Fall sports athletes find positives in postponed seasons

It’s no secret that campus life at Wofford is notably different in the absence of fall sports. There is no tailgating, no tense fifth sets, no overtime goals. While the Wofford community moves along as best it can, fall athletes across the board anxiously await their first opportunities to put on their jerseys, step on the field or court and do what they love to do—compete.

For volleyball player Riley Coonan ’21, the news that there would not be a fall season was disappointing, but she quickly found the silver lining in the situation.

“We have 7 new people coming in this year,” Coonan said, “so immediately, it kinda switched and was like, ‘Alright, this is a positive. We get more time to work together and get more time to play together and really get ready for the season in the spring.’”

Coonan said that she feels she and her teammates’s relationships with one another have grown a lot stronger and that it has reached “a whole new level that I never even thought possible.”

As an accounting and finance double major, Coonan spends some of her free time studying for her CPA exam. When she’s not working on her academics, she takes the time to go for walks outside or to stay in and catch up on her Netflix binge-watching.

Such is also the case for women’s soccer player Paige Miller ’21, who also does paint by number sheets with her roommates. Miller said that she was “bummed” when the season was postponed, but added that she and her teammates have been a huge support system for one another. She also said that she has “cut back on my procras- tinating a lot because I have so much free time now, so it’s been good.”

Miller, who typically bases the rigor of her fall semester course load on the soccer season, said that she expects to have “a super loaded [spring] schedule with a season, so it’s gonna be a lot in the spring to handle.”

Right now, the women’s soccer team is approaching the fall semester “like our normal spring season would be, just in the fall,” said Miller. Team workout schedules have been relatively the same for fall sports athletes with the obvious exception of having no games. In fact, for men’s soccer player Eddie Velazco ’21, the week to week schedule has remained consistent with last year.

Despite his initial disappointment with the season being postponed, Velazco spent and continues to spend his free time working out individually and, during the summer, took it upon himself to even change his diet to consume less sugar and to increase his carb and vegetable consumption to build mass.

“In the past, I have not had the healthiest diet,” Velazco said, “but this past summer I took it upon myself to start eating better. Ever since, I pay careful attention to what I put in my body.”

Velazco remains hopeful for a competitive season in the spring, and in the case of senior football player Ryan Lovelace ’21, even with the NCAA granting players an extra year of eligibility, the postponement was “discouraging for people because it caused people’s motivation toward practicing and working out to deflate.”

Lovelace also said that playing in the spring may be better to give players more time with strength and conditioning coaches in order to prevent as many injuries as possible. It has also given him more of an opportunity to talk with more of his teammates, hang out with his roommates, and start his schoolwork earlier.
Lovelace: “During the season, there would be days where I would be lucky to be able to start my homework be- fore 9:30pm…. In my spare time now I have more time to myself whether it is during the day or if my schedule allows me to do my homework in the morning to free up my evenings and nights to hang out with my room- mates.”

With all athletes sidelined for the fall semester and taking advantage of their time to rest, build team chemistry, and even get ahead of regular coursework, the spring semester is scheduled to be filled with plenty of action. In the meantime, the life of an athlete con- sists of team lift and practices, team bonding, and a little bit of Netflix bingeing in between.