Looking back at last spring when I had heard that we finally heard that we wouldn’t be coming back to campus, I thought everything would be back to ‘normal’ come fall. We might have lost our chance at a normal spring semester and all that it entails, but there was no way that everything wouldn’t be back to normal in a few months right? Wrong. I think deep down I knew that there was no way everything was going to be alright again so soon, and that fear was proven right in late summer when I heard that I, as well as other teams on campus, was losing my fall athletic season. There was a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel though. We were going back to campus and were going to be allowed to practice with our teams again.
At this stage in the game, or Phase 3 as it’s commonly known, teams around campus are allowed to practice completely together again rather than in small pods. Life feels like it’s finally coming around to what it used to be like before Covid hit…just in time for the anticipated next wave of Covid to strike this winter. It’s already here for many states around the country, but it may soon be on its way for New England. As athletes who are still hoping to be able to compete in our sports in the coming months, we are doing our best to ignore another looming threat of Covid. I’m impressed every day when I walk around campus and see other teams practicing, and when I go to my own team’s practices, with the level of dedication and intensity that athletes are bringing to practice. None of us know whether we are going to get to have our upcoming seasons, but we have to practice every day like it might be our last with our teammates playing or participating in the sport we love because it just might be. I know that every moment I have with my teammates and coaches doesn’t go unappreciated anymore. I for one, hope that everyone takes this pandemic seriously so we don’t have to end our seasons, or more soberly, our time on campus at Saint Mike’s at the flip of a switch, or rather more aptly, the dispatching of an email once again.