For many college athletes, classes aren’t the only things that stop once May rolls around and second semester comes to a close. Their sport also enters a standstill, because they are not allowed to meet with their coach during summer months in which they are not competing.

However, for gymnastics and swimming and diving, there are exceptions.

Coaches are allowed to meet with their athletes in these sports because of the high risk of injury: gymnasts need a coach to spot them, and swimmers and divers run the risk of drowning.

“Our sports are a lot different than things like basketball or soccer,” Illini diving coach Chris Waters said. “For those sports it’s pretty easy to find somewhere to go practice, or a club team to get involved with. You can also go running and it will benefit you for that sport.”

Waters said it’s harder for people in sports like diving or gymnastics, because it’s difficult for them to find a facility to practice in. Most public pools have taken out their diving boards, and if they have any they are not usually the right size. Athletes who do not stay on campus with their coaches ­— doing so cannot be required as per NCAA rules — are then forced to get in contact with old club coaches in order to find practice facilities.

“The people that stay on campus and work with me, they definitely are going to improve a lot more than athletes that don’t meet with a coach this summer,” Waters said. “It’s like this in any sport — the more you work out, the better you will perform.”

But Waters also said approaches to summer training differ by sport.

Bob Starkell, Illinois head gymnastics coach, sees himself as more of a supervisor over the summer.

“I’m just there to open up the gym for them and to make sure that nobody gets hurt,” Starkell said. “Summer is the time for them to do their own thing more; they need a chance to recover. They are able to decide what they do, for example they have been doing a lot of the Insanity workout videos, which is basically like P90X but more structured for women.”

“I focus more on business things and recruiting over the summer,” he added.

Starkell said he wanted summer to be different for his athletes, and that even though he is still able to meet with them, he said they need a change of pace. That is accomplished by offering less intensive workouts and allowing the athletes to work at camps with young gymnasts.

Between the men’s and women’s gymnastics squads, only two athletes are absent over the summer. The athletes on campus stay and practice with their coaches five afternoons a week.

“I can’t require them to stay or anything, but they know how important it is to stay in shape,” men’s gymnastics associate head coach Justin Spring said. “It’s important for them to be here, be able to use the facilities and to motivate one another as a team.”

Soccer head coach Janet Rayfield spends the entire summer away from her athletes as per NCAA rules. She said only two of them are even on campus this summer.

She said sometimes it can be difficult being away from them for so long because the coach is not there to motivate them and make sure they are keeping in shape. However, she added that most athletes find other ways to keep going during the summer.

“You can’t require them to do anything, but they usually join clubs of their own that are pretty competitive,” Rayfield said.

“We would definitely have the ability to improve a lot more if we were able to meet all summer, but as long as every team is on an even playing field, you just take what you can get.”