The day the sports world was put on hold. Every sports fan remembers where they were.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced league-wide shutdowns of the NBA and NHL, and the MLS and the MLB shortened their seasons due to the threat of a coronavirus outbreak. For the first time in history, the NCAA canceled its men's and women's basketball tournaments. The following day, the national college sports organization announced there would be no tournaments, ending any chance for championships for any winter or spring sport across all three divisions.
For Curry, it hit closer to home when the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) announced the 2020 spring seasons' cancellation. Spring student-athletes and programs were in action down the East Coast. Baseball, softball, and the men's/women's tennis teams were all in Florida (Auburndale, Fort Myers, and Orlando, respectively), women's lacrosse was in Hilton Head, S.C., and men's lacrosse was training at the US Lacrosse Facility in Sparks, Md.
"I think all the athletic directors realized that the spring seasons were in jeopardy when schools were starting canceling spring break trips or extending when students would return to school in March," said Curry College Athletic Director Vinnie Eruzione.
Every spring team at Curry was able to get in some game action in 2020 but soon experienced immediate heartbreak on March 12 at the news of losing the remainder of their regular spring season. Nearly overnight, the teams had no more practices or games. Signature celebratory events, including Senior Days, also disappeared.
The CCC then announced on July 17 that it would suspend all intercollegiate athletic competition for the fall, once again challenging the college athletics world to adapt. "We didn't think the fall seasons would be at risk until late summer when many of the New England schools began rolling out their initial plans for remote learning," said Eruzione. "The CCC athletic directors were working hard to make the fall season happen as safely as possible up to the day the announcement to suspend was made."
"Our staff had the feeling it was going to happen," said Men's Soccer Head Coach Peter Mendel. "It is certainly a letdown, and you feel for the guys who put in a lot of hard work over the summer to prepare. Ultimately, it is the right decision and the safety, and the well-being of the players has to take precedent over any competition."
Without the traditional fall season, Curry's coaches had to shift their focus to practicing and keeping their student-athletes engaged through socially-distant practices, Zoom meetings, and social media. Some coaches put together at home workout packets and coordinated Zoom virtual meetings.
"We've led virtual runs where we call each other, which gives us the feeling that we are all together," said Women's Cross-Country Head Coach Darlene Gaudet. "We have had more flexibility in what we can do for practices by doing a mix of in-person and virtual, so I try to keep them fun and different each day."
Women's Cross-Country team member Kelsie Rainone '20 says the virtual adoptions have helped the athletes. "The virtual practices that we had over the summer, as well as the first semester, played a big role in keeping everyone active and engaged, especially during this difficult time," she said. "My coach was very organized and flexible with virtual practices. She is the reason why I stayed motivated to run over the summer. Being engaged in something I love, even virtually, had such a positive impact on me, and it still does."
Allie Wysocki '20, a midfielder/attack on Women's Lacrosse, also says the combination of virtual and face-to-face training has kept the teammates together. "Our coach has had bi-weekly Zoom meetings with everyone to keep us in touch. We could get small groups down at the field to shoot around and get some conditioning in, which has been great, and "Morning Murph" workouts with social distancing has allowed us to continue to work hard and enjoy lacrosse even if it's a little different this year."
To train this fall, athletes practice socially-distanced with smaller groups, masks are worn, students must show the athletic training staff that they are cleared for COVID symptoms through the College's CoVerified mobile app, and temperatures are taken before each session. With the loss of games, coaches are focused on player development.
"Our training sessions are focusing on how each individual can better themselves, so when we do get back to some normalcy, each player will have improved individually," says Men's Soccer Head Coach Peter Mendel. "We also encourage them to have group chats about matches on TV that they can watch and speak tactically about and watch a film of last year's games and training sessions."
Since early March, student-athletes and the Curry community have continually relied on digital technology to learn and stay connected to campus. Coaches and athletes often kept up communication through phone calls, text messaging, Zoom meetings, Instagram, TiK Tok, and more. Men's Ice Hockey Head Coach TJ Manastersky launched a blog and podcast to provide coaching and player development expertise. "It is incredibly important to keep student-athletes engaged right now and maintain a sense of normalcy. We are staying focused on building purpose and connectedness while doing everything in our control to make sure we have a season," he says.
To prepare for the season, Manastersky is also focused on supporting individual development. "With our expectation to start playing games in January, our focus is primarily on individual player development. We are taking a holistic approach to expedite the growth of each person on our team. We want to maximize this unique opportunity we have to develop players and people."
This year's pandemic has also prevented college coaches and prospects from traveling and meeting each other in person. Still, Curry's newest coach Kelly Rider says the coronavirus hasn't slowed her down from recruiting the College's first Women's Ice Hockey team. "With recruiting, it has been with fewer events or not able to see certain teams, but it hasn't been as difficult or as different as I anticipated so far," she said. "Recruits are still engaged; everyone is finding new ways to get through the recruiting process. There have been some in-person events, and rinks and programs are doing a good job with live streaming or on-demand streaming."
COVID-19 has changed how the athletic teams operate and the administrative offices that rely on the teams for news and content generation. Without games and the normal cycle of content, the Sports Information Office implemented new initiatives for the website and social media (@CurryColonels). With the cancellations of spring Senior Days, they highlighted the Class of 2020 through a "Senior Reflection" series. They also introduced a "Summer Spotlight" to profile student-athletes on and off the playing surface, among many others. For the fall, the office launched "Colonel Cast," a podcast to discuss Curry Athletics and beyond.
Despite the obstacles facing college athletics programs this year, Curry's coaches and student-athletes found the opportunity to maintain connectedness among teams and to cultivate a new level of physical and mental toughness, further demonstrating the true embodiment of their position as leaders on campus.
"Our coaching staff has done a great job of keeping all our student-athletes focused, not only on their individual sports through socially distanced practices, but also in the classroom and the community," adds Eruzione. "Student-athletes are often our leaders on campus, and we know that they are leading by example in the fight to keep Curry safe."
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