“To be a champion requires more than being a strong player, one has to be a strong human being as well.” — Antoly Karpov
Lately folks have been remembering springtime in 2020… not fondly, for sure, because 2025 marks the five-year anniversary of the world’s introduction to the reality, cost, and horror of COVID.
This week, a dear friend stopped for a quick visit to the doctor seeking some meds for a lingering sinus problem that had turned into an infection. Of course, this time of year in this region and not the first time for this patient. The medical office was required to administer a COVID test…and it was COVID that was the problem not a routine sinus infection and no, there was no prescription that would work. The “problem” had lingered beyond an effective date for COVID meds.
This recent focus on COVID’s beginnings and persistent reality brought to mind the devastating effect COVID had on collegiate athletics five years ago.
Late February 2020
What a super basketball season. The Thomas More men’s basketball team was headed to the tournament. The women’s basketball team was headed to their tournament.
WhooHoo x 2.
Each team had met in the Hall of Fame room for the broadcast telling them which team they would play and where. Awesome. Such excitement. They were prepared and eager. They had proven they knew how to win.
The next day, the tournaments were cancelled. The COVID-19 virus was sweeping the country requiring universal quarantine. Campus emptied as everyone headed home for quarantine, washing hands forever, sanitizing surfaces, staying home, finishing the semester’s classes on-line.
Heartbreak followed heartbreak for the teams and especially the seniors.
Then, the conference and national organizations cancelled all spring sports. Those teams were just ready to start their seasons. Nothing.
Those basketball teams and their seniors had been denied tournaments but the softball and baseball teams as well as all our other teams with spring seasons and especially their seniors had no season at all. Heartbreak on heartbreak.
There was some consolation in considering the teams that had escaped with their seasons completed. The wrestling team had finished earlier in the spring semester and sent four wrestlers to the nationals.
A senior student-athlete on the Track and Field Team had set the conference record for the indoor season and just competed in the nationals. He was certainly at prime performance and looking forward to the outdoor season that was ready to start…then cancelled.
Student-athlete champions don’t escape heartbreak. How do they handle it? Is something in their essence that carries them ahead?
Our student-athletes kept their focus on course work though settings and delivery were compromised by total virtual means. Moving back home mid-year had its own adjustments.
As the academic year ended, the Thomas More Athletic Department’s official GPA was reported as 3.3. This included all 700+ student athletes. Team after team posted national recognition for multiple members as Academic All Americans.
The essence of a champion is hardly one-dimensional. The many facets of the champion ensure that fitness of all kinds is maintained even while carrying heavy heartbreak but moving on.
There will be another season. The joy of team and sport, of athletic competition, was not to be denied, just delayed.
Judy Harris is well established in Northern Kentucky life, as a longtime elementary and university educator. A graduate of Thomas More, she began her career there in 1980 where she played a key role in teacher education and introduced students to national and international travel experiences. She has traveled and studied extensively abroad. She enjoys retirement yet stays in daily contact with university students.