By Gabby Dunn

Back in the pre-quarantine days, I always drove out to Collegiate’s Robins Campus for practices and games with the windows down and the music on my car stereo turned all the way up. The beginning of my senior year soccer season began the same way. My sister Hayley Dunn (‘20) and I got into the car and drove out to field 12, ready for the first day of tryouts on Monday, February 17. Sadly, when we got there, I couldn’t put my cleats on to play, because I was recovering from an injury, but I was still optimistic that our season would be the best one yet. Like the other seniors on the team, I was ready to step back out on the field and try to win our third consecutive state championship.

Once COVID-19 came to the United States over the course of our extended Spring Break, and Collegiate’s curriculum moved to remote learning, my hopes of having the perfect season were getting slimmer. Other athletes began to get nervous about their hopes for the season as well. Varsity lacrosse co-captain Quin Timmerman (‘20), explained that he, “got anxious and started to put more into everything I did.” Many other spring athletes have reacted in the same way, whether they are seniors class or in lower grades.

When sophomore Keaton Rahmen (‘22) found out the spring soccer season might not continue, she said, “I was really upset, but I was also still hopeful that we’d get some portion of the season.” Like many other athletes, Rahmen, “found [working out] kind of pointless,” but as an underclassman, she knew that training would help keep her distracted. Like Rahmen, I have had a difficult time finding the motivation to train for a sports season that isn’t happening, and, as she said, “ it’s also sad training alone when you know that you should be with your team.” 

Coaches, like their athletes, also felt uncertain during the time in between school being postponed and Governor Ralph Northam’s cancellation of in-person school statewide. Collegiate’s spring varsity track and field coach (and Upper School Director of Student Life) Beth Kondorossy explained that during these last few weeks the track team and coaches treated training during the off period the same way they treated other breaking periods during the year. They sent out workouts to the captains and tried to find “creative ways to hold their teammates accountable.” The girl’s track team held Zoom calls where they would run core workouts or yoga sessions during their time off. 

After talking to Upper School coaches and student-athletes at Collegiate, I can understand that it has been difficult for some to find the motivation to continue training, whereas for others, continuing to workout helped distract from this inevitable truth. Timmerman said that he, “trained harder… and wouldn’t let little injuries that would usually slow me down have the same impact on my mental state.” One of Collegiate’s softball captains Grace Slotterback (‘20) also shared, “I did continue working out with the activities sent out from Collegiate’s athletic department and even went to Robins Campus and threw in the bullpen with my dad, before we got kicked out.” 

That Monday, March 24,  when it was announced that we would not be permitted to return to school for the rest of the year, the first thing I thought about losing was my chance to play soccer again. Sure, I cared about prom and graduation, but it was way more devastating to think about not returning to play Collegiate soccer with my teammates.

The captains of our team—Julia Edwards (‘20), Rennie Spotts (‘20), and I—drove to Robins Campus, parked our cars, and walked down to field 12, also known as Carter Blair field, and sat six feet apart on the bench. We talked about the things we would miss, we cried together about losing our season, and when the time came, we walked back to the entrance together. As we got back to the street, a line of about ten cars spanned the side of the road. We weren’t the only ones who had decided to say goodbye to our spring sport. 

Slotterback revealed, “The day when school was canceled, I cried, but not because I was sad about school. Losing the season is not something anyone is ever ready for… The next day, I went to Robins by myself, and after I had time to think about my memories, a couple of my teammates joined me, and we sat in the outfield, six feet apart. It was the first time I had left my house since the quarantine had started. I needed a proper goodbye.”  

Once the season had come to a close, I asked my head coach, Rob Ukrop (‘88), what he thought about this sudden change to our spring schedule. He told me, “It’s a difficult time for all of the coaching staff, as we were excited to take on the challenge to win a third state title in a row with a special group of young ladies.” My teammates and I couldn’t agree more. Edwards said, “the first thing I thought after the news was that I wouldn’t get the chance to step out on the field with my best friends again, and that I never knew the last time playing at Robins would actually be my last time ever. I was disappointed and heartbroken.”  Ukrop said, “ For us, the sadness doesn’t come from missing the games and the state tournament, but from missing the daily interactions with the girls at training, on the bus, and over meals together.” Ukrop, as well as the rest of the girls varsity soccer coaching staff, “wish[es their] seniors the best and are thankful to have been a part of their growth on and off the field.”

Featured image courtesy of Collegiate School.