The coronavirus pandemic has been anything but normal. But with Texas State teams having been back on campus for weeks now, things are starting to feel a little more familiar.
The university’s three-phase plan to bring its college athletes back to school began in early June, when the Bobcat football team began voluntary workouts with a group of 60. Another 30 football players were brought in during Phase 2 of the plan, which took place on June 16 and also allowed both the men’s and women’s basketball teams to begin voluntary workouts. Phase 3 began July 6, allowing all teams back on campus.
The players, who were sent home for the spring semester on March 30, were anxious to get back to work.
“It’s been good, we're finally making our way back on the court,” Texas State Women’s Basketball guard Avionne Alexander said. “So we've been glad to be able to, you know, touch the floor a little bit.”
The return didn’t come without changes, though. The Bobcats still have a laundry list of protocols they have to abide by in order to make the university a safe environment.
The adjustments haven’t always been easy.
“I mean, the first little week, working out with a mask on was definitely interesting. You, first of all, haven't worked out that intensely in four months. Some of us didn't have a weight room back home,” Texas State Volleyball setter Emily DeWalt said. “It's definitely been a change. I think, you know, when you get back with your teammates, you want to run, hug each other, you haven't seen each other in four months. So it's been a lot but it's been really good to just see them, staying six feet apart and wearing our masks all the time.”
As the weeks have gone by, the players have gotten used to the changes. They understand it’s what it takes to keep the possibility of a sports season alive this fall.
“We're normally on the court right now anyway,” Alexander said. “So definitely being able to be back in kind of the groove of things where we're getting on the court and also doing our strength and conditioning workouts definitely kind of gives us back some sense of ‘Okay, this is my normal routine.’”
“I think as a team, before we came back, we had talked about what we needed to do to ensure that we would have a season. And we knew coming back that we needed to listen to protocol if we wanted to have the opportunity to have a season this fall,” DeWalt said. “Most of us have been playing volleyball since first, second grade. So to be out of the gym for four months was super weird for a lot of us. So to be back is just — it's great to be back to almost a normal routine again.”
The pandemic hasn’t impacted the player’s focus on the upcoming season either.
“I'm very excited,” Alexander said. “You know, of course I want us to go all the way and get as far as we can, but I'm just really excited to be a part of this new team — it's fairly new — and just really play with them and do what we can do to get a ring this season.”
“My class of juniors, we have the opportunity to go three-for-three (in the Sun Belt tournament) while we're here,” DeWalt said. “We knew we were gonna have to come back and be as — we weren't going to be in tip-top shape — but to be as in-shape as we could keep ourselves. And so we're super excited to be able to get back on the court and try to go back-to-back-to-back.”
DeWalt also pointed out that while the Bobcats might not at the same level physically as they typically are at the beginning of the season, every other school in the country is going through the same thing.
“And so we're all on an equal playing field and for that, we're not expecting ourselves to be at our peak performance when we start,” DeWalt said. “We know it's going to take us time to work back into things. We were away from each other for four months, chemistry's gotta come back, connections on the court have to come back. And as we stay and we work through fall camp and stuff like that, we're going to get into better shape. So I definitely think that it's going to take us a little longer than it would in years past, but we'll get there.”
Whether sports will or won't begin this fall is still up in the air. The Sun Belt already delayed the start of fall competition to Sept. 3 due to health and safety concerns for its players. The Mid-American Conference canceled its fall football season on Saturday for the same reason, eliminating Texas State’s scheduled home game against Ohio.
But if sports do end up taking place, the Bobcats will be ready.
“I have confidence that we're going to work harder and take advantage of all the time that we have in order to put ourselves in a good spot so that we're still strong and we're still ready to play and looking pretty sharp whenever it's time for us to get back into competition,” Alexander said.
