Bengal Athletes Grapple with a Postponed Season

Lesley Brey

Staff Writer

For nearly seven months now COVID-19 has had its talons latched tight into the flesh of our everyday lives. We’ve had to social distance, wear face masks in all public venues and perhaps most unfortunately of all; we’ve had to learn how to use Zoom. However, these inconveniences pale in comparison to the enormous impact COVID-19 has had on the Idaho State University student-athletes. “The hardest part at first was not knowing, cause we didn’t know for the longest time that we wouldn’t have a season. We were all planning on having a season,” said Women’s Cross Country captain and senior Laura Alicke.

After a sudden end to the spring season, athletes were left in the lurch wondering what to expect. Many fall athletes spent their summer training hard for a season that was ultimately postponed. Our football, soccer and cross country teams have all had their competitions moved to next spring in the hope that by then the virus will pose less of a threat.

Just like many other students, our athletes have had to adjust to changes in their personal life.

“It keeps you from doing many things that you normally would, you can’t hang out with as many people. By now I’ve gotten used to it, but at the beginning it was really weird, seeing everyone with a mask. It was kind of creepy,” Alicke said. “It’s definitely made school a different experience. With a lot of the classes being half online and half in person there are a lot of different challenges,” said Karlin Wurlitzer, an ISU soccer player and junior.

Social distancing rules required our teams to problem solve ways to stay safe while training. In football, they’ve been separated into Alpha and Bravo work out groups, while in cross country they’ve had to change their grouping while running, now either wearing a mask or staying single file.

“We’re not allowed to run next to each other unless we have masks on. It’s doable but it’s just not as comfortable,” said Men’s Cross Country team captain Joe Simmons, who is a senior.

“It’s a developing process still. Soccer is still changing; in the beginning, we were practicing five days a week and lifting three times a week, now we’ve dropped to practice four times a week, while still lifting three times,” Wurlitzer said.

While some changes have been stressful, it hasn’t dampened morale for any of the sports teams. In fact, many players feel that the added training time has allowed them to become stronger.

“Morale right now is actually very high, they’re very excited, they’re putting in really good work, I’m a little annoyed that we don’t have a season because we have no chance to show it off. Both teams are running great and they’re happy to be here,” said cross country coach Nate Houle.

“Team morale hasn’t been that negatively impacted. We have so many new players, everyone is excited. The returners are excited. They come to practice every day, they’ve had positive attitudes, they’ve been applying themselves maximally. As a team they’ve come in the fittest they’ve been since my arrival [at ISU],” said soccer coach Debs Brereton.

“Our team’s been pretty optimistic about it, we were ready to go play the season at the end of the summer and then it just got shut down, but from that point on I feel like our team has been pretty optimistic about the fact that we have more time to prepare, more time to come closer together, more team bonding opportunities,” said defensive lineman and senior Rasheed Williams.

By working hard and pushing through the COVID19- complications, ISU athletes have found ways to see a silver lining to an otherwise difficult situation. Whether it’s increased fitness, better team bonding or more time to focus on schoolwork, every person is finding a way to stay focused despite the loss of their season. The bittersweetness of the situation is felt most acutely by our senior athletes who won’t be returning next year.

For some, the future is optimistic.

“I’m excited that it’s my last year. I’ve enjoyed my years of running, but I’m also excited to get into that new part of my life,” said Alicke, who started her running career in high school. For others, this strange season has been a disappointing note to end on.

“To see my senior cross-country season, which I had big goals for this year, just get kind of wiped away… losing all that time and those opportunities was really hard,” said Simmons, who started running in middle school.

Everyone has been experiencing a mixture of both the highs and lows as they’ve adjusted. “It’s given me a lot more time to focus on my academics and really lock in on knocking this semester out. I don’t know what I’m going to do next semester as far as schooling with our season being pushed to the spring,” said Williams who is planning on graduating in December.

“It’s honestly been a little stressful,” said first year soccer player Jordyn Roth, “It’s all been up in the air and strange, I don’t know what to expect.”

Regardless of the stress and uncertainty, one thing is clear about the Bengal athletes; they’re ready to jump back into competition as soon as circumstances permit. Many want to encourage the ISU student body to keep on wearing masks and self-quarantining as much as possible.

“We’re all in this together. Even though it sucks right now, I know a lot of people don’t like the masks, I know a lot of people don’t like the online school atmosphere, but we’ll get through this and come back to normal,” said defensive lineman and junior Garrett Crane.

“We don’t stop working, we’re continuing, even with all of this going on, day in and day out we’re putting in the work necessary to form when it’s time to. Whenever it’s time to play we hope that the fans can come out and support us, and we support them as athletes too. Go Bengals!” said Williams.

“We can’t look at this as a negative thing, we have to take it in our stride. I really feel as though we’ll be a sleeping giant come spring. We’re gonna wake up and be ready to go, and I can’t wait for that. COVID sucks, but we can get on with it,” Brereton said. “Life is too short to get miserable about having to wear a mask. The Bengal community is one that’s strong and resilient and we’ll get through this.”