Athletes losing their identity in pandemic
It has been a long, rough six months for many, including high school athletes.
They were told back in March that they would be taking some time off because of COVID-19. Unfortunately, no one realized it would take this long to return to the fields and courts.
After several changes, the Virginia High School League implemented a return plan, but there’s no guarantee it will happen.
That’s not what athletes want to hear. They spent years dedicated to their sport. Countless hours were spent training and conditioning. Many times, they sacrificed sleep, their health and time with their family. Sports became
their identity COVID-19 identity. and these has taken young away athletes their feel lost. This feeling is real. Catholic athletic director Lyndsey Boyce said it best when she explained that high school athletes are experiencing periods of depression and anxiety as they wait to play again. “We try to tell them that their sport doesn’t define them,” she said. “But there comes a point when there’s only so much pep talking you can do.” Nansemond-Suffolk Academy football feeling ginia As Beach, a junior all coach too he at well. Mike missed Salem Biehl High his knows junior in Vir- this season He went because from of being a knee the injury. star quarterback on the football team and the “big man on campus” to being a “regular student.” “It was tough,” he said. “My identity at the time was of an athlete. And in an instant, I was no longer an athlete. I was someone trying to go back to being an athlete.” He also knows first-hand the effect COVID-19 has had on his players as their schedules and lives have been altered and halted. They feel a sense of emptiness. There is no one there to tell them how great they are or how they can’t wait for that next game. “I think that’s what a lot of these kids are going through right now,” Biehl said. “They put so much time and effort into being the best athlete that they can be, and now, without having an opportunity to display that, I guarantee some kids are kind of searching to replace that with something.” Biehl bounced back. His senior season, he threw for 3,639 yards, then the VHSL’s single-season record. He set South Hampton Roads’ single-season passing yardage record with 3,223 regular-season yards. He was named the 2001 AllTidewater Player of the Year and was an all-state selection. Biehl earned a football scholarship to Iona, where he started 21 games before injuries ended his playing career. Once again, he was forced to deal with his identity. He turned to coaching. But dealing with your identity goes beyond sports. My son, Robert, is a professional dancer. His passion began in middle school and then at Salem High and George Mason. After college, he danced with companies in Cleveland, Washington, D.C., and now Brooklyn. Then COVID-19 hit and put him on the sidelines. Now, there are significantly fewer opportunities for him to dance. “I’m finding it difficult to engage with the art form in ways that fully allow me to pursue my passion,” he said. And it’s definitely affected him. “Oh, 100 percent,” he said. “Because since I was 7 when I started dancing, I haven’t done anything else. You spend all of your time dedicated to this one thing, and then you can’t participate in it fully. It’s sad. However, it’s just our reality right now.” When the dance world shut down in March, he, like so many others, thought it was going to be temporary. He’s worked some odd jobs, but he wasn’t doing what made him feel special. “It’s been very difficult because dancing is the one thing that I love,” he said. “It’s what makes me happy. It’s the one thing that I know how to do.” Sounds familiar to athletes, doesn’t it? The one piece of advice he had for athletes was “surround yourself with positive people,” he said. “That’s really it because you can’t change anything until things change.”