Originally published in print in February 2026. View print issues here.

Branham athletic sports — such as soccer, softball and track and field — are often affected by rainy weather conditions, changing athletes’ performance and posing challenges during practices and games.

Each sport has a different protocol when it comes to dealing with bad weather conditions. Girls junior varsity soccer coach Anthony Mata emphasizes the importance of being aware of the weather when planning practices.

“Here in the Bay Area, [the weather] fluctuates so much, so we’re definitely paying attention to that,” Mata said. “That goes all into our planning of what it is that we’re going to be bringing out to the field.”

No matter how much planning goes into a practice, coaches and players still have to work around the weather’s lasting effects on equipment.

“Sometimes you play in weather where the conditions aren’t as great, and it does affect [the] performance of the ball,” Mata said. “If the ball’s saturated and soaked, it makes it heavy, so your cleats, your equipment, everything becomes heavy.”

Junior Kasey Fagin, who plays soccer, slipped and sprained her ankle during a rainy practice. Fagin has noticed similar occurrences with her teammates and prefers for practices to be canceled during bad weather to prevent injuries and illnesses from the cold.

“We’ve had so many injuries,” Fagin said. “Now a lot of the team is injured, and I feel like doing simple things to prevent it is kind of easy.”

Mata tries to curb injuries from the rain by ensuring the athletes properly warm up. However, athletes may also suffer psychologically from rainy conditions, resulting in their performance taking a toll as a result. Mata attempts to help players as much as possible when their performance begins to degrade during a game.

“Sometimes that’s a sub, and other times it’s just trying to get them to mentally focus on what they’re doing rather than things that are out of their control, like the weather and the conditions that they’re playing in,” Mata said.

For Mata, hosting practices in the rain can also train his players to persevere through weather challenges.

“[It] could help the players build resilience playing in cold and wet weather, so even when it rains, we don’t necessarily take a day off,” Mata said. “It’s that learning opportunity for them to learn how to perform at high intensity.”

Junior Sydney Short practices on a dirt field with her softball team, which can become difficult in the presence of rain.

“We hit in the cage instead because it’s a little more covered with the net,” Short said. “We can’t really play on the field because of all the puddles.”

Short believes that playing on a turf field would help counteract rain’s effects and suggests other solutions for rainy games.

“Pregame, we should have tarps on the field,” Short said. “That’s so we can prevent as much [rain] as possible, but what’s happening during the game you can’t really control as much.”

While rain itself isn’t enough to cancel softball games, lightning poses a more serious threat across all sports. The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) states that when lightning is prevalent during a game, players are required to wait thirty minutes between flashes before determining whether or not to cancel.

When it comes to cross country, thunder and lightning are typically the most dangerous threats that pose concerns for track and field and cross country coach Craig Lee.

“As soon as we hear the thunder or we see the lightning, we are calling everybody in to go inside and make sure we’re safe,” Lee said.

Although the all-weather track helps lessen the effects of rain for track and field, the cross country off-track routes create challenges for runners due to muddy uphills.

“We typically switch to a more road course, something that they can run, and as long as it’s safe, we will send them out,” Lee said.

No matter the sport’s protocol when it comes to rainy weather conditions, athlete safety always remains a top priority.

“The toughest things that we’ve seen is really heavy, intense rain or almost hail at certain times,” Lee said. “When it gets to that [point], it’s just not safe for some of them to be out there.”