On July 20, the lives of hundreds of student-athletes, coaches and community members changed. That was the day when the SUNYAC announced its suspension of all athletic competitions until Jan. 1.
Since then, coaches have worked hard to create plans for their individual athletes and teams to train and provide them with an opportunity for growth. Teams will be allowed to practice in some capacity, with restrictions coming from Oswego State’s athletics department. These vary from team-to-team depending on the risk of each sport, but all teams must form “practice pods” as field hockey head coach Heather Moore described.
“We have come up with practice pods that have to be a certain size,” Moore said. “I made them so they are between seven and eight. They’ll go at staggered times throughout our practice time.”
As for some of the other fall sports, cross country does not need to break up the team as much. The team at Oswego State is small enough to divide into the men’s and women’s teams and treat each one as its own pod.
Early in the semester, teams will limit interaction on the practice field, in order to avoid a potential outbreak.
“For the first few weeks, it’s going to have to be very individualized,” Moore said. “We are going to monitor who they are practicing with and [it will be] a lot of fitness training in the beginning so we can keep them away from one another.”
By keeping players separated, it will certainly be difficult to futher the strong chemistry and relationships on the respective teams. These teams help build friendships that last a lifetime, and without those overnight road trips and the occasional grueling practice, teams will have to get creative to introduce new players.
“It’s been kind of slow [acclimating our five new freshmen,]” Moore said. “They have been on campus for quite a while, so as a group, they are pretty comfortable with one another. Introducing them to the team is going to be a slow process because they won’t be able to have the entire team for a practice. They are going to get to know their pod pretty well initially and hopefully the rest of the team later on.”
One of the only silver linings in this dark grey cloud of a semester is the chance for growth on and off the field of play. The field hockey team is expected to practice from Sept. 2 through the second week of October, which gives it roughly a month and a half to build up new skills for the next game the players are a part of whenever that may be. Rather than focusing on systems or game play, these developing athletes can hone in on specific skills, using the hiatus as a way to improve their game overall.
“You take the viewpoint that this is a very [great time] to improve,” Moore said. “We were not able to have our spring, which is when a lot of improvement occurs. This is the one time where every field hockey team across the nation is working on improving and making themselves better athletes and better field hockey players.”
While many players are looking to get better on the field, others are looking ahead to their futures. While athletes will have another year of eligibility due to the cancellations, some may not utilize it. With a chance to position themselves in a better spot when adulthood inevitably calls, some upperclassmen on the cross country team are taking this time to load up on courses.
“[Some of our athletes] are focusing on their academics more and focusing on other things,” Oswego State cross country head coach Jacob Smith said. “We have some people, even some of our juniors, who are taking extra classes to try and graduate at the end of this year as opposed to coming back for a senior year.”
For seniors, it is very hard to stay motivated. It seems unfair to expect these young students to grind throughout practice when they may never see competition again.
“I think it is hard for them to stay motivated because even though we have indoor track, we can’t compete until at least January. It feels like a long way away,” Smith said. “Personally, I support those things, like the athletes trying to graduate early. Now is the perfect time to do that because we don’t have a cross country season, in terms of competitions to worry about … Many of them are looking at grad school. If they don’t use all their eligibility here at Oswego, they would still have the opportunity to compete in the future.”
As for seniors across all sports, this is a very difficult time. They saw their final chances at athletic glory potentially ripped out from under them.
“It was heart-breaking,” Moore said. “I was very thankful that we did have the opportunity to at least tell them before they read it. At least for my seniors, I feel for them. That is a terrible end to their season.”
