There are multiple aspects that contribute to an athlete’s life, and many of them revolve around a sense of scheduling. With the coronavirus pandemic, everything has looked different this fall, including the cancellation of sports, as well as sudden mid-cancellations of sports last spring semester. As the steady routine of sports halted, an extended offseason began; no one knew that this monstrosity would last months. 

The Piedmont College women’s lacrosse team was in full stride when the COVID-19 pandemic announced its presence to the sports world. 

“We were finally catching our momentum, and then the rug just got ripped out from under us. We will never know how the rest of the season would’ve gone. I am happy that our last game was such a great one, and we ended on a high note,” said Piedmont women’s lacrosse coach, Kirsten Smith. 

COVID-19 had, and still has, a strong hold on many aspects of college athletes’ lives, such as practices, workouts, and games. It has affected every individual differently, especially Macey Higgins, a senior nursing major, who is currently battling an injury to her knee and quad. A college athlete is said to be held to higher standards because they are competing both on and off the field.

When competing on a team as small as the women’s lacrosse team, an injury is not ideal. During Higgin’s sophomore year, she partially tore her quad, but persevered through the pain to finish the season strong with her team. Later in her junior year, she discovered that along with a torn quad, she had missing cartilage in her knee, which has caused her bones to rub painfully together, causing extreme pain when she plays. 

“Although I have pain when I play, I love the game and my team too much to have surgery just yet. Corona has put off the surgery I need, but I’m ready to be back at it with my team this coming spring, hopefully,” Higgins said.

With an extended offseason, Higgins and the Piedmont women’s lacrosse team have had to adjust to the circumstances of staying in shape and filling the void that practice and workouts once were. 

“Coach Smith did a good job with keeping in check of all of us and sending us workouts and suggestions of what we do over the summer,” Higgins said. “When we came back for the fall semester, we were all eager to get back to practice and get back together with the team.” 

Gyms have been closed indefinitely since the required quarantine mandate, so many individuals have had to result to at-home workouts to find their own motivation within themselves; of course, the act of staying in shape has been relatively more difficult than usual.

As sports and college campuses are finally reaching an agreement to slowly start returning to what we think as “normal,” student athletes are thrilled to be getting back into the swing of things.