With the semester coming to an end on campus, most students will be traveling home to finish their classes and enjoy their holiday breaks, and athletes in particular are looking for ways to adapt to this new format.
Each team has faced its own set of challenges, as no sports were allowed to compete this semester. However, each team continued to train, despite the uncertainty of their next game. For the Bison Football team, they will have to wait until next fall for their season. In the meantime, the football team will continue to practice. Over the break, the athletes will be given workout logs specified to each position to keep the athletes training and in shape.
While the team’s last game was played almost a year ago on Nov. 23, 2019, and there is an unknown season ahead of them, junior kicker Noah Holsinger said it can be a challenge to keep his head in the game and continue to practice.
“It was kind of demoralizing because we all came in, ready to play, fully prepared to play a season,” Holsinger said. “Our mentality is [that] we are going to win, we are going to win the next season, the next chance we get, we will be ready to win.”
Similarly to the football team, the volleyball team will also be following the honor system and will have workout logs to complete over the break. For the volleyball team, whether they would stay to train over break would depend on if they made nationals. Last year, they ended up going home for Thanksgiving Break as they placed second in the conference tournament, not qualifying for nationals. Even though they did not have a season this fall, they will have a spring season with only half the number of usual games.
With the season hopefully approaching soon, sophomore outside hitter Chloe Ingersoll spoke about the joy of training as a team during this semester.
“This year, at the beginning, we were like ‘Oh great, what are we doing?’ when we found out we probably [wouldn’t] have a season,” Ingersoll said. “But we just love playing together and we know what it is like having to train by ourselves, and that fact that we are training together is a blessing in itself.”
For the track and field team, the time for training is as crucial as ever, since their first meet is the first weekend they return for the spring semester. The track and field team will have a week off for Thanksgiving Break, then come back to campus and train until Christmas Break. The athletes will also return to campus a few days earlier to continue training and preparing for the first meet.
Senior Darcy Sanford expressed her feelings about the abrupt ending to last season and how she is looking forward to this season.
“We were anxious to get back, as we trained all year long last year and didn’t get to see the fruits of our labor,” Sanford said. “It has been so long since I have competed, and I absolutely cannot wait. It feels strange that it is actually coming close. We have
