Rose basketball highlights
Issue 1
September 27th, 2019
Summer turned into bummer
TUES. | 9-15-20 | OPINION
Summer of 2020- where do I even start? This summer was supposed to be my best summer yet, but unfortunately it turned out to be one of the worst. It's certainly no secret that it was a major shift for everyone.
If you don't know me, basically my whole life is beach volleyball. Aside from school, volleyball consumes all of my weekdays and weekends. This summer I had planned to go to California for about three weeks to compete in all of the biggest tournaments there for the junior league: the Junior Olympics (JO’s), Nationals and a USA high performance camp. Around the end of school, one night I remember sitting in my room thinking about what to pack and how great the summer was going to be. A few minutes later, my mom called me to come downstairs and I received the most unexpected, dreadful news: all events in California had been cancelled because of something called the “coronavirus”. At the time, we didn't know the impact the virus would have on us. My whole summer was completely flipped upside down and I had no idea what to expect.
For the next few days, coronavirus was the hot topic. It was all over the news and internet and there were signs all around telling you to stay safe and stay home. It was like everywhere I turned there was another sign telling me to be safe, not sorry. At that point, I was starting to freak out. It was so difficult for me to go from having a full schedule everyday with almost no days off, to having no schedule and being forced to stay inside. My goal after high school is to play for a D1 beach volleyball team in college, and this summer in California was my opportunity to shine and get my name out there by competing with some of the best in the
Infographic by Tierney Reardon
nation for my age group. It took me a while to figure out how to cope with staying at my house all day and not having practice or training to go to, but once I did, I decided that I was going to make the most out of it. I made a schedule for myself that included waking up by eight am every morning and working out at least two times a day for an hour. Lastly, I started to try and eat healthier and minimize snacking. After getting into the groove of my new schedule, I realized that quarantining and staying at my house could be a good thing. There were no distractions around so I had no option to do anything but focus, and when I focus I can get a lot done.
Covid has done much more than affecting my volleyball career this summer. Aside from all of the negative impacts on my life, some things have already started opening back up such as my training class at Next Level. Next Level opening back up has been really big for me because when I trained on my own it was hard for me to push and motivate myself. Going back to my trainer is a huge help because he is there to tell me what to do and how to do it right.
Although my summer had an unexpected twist, it was worth training and pushing myself to do the best I could with what I had. I wouldn't say that I am glad Coronavirus came along, but I am happy I worked through it and overcame my challenges.
