Due to the Coronavirus, Henrico County Public Schools have opted to adjust high school sport seasons. These adjustments have been met with varying opinions from both athletes and coaches.
According to Godwin senior and basketball player Jack Seidenberg, the basketball team’s success is not likely to suffer from the changes to their season.
“As long as everyone puts in their individual hours to get better, our team performance shouldn’t be affected,” said Seidenberg.
Basketball, for example, which normally is a winter sport, will remain a winter sport with the season changes, but the season will be shortened. Basketball’s season will now span from Dec. 7 to Feb. 8 with the postseason ending on Feb. 20.
Seidenberg has been starting on varsity since his sophomore year at Godwin and is blossoming into a leader of the team. To stay in playing shape, Seidenberg has been playing travel basketball for Rockit on the team Murrer22 during this offseason. To keep his daily routine somewhat normal, Seidenberg has been “trying to maintain a consistent lifting program while dieting healthily.”
Although it is hard, Seidenberg believes the team will be able to maintain chemistry on the court.
“We have been able to play pickup basketball when people’s busy schedules allow us to,” said Seidenberg.
Exceptional education teacher and basketball coach Jacob Oliver hopes the season will happen. Oliver will be going into his fourth season as head varsity basketball coach. Oliver says, “I think I can speak for all athletes and coaches and say that we will gladly take whatever we can get” when asked about what he thinks reasonable expectations are for sports this year.
The circumstances have not made it easy on Oliver to improve the team, but he is doing the best he can. He and the assistant coaches have attended virtual coaching clinics and watched old game films. They also have provided players with exercises to use as practice in the offseason. “As soon as we get the green light, we will be ready to go,” says Oliver.
While the baseball season will continue as a spring sport, it will have a shorter season. The season will span from April 12 until June 14, with the postseason ending on June 26. Junior Juice Tobin, a member of the varsity baseball team, hasn’t stopped playing all throughout the end of the season. Tobin doesn’t believe it will affect how the team plays because it is still in the same season.
“The only way the canceled workouts and season could make a difference is if people don’t work out on their own,” says Tobin.
Luckily for Tobin, that is not an issue since during the whole offseason, he has been working out and conditioning on his own.
“I have been able to play almost every weekend for the Evoshield Seminoles,” said Tobin.
Since off-season workouts and the 2019 spring baseball season were cut short, a problem that the team could face is chemistry.
“I think as the season gets closer, we will start going to the field together and start to rebuild our chemistry,” says Tobin.
Cross country remains a fall sport. Because of that, the season will go from Feb. 15 until April 12, with the postseason ending on April 24. Godwin sophomore Connor Hennesey, who led the team with the fastest mile time last season says, “I think we will be more prepared this season because we’ve had way more time to get faster and improve our physical condition.”
Coronavirus hasn’t stopped Hennesey from training because he can still run with his teammates while social distancing. The negative effect of this situation is that the team is not allowed to have off-season workouts.
“A huge difference that we could see is that people may not be pushing themselves enough by themselves and the team chemistry might take a big loss,” said Hennesey.
The coaches are trying to prevent a loss in chemistry by having weekly check-ins and encouraging people to run with each other while still social distancing.
“The team has a lot to look forward to with new coaches and extra training time. I think this group can be really good,” says Hennesey.
“I believe that it is fair to say that athletics will happen,” said Godwin’s Director of Student Activities, Tom Nadeau. Although he expects some changes, Nadeau thinks Godwin’s level of school spirit will “still be high.” According to Nadeau, “at the end of the day, there will still be a tremendous amount of pride in the way that our teams represent Godwin HS.”
photo Kristy Tobin
Senior Jack Seidenberg during a basketball game.
For Isaac Yeaker: Great-well written article keeping us all up to date on Sports at Godwin, with Sports never more important than during this pandemic. And good luck to you and the basketball team with hoops season coming up. Keep well, Grandad Ed.