By Nyah Namisnak
Kara Whitney, a first-year track athlete at Marian University competes in the long jump and triple jump. Although it is her first year at Marian University, she still feels as if COVID-19 has heavily impacted her track season and day to day life.
Her daily life as a student-athlete requires a multitude of different policies and procedures the school requires. All Marian University students and staff are required to show their green badge in the Campus Shield App, which states that the person is healthy and has not been in contact with someone having COVID-like symptoms. After showing her professor the green badge, she then goes to her normal classes, some online, and some in person. After classes, she then goes to practice. Before entering the gym, during morning weights or afternoon practices, their temperatures are required to be taken, green badges are shown, and they do not have COVID-like symptoms. At practice, they try to social distance, but at times it can be difficult with the interaction of her teammates. To minimize group sizes, they stay within their own track and field event groups.
As the track and field team has had multiple meets this Spring semester, they still do their part in ensuring safety throughout all athletes and staff during the pandemic. Marian ensures that there are separate busses to be taken to meets to reduce capacity. The meets also split up times for different track and field events to limit the number of athletes on the track at one time. The athletes are required to warm up with their masks on, often times making it difficult to stay hydrated, which is an essential in sports and in daily life.
Lastly, she goes further by saying, she wishes she knew what college life was like before COVID. She has heard many of her teammates discuss the different amenities in the dining hall, campus events and gatherings, and so much more that she wants to experience, but she is still grateful for the opportunity to be a first-year student athlete at Marian University.
Although Kara has the opportunity to compete in her sport, some sports were cut completely due to the pandemic. Erica Shaegley, third year transfer student at Marian University, was an athlete on the Marian University Olympic Weightlifting team. The Weightlifting team was just shy of being two years in the making, before it got cut.
Erica Shaegley grew up in Avon, Indiana attending private schools almost her entire life. As a freshman at IUPUI, she decided that not pursuing sports would be more beneficial to her educational career. However, in August of 2019, she transferred to Marian University on a recruited Olympic Weightlifting scholarship.
Before the pandemic, Erica would wake up early for her first training session, attend classes, and then head back to the gym for her last training session of the day. Erica’s life was heavily revolved around the weightlifting team.
To this day, even though the Marian Olympic Weightlifting team was cut, Erica still trains at LiftLab where the team once trained together. She enjoys it and loves the atmosphere and comradery between her sport and teammates at LiftLab.
Although some of her teammates decided to continue their Olympic weightlifting career elsewhere, Erica stayed for the education at Marian University. She loves receiving one-on one connections with professors, as well as providing her with scholarships to make her education affordable.
After all of this, Erica has a piece of advice that is easier said than done. She said, “Be patient. Learn how to be in a waiting pattern.”
When Erica found out the team was cut, via a Zoom call, she was in shock and upset, but she knew that it was out of her control.
It is easy to get wrapped up in the COVID-19 pandemic and its procedures and policies that put a damper on life, but there are so many things to be grateful for. For Kara, it is her relationship with her teammates, while still being able to compete. For Erica, it is the ability to continue lifting at LiftLab, while receiving an excellent education from Marian University.
