The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Huskies adjusting to a new normal
Even though she’s been in Storrs for a few weeks now, Christyn Williams hasn’t had much in-person interaction with her UConn teammates.
The team has been split into groups of up to four. These “pod” mates, as they’re called, share an apartment and conduct their workouts inside the Werth Champions Center at predetermined times to ensure social distancing.
“We can’t intermingle the groups,” Williams said. “There’s so many rules. Oh my goodness, there’s so many rules.”
As part of the school’s coronavirus protocols, players and staff are required to undergo a daily screening, including medical questionnaires and temperature checks, before entering campus facilities. Masks are required whenever possible, and high-risk areas, such as locker rooms, strength and conditioning spaces and athletic training rooms, are sanitized daily.
The stringent health safeguards represent a new normal — one that’s strange, unsettling, and a bit bizarre. The pandemic has already wreaked havoc on fall sports. UConn was the first FBS school to pull the plug on playing football in 2020. Nobody knows how it’ll ultimately affect basketball, though Geno Auriemma suspects the season will be delayed until January, if not later.
“Games are down the road, way down the road probably,” the UConn coach said.
Amidst the uncertainty, players are finding ways to keep their minds at ease. Williams and her roommates — sophomore Aubrey Griffin and freshmen Paige Bueckers and Piath Gabriel — set up a projector in their living room to watch movies and NBA and WNBA games. Sophomore Anna Makurat, who is living with junior Olivia Nelson-Ododa and freshmen Aaliyah Edwards and Mir McLean, said they’ve done a lot of interior decorating. There have also been team-wide activities on Zoom, including puzzles and trivia, organized by associate
head coach Chris Dailey.
“It’s definitely been an adjustment,” Nelson-Ododa said. “We don’t get to see our other teammates as much. We’re just kind of confined to our apartments.”
Traditionally, the freshmen live separate from the upperclassmen in dorms.
The current arrangement, although unique, has fostered bonding and camaraderie.
“I don’t think it’s messing with our chemistry. It’s just a great group of girls,” Williams said. “We’re fun, we’re goofy.”
Like Williams and Nelson-Ododa, the Huskies’ other captain, junior Evina Westbrook, is using the experience to brush up on her leadership skills. Westbrook
joked that she’s been anointed the mother of her pod, which also includes freshmen Nika Muhl and Autumn Chassion.
“Honestly, I didn’t know what it would be like at first, but it has been really, really, really great,” Westbrook said. “I have a 12-year old brother at home, and it’s like I have two little sisters to look after.
“If I go to the store, I come back and they’re both
laying in my bed watching NBA games or WNBA games. Or if there’s a problem, ‘Oh, we’ll just call E.’ It’s been fun having them around. They’re so energetic.”
“It’s just me and Nika, but she’s the oldest on the team,” Chassion said. “She’s like a mom. She takes care of us. Anything we need, she’s there all the time.”
Auriemma said he’s
pleased with how responsible his players have been and how committed they are to taking care of themselves and their teammates.
“They know what’s at stake,” he said. “If something happens to one of them, they’re going to shut down the whole thing. They’re really holding each other and themselves accountable. I’m not surprised. I knew they would.”
Auriemma, too, has had
to adjust. He’s still waiting to conduct his first fullteam workout.
“You go out there, Group 1, then they leave and Group 2 after whenever the break is, then Group 3,” he said. “It’s like having three kids. By the time Group 3 comes along, I just go, ‘Yo guys, do whatever the hell you want.’ ”