Nearly 500,000 NCAA student-athletes had their hearts broken this past week when the NCAA cancelled spring and winter sports championships due to COVID-19.
When I got the news my spring golf season was cancelled, I was at golf practice with my coach, Ryan Chandler, and a few teammates. When our coach explained what the rest of the season would look like, I could see the sorrow in his eyes. Everyone was silent for a while. One of the seniors on my team bowed his head and started to get emotional. At first, I didn’t understand, and then I realized that at this moment our practice was most likely the last practice for those seniors as collegiate athletes. I started to get emotional as well. It felt unfair. Unfair for seniors who had worked so hard all year to be able to have a chance at making the GSC Conference Championship.
I remember talking to Kristen Pickens, senior softball player, business marketing major and Union SAAC president, earlier that day. She was nervous about her season, and I encouraged her to think of the positives. But, at the moment when I felt an overflow of emotions, I was unsure if I could take my own advice I had just said earlier in the day.
On Instagram that day, a new trend arose on social media. Many athletes, especially seniors, started fighting for their voices to be heard to have their eligibility extended for another year due to not being able to finish their season. The hashtag, #redshirtcoronayear, was all in the media.
For Brandon Maxwell, senior baseball player and business management major, it took a while for the information to kick in that his senior season had just been completed.
“Sure, it wasn’t in my plan for my senior season to be completely cut in half, but it has always been in His plan. And I have so much faith in His plan,” said Maxwell. “Being an athlete at Union has helped me learn not to find my worth in baseball, but in my faith.”
If allowed, Maxwell is unsure if he would take a redshirt year and is praying for clarity if the opportunity arises.
Maison Felkins, senior golf team member and communications studies major, would love to have the chance to be able to be on a team again, traveling and practicing with his teammates. Felkins likes the idea but feels there will be challenges.
“I think there will be a lot of ramifications that most of us probably aren’t thinking about if they do extend eligibility,” said Felkins. “I don’t think it’s a simple decision.”
Pickens wrote a word of encouragement to all athletes on the UU Athletics website. She explained so beautifully what most every athlete and supporter was thinking during this time.
“Yes, sports just got taken away from the whole world, and that does not take away from the weight of that loss and the sadness that is rightfully flooding the hearts of every athlete,” said Pickens. “This is a very tough time for all of us. Sports are the driving force of energy behind our day.”
Only time will tell what will end up happening with the #redshirtcoronayear dispute, but no matter what the outcome, Pickens’ final words ring true for all Bulldogs.
“But our identity is not in sports. It is what we do, not who we are.”
Photo by Maggie Exum
