When sports practices were cancelled last March, athletes never imagined they’d be sidelined for months and that the 2020-2021 sports season would shift dramatically causing many changes. It was announced as a two week break, however, it turned into the last day of school for almost a year for many students. The Coronavirus pandemic is still affecting life in all of its aspects today. Hybrid school, masks, mass vaccinations, and empty sports stadiums are all still a reality, over a year later. For many Patriot athletes, they had a year of eligibility taken away. The sports world as a whole was rocked by the shutdown.

On March 12th, 2020, Utah Jazz Center Rudy Gobert tested positive for Covid-19, which led to the NBA pausing the season on March 13th. This caused a domino effect which led to every major, and high school sports leagues pausing, and eventually postponing their seasons.
With spring sports returning to Patriot, for the first time after two missed seasons , it is important to look back on the shutdown and see how Patriot athletes were affected. Many spring sport athletes haven’t played a game of their sport in over two years, as high school and many travel seasons were shut down. The fall season finishing successfully without any major outbreaks or shutdowns is a very good sign for spring athletes. However most of the recovery from the shutdown is mental.

“Everyone on my team was shocked,” said Patriot Softball Player Sarah Lysohir, “It’s a struggle having to distance yourself from teammates you’re usually close with.”

Along with having to get back in the game mentally, some athletes found rare positives in the shutdown.

“It actually gave me more time to practice and a more flexible schedule,” said Lysohir.

While most of the shutdown was full of negative aspects, it also provided a more flexible schedule and more time to train specific aspects of the athletes’ game they needed to improve on.

“I trained and I got stronger over the offseason. The shutdown limited my options for training and for practicing basic fundamentals,” said Patriot Baseball Player Connor Balcom, “But, it allowed me to come up with creative ways to train, which I still use now.”

It also gave athletes a mental break from the stress of tryouts, training, and game preparation.

“I started training my mental game more and watching more film,” said Patriot Softball Player Ella Roberson.

This break should lead many athletes to be in great shape.

Patriot’s spring athletes have faced huge amounts of adversity throughout the pandemic, yet they still remain positive. Athletes are already focused on finding new ways to encourage teammates, while following Covid-19 social distancing rules.

“You try different masks to see what fits best and find new ways to cheer on teammates,” Lysohir said.

However, all athletes, and students of Patriot are ready to resume normal life.