CORONA VIRUS COVERAGE: WILL SPORTS RETURN

By Ciana Bowers

The corona virus has affected many students involved in different activities and while some have found a way to survive, other students involved in athletics are missing being able to compete for the Pride. Many of Widener’s athletes say that they miss being a part of a team. Bonding with their old and new teammates during practice is something that they miss. It’s been heartbreaking for the Pride not to be able to practice when all of their competitors are able to practice together. The teams are trying to make the best of it. Alex Polon says that her soccer team communicates virtually. “The majority of our communication is virtual, from group-chats to team Zoom calls to a Facebook group where we post our workouts and inspiration for the team. Although it has been challenging to stay connected with each other and motivated at times, these virtual efforts have helped us communicate and welcome in our freshmen players.” Other teams are trying to meet outside of campus with safe social distancing. Megan Gorleski explains how the cross-country team handles staying connected. “We try to keep things positive by trying to run in small groups when we can and hanging out after to eat.” Most of these student athletes have been playing sports for a majority of their life. Megan Gorleski of the Widener Cross country and track team says she has been running since her freshman year of high school and Izjan Koonce who is on the Widener’s football team has been playing for nine years. Some of our pride members like Alex Polon on the Widener’s soccer team has been playing sports since she was five years old.   

The students of the pride also think that when the seasons are back to normal, it won’t be the normal that they are used to. After the virus is over, our student athletes feel as if new rules and regulations will be applied for the sports they play to make sure that the cancelation of sports does not happen again. Alex feels that soccer rituals like handshakes with other teams and a team huddle will be changed in the future during competitions. While other sports like football will have more precautions so they won’t spread the virus.  

Although these students say that the corona virus has affected their athletic seasons, many of the students feel that the transition to online school is hard to get used to. As many of us miss the feeling of being back in classrooms and being with professors for more of a hands on setting. They also feel that learning in the classroom is better for them and is easier to concentrate.  

We are continuing to exercise on our own to stay in shape and missing the lifestyle of being a college athlete. Although it is a heartbreaker that fall sports are cancelled, our student athletes understand why they had to have something they love taken away. Your fellow athletes want you to stay safe, follow social distancing, and to keep practicing because this is only a temporary thing. We’ll all be together soon and the more you work hard now, the more it will pay off when the time comes for us to show our Widener Pride.