The day it was announced that DGN would be taking three weeks off of school due to COVID-19 precautions, many took it as extended spring break. However, for athletes the closing of school meant the end of their seasons. Athletes also won’t be able to practice with their teams for a very long time. 

Covid-19 affects athletes in a different way compared to other students. With the social distancing guidelines that are in place virtually all athletes aren’t able to practice in the way they usually would. Athletes are struggling to find ways to stay conditioned for their particular sport.

“Not only for me, but for other athletes this is going to really hinder their performance. Summer training is so crucial to many athletes, and without it they might not be ready for their season,” Senior CP Breit said. “DGN has cancelled their track camp which was going to be a way for me to train the new events I need to learn for the heptathlon, so without that I’m going to have to learn them by myself.”

Club sports have been aiding student athletes by giving a myriad of resources. An example is getting pro athletes to come in and talk with their athletes. 

“We have a ‘workout with a pro’ series where players get to do a soccer workout/conditioning with Pro Soccer Player Chris Schuler,”Roadrunners soccer admin Lisa Forst said. 

Many sports are adapting to the virtual based training. For example Lyons Township Soccer Club has dedicated a full page on their website to e-training. 

“We are continuing training via zoom at least once a week for all players, they do the zoom training with the guidance of their coach and along with their teammates,” Forst said “In addition, we have created a series of YouTube videos on our Roadrunner Youtube channel that let our players work out in their homes and follow along with the video.”

Junior Emma Cho is part of the DG lacrosse team but like all the other spring seasons their season was canceled. Her club team,New Wave Lacrosse, has been keeping them in shape and conditioned during this quarantine by offering specific workouts and weekly challenges.

“They post different types of wall ball, footwork, and strength workouts on social, and also are doing a ‘Get off the couch challenge’ on their Instagram each week,” Cho said. 

At BIG gymnastics coaches offer a variety of things for all different skill levels within their club team for their gymnasts. Due to the lack of gym space and equipment they are using online resources to reach out to their gymnasts, not only to keep them in shape but to make sure they stay close as a team. 

“We get together on zoom every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to do strength and conditioning together. We get assigned specific workouts to do by our coaches,” Junior Emma van de Wetering said. “The meetings just help us to stay close as a team and make sure we are doing our exercises to stay fit. We can’t do a lot of our skills right now because we don’t have the equipment to, but we all make sure to stretch and do some basics as well.”