By Kellen Concentine — Reporter
With classes online and sports being put on hold, motivation can disappear for athletes.
“Finding the motivation to actually do school work [is difficult] if we are being honest,” said junior forward Tyra Whitehead. “It’s a lot of freetime, a lot of down time. Just making sure I spend that wisely.”
On March 12, the Mountain West officially suspended all spring sports and conference championships.
Most athletes on campus play a team sport. Time away from teammates can hurt a team’s chemistry and slow down any momentum it previously had.
“This time is really meant for us to work on our individual game and increase what we brought to the team last year,” Whitehead said.
Winter sport athletes, like basketball players, are using this time to recover from a long season of traveling and hard-fought games. But what about fall sport athletes?
The biggest fall sport for SJSU is, you guessed it, football.
Although football is not in season right now, spring is a vital time for the team.
SJSU football is coming off of its best season under head coach Brent Brennan, going 5-7 with a huge victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks in Week 4.
But with no spring ball or recruiting activities, next season could become a step back for the Spartans.
“Losing spring ball means losing reps. Spring ball is about developing as players,” sophomore offensive guard Tyler Stevens said. “It’s a team effort during spring ball to develop guys on the knowledge of the game. It’s still a team effort [now] but individuals have to make a choice to get better.”
Accountability is important during a time like this. Coaches can call or text an athlete to make sure they are keeping up with workouts and class work, but it’s up to the individual to push themselves.
“Online classes for me personally tend to create some type of challenge because I do like the interactions I have with the teachers [in person],” said Whitehead.
From the hardwood to the sand, the shock hit the same.
“Finding out that school and sports were canceled was hard to believe for most of us,” said beach volleyball senior Kaitlynn Zdroik.
She was with her teammates at the SRAC going for a dip in the pool when she got the news that her season was canceled. But it didn’t really hit her until she realized she won’t have to wake up super early for practice.
Being a senior, Zdroik wishes she was able to spend more time with her teammates and coaches.
“It wasn’t real to begin with,” Zdroik said. “I thought we’re just going to have this break, we’re still going to be able to train and in two weeks I’m going to be back with my season.”
A lot of questions remained unanswered. We do know that the NCAA Council Coordination Committee gave “eligibility relief” to all Division I student-athletes who participated in spring sports.
“The circumstances suck but any athlete who wants to be great takes this time seriously,” Whitehead said.
Times like these are unfortunate for everyone. Athletes can look at this time away from their sports in two ways.
They can look at it negatively and sit on the fact that their season is over. Or they can have a positive mindset and use this time to focus on improving as an individual.
Follow Kellen on Twitter @KC_Journalism
