Being a two sport varsity athlete is pure routine for senior defenseman, pitcher, infielder and student Abby Cullen. Practices, games, tests, workouts and double headers. A brother playing hockey and a mom getting her into softball made both sports stick for the senior, and they kept throughout high school.
“I learned time management really quickly,” Cullen said. “I plan out my study routine ahead of time. Say for example I have a test on Thursday and practice on Wednesday, I’ll study on Tuesday evening instead of waiting, so right after practice I eat and go do my homework until I finish. It’s just about setting up time for me to do everything.”
On the ice, Skryon had its most successful season in program history, finishing with an 20-1-1 (11-1 in conference) record and losing a triple overtime semi final playoff game.
“We went from my freshman year where we weren’t very good to my senior year having the best team in program history, it was amazing,” Cullen said. “We played hard and we can only do so much in any game you go into anyway.”
As for on the field, the program may be trending differently, but Cullen still shows up every day and works hard.
“It’s my last season of my last sport, so I just want to win a couple games and have fun to finish it off,” Cullen said.
Cullen wears the number 21 in both sports, and the reasoning is a seemingly infinite amount of familial connections including but not limited to birthdays, anniversaries and graduations.
“My mom’s birthday is on the 21st, my brother graduated and there’s a lot of other connections to the number in my family so that’s why I chose it.”