Rye Bean
Staff Reporter
4 May 2021
Did you hear what Covid-19 did to athletes and coaches? Their seasons were cut short due to Covid-19, but that didn’t stop some players and coaches from hitting the gym and working hard to get better while in the pandemic.
Sports were shut down since March 6, 2020. Some people have been in the gym almost everyday.
“I’ve been training everyday to try to be ready for the upcoming season,” said Chris Martin, one of the players on the Maryland Sting, a local basketball team. “Covid-19 really messed up a lot of people’s seasons and some people are letting it make them lazy.”
Some coaches have been working with players during this off season. “We usually have practice outdoors and wear our masks when we are indoors,” said coach Colemen Demico, an AAU (The Amateur Athletic Union) basketball coach. “I’ve been watching a bunch of college basketball to get some ideas of what we need to work on.”
Some athletes and coaches have been working extremely hard and have been preparing for their next season so they can try to get ahead of others. Some athletes like Chris are always at the basketball court and if he’s not then he’s working out. In addition, some coaches have been studying basketball teams and trying to get new ideas for their team.
“I feel bad for seniors who were hoping for a scholarship to go to college,” said coach Demico. Lots of athletes got their seasons robbed from them and won’t get another chance like that,”but it didn’t stop some people from improving and getting better during covid when everyone else is getting worse.
“I have joined a football team and when I’m not with my team, I’m training,” said Khail Johnson in 9th grade, one of the football players on the Atholton high school team. While most athletes have lost motivation due to Covid-19, the people who didn’t let Covid-19 stop them have all gotten better at what they do.
In the past, “athletes and coaches had much more freedom and were allowed to have more practices.” Most teams had 3 or more practices every week. Now with Covid-19,there is usually only one to two practices a week. Coaches were also allowed to keep in touch with all of their players by either being able to talk in school or the coaches having their phone numbers, but now there are new restrictions with how much a coach can talk with their players.
Covid-19 wasn’t able to stop everyone from getting better or playing the sport that one loves. “I missed being on the court with my team and coach,” said Chris. This pandemic wasn’t enough to stop any athletes who wanted to get better.
atholtonnews.com 