the girls, looks up from her stretch.

“What are we doing today, Kerry? What’s on your mind?” she asks, as though afraid to hear the answer.

And with that, they bounce into their drills.

‘Work it hard, blue!’

Regular team practice starts at the end of February and goes until the end of April. Each practice lasts about two hours a day.

Junior Megan Spurling says it’s hard to get up for the morning practices.

“Some of us have morning classes,” she says. “I have a 7:45 a.m. class, so I practice 6 to 7:30, go to class and then practice 12 to 1:30. You try to schedule your classes around practice, but sometimes you just can't.”

They start warming up in different ways — some run, some practice shooting, but they all come together to stretch before practice begins. To energize themselves, they clap together, faster and faster, and move into a close circle and cheer.

DeVries says the girls have a healthy competition with each other.

“They all want to improve, not just be the star of the show,” she says.

And they prove this every morning as they cheer each other on in practice.

“Yeah, good job you two!”

“Keep it up!”

“Good job, Steph!”

Cheers from fellow teammates echo off the walls so that you can’t trace their origins.

They have to go through four stations of exercises. In one, they crouch down and pass each other the ball while running back and forth within a square.

In another, four women have to jump onto an elevated, blue rectangle that is about 1 foot by 3 feet.

They start off jumping at different paces, but by the end of the one-minute drill, they are nearly in unison.

“We have to do this for a minute?” one girl says after 10 seconds.

They also have to work on running back and forth across the field and they have to jump rope.

“This is so frustrating,” one girl says, as she trips over and over on a rope that is too short for her height.

All 13 girls run in patterns through cones, pushing the balls as they go, much like they did in individual training. The snaps of the balls sound like popcorn popping as it echoes off the field house walls.

“Let’s go! Work it hard, blue!” another teammate yells referring to their uniform color.

There’s no question they’re working hard.

They run to tape weights on their sticks for the next exercise. This time they have to hit the ball to themselves in different patterns on the floor in front of them.

“One more time. If anyone is not working at 100 percent pace, working their feet and working their hands, we’re going to add one,” DeVries says.

After all this work, they have a five-minute break to clean the field up, get some water and change equipment before they continue.