The Absence of Sports

So here we are with an effective lockdown on public activity as the world faces what could be the worst pandemic since the Spanish Flu.  That’s something to be determined at a future date.  It’s not the purpose of me writing this, either.

25+ years ago, my wife was pregnant with our first child.  At the time, I was in a ‘gap year’ from coaching, having moved to central Illinois, no longer working with Jim Stone and the OSU WVB program and not yet coaching here in Illinois.  I was a different person then–far more fanatic when it came to following sports teams.  I could’ve named whole rosters, basketball points-per-game, football passing averages, baseball batting averages, the works.

We got to the summer of ’94, the point when there’s no pro/college sports really going on other than baseball, and *POOF* the baseball strike hit, and suddenly there were no sports.  What do you do?  Cold turkey.

It changed me, how I think about sports.  It put sports much further down the list of priorities than I’d kept it prior to the strike.  In addition, after talking to my Great Uncle Don, he taught me to realize that it isn’t the winning that matters, it’s the participation, the joy that comes with competing and doing something you love.

I’ve seen coaches (and fans) from multiple sports complaining about being cut off.  Cold turkey is never comfortable.  It’s easy to grasp at things to try and continue coaching to try and fill the current void.  What’s hard is realizing that an absence of sports isn’t an absence of life–it is an inconvenience and nothing more.

I’ve been asked what I’m doing about recruiting.  I’m not.

I’ve been asked about what I’m doing for spring practice.  Nothing.  We’re prohibited.  My administration will let me know when we can get back in the gym and the limits we’ll have (if any).

For me, this isn’t the first time with an enforced absence of a sport I love.  I won’t fight the absence–I’ll appreciate it for what it provides and I’ll look at the big picture.  In 1994, that was the birth of my son and my transition to the role of being ‘Dad’.  In 2020, it’s hygiene and making sure my actions don’t infect people at risk of serious consequences.

And in the end whether that is this June or April, 2021–volleyball will still be there.  Gymnasiums will still be there.  In the meantime, be safe and be compassionate towards others.