Athletes navigate emotional hurdles during COVID
The UConn men’s basketball team was sequestered at Mohegan Sun on a Friday, settled in for their night before a noon game against North Carolina State.
At some point, though, the players were told there would be no game because North Carolina State had a positive COVID-19 test result within its program. Just like that, the players had to emotionally pivot — no competition, a bus ride back to Storrs on a Saturday morning.
Yet that was merely the start of a chaotic weekend. About 48 hours later, UConn experienced its own positive test result and the program was forced to halt all activities for the second time.
From mentally preparing for a game on Friday night to pausing their basketball world on Sunday night. It was 2020 havoc squeezed into one weekend.
“It’s a bit of a rollercoaster,” UConn athletic director David Benedict told reporters this week. “It’s difficult. I would say, without question, the student-athlete is probably challenged the most. Just because of how much they have vested in what they’re doing. Obviously they’re younger, they’re less experienced with having to deal with these kinds of challenges. I think it’s really challenging for them.”
As the NCAA and college conferences attempt to piece together schedules with all eyes focused on the lucrative March Madness stage, college athletes are riding a wave of emotion. They practice and prepare for games that may be canceled, they operate in isolation and live with the fear of a shutdown hanging over their team.
It’s not an optimal environment to thrive, on or off the court.
“It’s disappointing, it’s disassembling … when you have a positive COVID test, the whole system goes into disarray,” said Greenwich sports psychologist Amy Tardio, who works with college athletes. “It’s destabilizing.”
How can college athletes manage?
Tardio believes the basketball players navigating the unstable COVID world should be mindful that so many college athletes are unable to compete — even basketball players in the Ivy League, which canceled winter sports.
So even while their world is shifting day after day, the players
could be minimally grateful.
“They are in the lucky camp,” Tardio said. “And what I try to emphasize is to control what you can. It doesn’t mean that you can’t still set goals.”
The UConn women’s basketball team, with designs on a 12th national championship, is coming off a pause because of a postive COVID test within the program.
Coach Geno Auriemma said Thursday the overall stress of living during a pandemic is wearing on all students — college, high school, elementary school — and not just his players.
“Sports isn’t helping them feel better,” Auriemma said. “In some ways, sports is making them feel worse. Because they can’t perform at the level they expect to perform at. It’s just not possible.”
It’s not possible, Auriemma said, because life is so disrupted by the pandemic. When practices are paused and games are canceled, focusing on competition is difficult.
College programs invest resources into keeping young athletes motivated and engaged under the best of circumstances, still no easy task given the age and demands on the students. The pandemic only heightens the challenge.
Erik Wolfgang-Pinto, a Manchester-based clinical therapist who works with athletes, suggests athletes adhere to a written plan to counteract the uncertainty. College athletes are accustomed to operating on a set, daily schedule, so a written plan — “If you make something visual, they’re more likely to actualize it,” Wolfgang-Pinto said — gives the athlete something to grasp.
“A routine to supplement the routine, if you will,” said Wolfgang-Pinto, who has worked closely with San Francisco 49ers tight end and Connecticut native Jordan Reed.
Wolfgang-Pinto points to the ideas preached by mental conditioning expert Trevor Moawad, who works with Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson along with other professional athletes and college programs.
Moawad teaches the concept of “neutral thinking,” which is especially important when faced with adversity.
“Stay neutral, judgment-free of your current situation,” Wolfgang-Pinto said. “Identify where you are athletically, where you want to be, what it takes to get there, and then be consistent in your pursuit regardless of your results on a daily or weekly basis. Trust the process you develop.”
That message should come from the coaching staff. Coaches, of course, embrace consistency and control, so they may be as mentally and emotionally taxed as the players.
But the ability of a coach to keep players engaged and positive has never been more important.
“The leadership of your head coach and his staff and the consistency in their messaging … players are going to take on the personality of their head coach when it comes to (dealing with) adversity,” ESPN analyst and former college coach Seth Greenberg said. “It’s important how you deal with it, day to day. Your message every day is, we’re going to control the controllables. Things are going to happen during the course of the season that are to
tally out of our control. It’s not the pandemic, it’s how we react to the protocols of the pandemic.
“We’re going to have to deal with it, we’re going to be disappointed, but let’s cherish every time we get a chance to play, let’s appreciate that we are playing considering last year in March the whole season was taken away from us.”
Again, perspective.
In March, winter postseason play was halted. Spring seasons were canceled. Many fall sports athletes were unable to compete.
Tardio’s son, William Blumberg, is an All-American tennis player at North Carolina. His season was cut short in the spring, when UNC was ranked No. 2 in the country and Blumberg was the No. 1 singles player.
“It was devastating,” Tardio said. “It was literally like having the rug pulled out from under you.”
So the ability to be part of a team, even under trying circumstances, may be something to be grateful for.
“The way that I work with athletes, student-athletes, is to kind of look at the whole person,” Tardio said. “Not just you and your sport. … People can stay positive.”
Said Wolfgang-Pinto, “The pandemic has created challenges and each challenge brings opportunity. There are tremendous opportunities at this time to evolve as an athlete.”
The holistic approach may be vital as athletes are forced to stay away from family and possibly remain isolated during the holidays.
Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino,
in his first year at Iona, said his players have created a “basketball bubble” in their dorm.
“Trying to stay away from as many people as possible, stay in our bubble,” Pitino said. “Look, it’s not fun. There’s very little of the college fanfare.”
But some in the industry are wondering if the wellness of the athlete is not a a priority during an unprecedented time.
During Tuesday night’s Illinois-Duke game, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas wondered if the season should continue given the demands placed on the athletes by the NCAA and conferences
“These players have essentially been essential workers,” Bilas said. “They get tested every day. They’re not allowed to go home for the Christmas holiday because they wouldn’t be able to play when they got back. They’d essentially have to quarantine their team. We’re being advised by our government not to travel over the holiday and yet these players are traveling.”
Auriemma, the UConn coach since 1985, isn’t sure sports can play a role in helping the college athletes find peace amid the chaos. Living in isolation ... that’s why kids are struggling, he said.
“That’s detrimental to your mental health, not not playing sports,” he said.
And like Bilas, he wonders if the desire to play is truly serving the student-athletes.
“I know we have to try something, but I don’t know that anything is working right now from what I can see,” he said.