By: Julia Strachan
Fall sports at Adelphi have been cancelled, but winter and spring sports are still expected to continue. With a pause on team sports and the training it involves that began in March, how have student athletes stayed prepared so that when the pause is lifted, they’ll be ready to answer and compete for their school?
Emily Miccile, rising senior captain of the Adelphi women’s basketball team, said: “At the beginning of quarantine I started out with just straight long-distance running for endurance and then HIIT workouts at home through the Peloton app for cardio. As it got warmer and we started getting closer to preseason, I began incorporating sprint interval runs instead of just long-distance running to get in better basketball shape.”
Miccile added that she’s also been able to play pickup basketball games with some local NE10 players to get back into the true swing of playing in a competitive basketball scenario.
“Other than that, I go and get shots up during the week and lift weights two times a week now that gyms are open,” she said. “Ultimately, it was both easy and challenging to work out during quarantine. It was easy because there was so much free time, but it was difficult because there were not nearly as many resources available as there usually is.”
Student athletes at Adelphi have been challenged to do what they can with what they have to stay in peak physical and mental shape.
Ronnie Silva, a rising junior, whose list of accolades includes NE-10 Rookie of the Year (2018-‘19) and NE-10 All Conference First Team (2019-‘20) for men’s basketball, said, “I didn’t have access to a weight room during quarantine, but I was lucky enough to have access to a basketball court near my house. I would do strength and agility workouts like push-ups, planks, squats, sprint mechanics and defensive slides. Also, I would do my basketball workout every morning and every night working on different drills for ball handling, shooting and finishing.”
Barbie Quagliardi, a rising junior of women’s tennis, echoed the overall sentiments of her fellow athletes. “I exercise at home by watching fitness videos on YouTube and do the movements that can be easily adapted to the home setting,” she said.
While the NorthEast-10 Conference has unfortunately cancelled all fall sports, that has not deterred the Adelphi men's soccer team from rallying together and maintaining a cohesive team environment. When asked about his efforts to stay in shape, senior George Yussuff said, “I was doing a lot of online workouts with the team, which included captain’s practice. The captains have been very active and as a team we have all joined a running app where we put our workouts and compete against each other.”
Competition and team collectiveness have stayed alive amid Covid-19.
Similarly, although coaches have had zero in-person contact with their athletes, they have been able to stay in touch via Zoom calls.
Missy Traversi, head coach of the Adelphi women’s basketball team, has gone above and beyond to maintain contact with her team. “As a staff during this quarantine, we have often discussed the importance of daily habits,” she said. “Whether it be diet, exercise, sleep, chores or any part of someone’s routine, we understand how easy it can be to fall into unhealthy and unproductive patterns. So, we have placed a major emphasis on the importance of maximizing time by creating good habits, no matter how small. These habits will in turn be the foundation of our behavior, as we transition to the demanding workload of a student athlete during the school year.”
These student athletes exemplify the sacrifice they make by staying true to their athletic responsibilities even through a global pandemic.
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