As athletes return for the second semester of the school year, the biggest question is will they get to play? Even with the SUNYAC putting out a statement saying there are hopes of a spring season, the future is still up in the air.
For senior infielder Taylor DuBois, she and the Oswego State softball team are ready for any challenge that is thrown their way.
“When COVID started, we knew that we would have to start out in small groups and then work its way up, which gives us time to work on the little aspects of softball that most people take for granted,” DuBois said. “Honestly, we all know it is going to take a while to get everything back to normal, so we will take whatever we can get. Whether that is a shortened season, whether that is less travel, or whether that is a split conference, we all just want to play.”
The Vestal native has been with the team since the 2018 season and has a .237 batting average in her shortened career. Although her defensive work has been nothing short of excellent, highlighted by a .967 fielding percentage and only 11 errors in 52 games, her leadership has been tremendous, especially when it comes to building team chemistry.
DuBois talked about reading a book as a team during the offseason, meeting every week over video chat to discuss what they liked in it. It was a sportsbook about team chemistry, making sure everyone had a voice and was doing their part to get through the day and each workout. The readings and journals helped them meet their goals as if they were able to play and meet those goals for practices and games to make the most of the book.
“We are huge on academics,” DuBois said. “We do grade sheets every week because coach Gabrielle Rivers wants to see that we are holding ourselves accountable in the classroom and on the field as well. If you don’t get it done in the classroom then you won’t get it done on the field together.”
DuBois and Rivers have preached mental health throughout their team and their careers at Oswego State. The biggest thing for the team is making sure everyone is mentally ready to play when the time comes. Rivers made it clear to her team during the entire extended offseason that there is no written script for the future.
“[It is] the same thing I have said all summer long, stay ready and go with the flow,” Rivers said. “Obviously with COVID-19, things change daily so we need to be ready for whatever comes at us. Hopefully, we have a season and that is where our focus is right now.”
While Rivers and the team are focused on the future, it is imperative that they make sure everyone is healthy on and off the field. During the offseason, the team made sure it got its work in but when it comes down to the games itself, the mental aspect severely outweighs the physical.
“Physically, you have to prepare your body to be able to play as much as you do mentally because the mental game is what [can] hurt so many athletes,” DuBois said. “Mentally you just have to remember that we are all starting fresh. We have not been to practice in a year, and we haven’t really done much as a team. So mentally you have to get better as a team. You have to get 1% better every day, take it slow and relearn the basics to get back to where we were.”
Photo from The Oswegonian file photos from 2019
