The Show Goes On: Spring coaches, athletes find alternative ways to participate in sports safely

The tennis courts are empty, the pool is off limits and the batting cages are closed. But that hasn’t stopped spring coaches and athletes from finding new ways to participate in their sport. After the Kansas High School Activities Association cancelled the spring sports season on March 18 in compliance with the stay-at-home order, spring sports teams are using technology and at-home solutions to stay connected with their teams and continue to improve their game. 

Tennis coach Andrew Gibbs has created the #LancerTennisTuesday challenge on Twitter where players can post videos of

them completing various tennis challenges. The first of these challenges was for players to create and play on a homemade court —

“It’s more for fun and keeping players connected with the team than it is for practice,” Gibbs said. “I want to find a way to build team spirit even though we’re all supposed to be following the stay-at-home orders.”

Junior Luke Tsaur has participated in tennis workouts at home, following the guidelines that Gibbs outlined in an email to work on strengthening arms and abs. Tsaur thinks it’s important to keep practicing outside of the season, and uses it to help pass the time. 

“Even though the season is over, it’s kind of like the off-season has started,” Tsaur said. “By practicing I can keep my muscles from weakening and find something to do that keeps me in shape and relieves me of endless boredom.”

Since facilities are closed and everyone is required to stay six feet apart, teams like the varsity girls soccer team have found a way to stay connected without putting on cleats and kicking the ball. The team has participated in Zoom calls, allowing them to talk to each other again — the team had gone from seeing each other every day at practice to no face-to-face interaction. According to freshman Ashley Koch, the team is also communicating through group chats on Snapchat and GroupMe. 

“Since we can’t see each other in person, we’re trying to stay in contact over the phone,” Koch said. “We’re maintaining the relationships that we [would’ve had] over the season.”

Other coaches have sent workouts to their players to keep them in shape. Track Coach Emily Fossoh creates workouts for all of the athletes — from going on timed runs to using a broom in place of a weight for strength workouts. 

Track senior Miles Patterson has practiced on his own, running fives times a week at the East track in addition to lifting weights. Although most of his workouts have been alone, he has also run with other track athletes — staying six feet apart of course. 

But staying connected over a sport doesn’t necessarily mean training. Senior baseball player Jack Marasco played “fungo golf,” a version of golf where you use a baseball and bat to hit different targets on the field, with six of his teammates before the stay-at-home order.

Spring sport athletes that weren’t able to finish out their season are showing how to make the best of the situation — whether it’s through Zoom calls, solo runs or daily challenges, they’re persevering through this overturn of daily routine

“It’s important to stay close to your team during this time,” Tsaur said. “Because when the whole team is working to get better together, you still feel close to your teammates even though we are physically separated.”