Coaches keeping teams connected, and fit, during social distancing era.
“As I'm away from it, I realize how much I treasure it, and one of the best parts of being a coach is the connection with the kids.” EMILY MACIONE, OLD LYME GIRLS' LACROSSE COACH
Andy Walker and his defending CIAC Class M champion Waterford softball team found themselves having to rally.
Walker saw a video on Twitter late last month in which players from different schools pretended to throw a ball to one another with each of them individually in different frames.
“It was a pretty cool to see and I felt it was a pretty good idea to do with my girls,” Walker said. “I contacted my seniors about what their thoughts were, and they were interested.
“Then I saw that Stonington (softball) put one up, so they were way ahead of me, and then Fitch. So I was like, ‘come on girls, we've got to go!' . ... I texted (Stonington coach)
Ann-Marie (Houle) and said, ‘you beat me to the punch!'”
The Lancers have since shot and posted their video with “Big Rings” by Future playing over the action. It's clever, funny and been viewed 2,800 times as of Friday afternoon.
Those videos are what passes as team bonding right now thanks to COVID-19. The Lancers were supposed to start their state title defense at Killingly on Saturday on what was supposed to be opening day of the 2020 spring season for all sports.
“I try to keep in contact with them,” Walker said. “I'm hopeful that we can have (a season). I have a great group of seniors that I have known very well since they were sixth graders when I had them at Clark Lane Middle School. They're just great kids.”
Marty Gomez can appreciate just how off-balance things are in high school sports right now, too. Saturday should be the start of his 33rd season as Lyman Memorial's baseball coach, and 40th overall in coaching.
Gomez and the Bulldogs
pitchers and catchers got one workout in together on the first day of conditioning allowed by the CIAC on March 14 before the shutdown.
“It's really weird,” Gomez said. “You've got that internal time table that you go through every year, and then (you're) not out there.”
Old Lyme girls' lacrosse coach Emily Macione knows the feeling.
“I have not known a spring at Old Lyme in 13 years where I haven't been involved with lacrosse,” said Macione, who has been the Wildcats' head coach for seven years. “It's bizarre. It's unsettling because it is such a part of my spring. It's something I've come to expect.
“As I'm away from it, I realize how much I treasure it, and one of the best parts of being a coach is the connection with the kids. (Assistant coach) Kendra (Flaherty) and I have both talked about how much we miss our girls, especially our seniors. They're a great group of girls who have worked so hard to get to this year. We have a great senior class, a strong class, and they're struggling with the fact that they may potentially lose their final year of lacrosse in high school.”
There's no tried-and-true blueprint of how to live through a pandemic, forcing the entire world to adjust on the fly. It's forced state high school coaches to interact differently with their teams. How to keep them practicing. How to stay in touch. How to maintain some sense of connection.
“We've used the power of social media,” Macione said. “We have a team Instagram account that Kendra manages. We can put out challenges here and there to keep them doing something close to what the routine might be if we were practicing. Try to get outside and stay active and motivated and positive. All the stuff you work on when you're doing team-building during the early part of the season, you're trying to do that from a distance.
“We did a fitness challenge . ... (Old Lyme athletic director) Hildie (Heck) did a burpee challenge and challenged our team to do it. That makes such an impact. It gets everyone involved and maybe some five minutes of (social media) fame. Hildie is trying to do that outreach to our teams.”
Gomez and Tim Guernsey, his new pitching coach who has built RHAM into a state volleyball force, text with their Lyman Memorial players and have them on a Google classroom list.
“Tim and I send out a message every now and then and connect with them,” Gomez said. “The kids, like all of us, they're really confused. We're all definitely dealing with something that's pretty serious and pretty hard to process the whole thing. As hard as it is for adults to process, you can you imagine what it's like for kids that age trying to process it and stay positive?
“I use (Google classroom) a lot during the season to tell them what to do every day, the practice plan, motivational stuff, things I pick up on YouTube. I'm now trying to keep their spirits up (with it).”
Norwich Free Academy softball coach Bryan Burdick is trying to hold out hope that there will be an abbreviated spring season, and he already knows the game plan for his Wildcats, who played in last season's Class LL final.
“The focus will be less on wins and more on just having fun and enjoying the little time we have together,” Burdick said. “If we get back, there's the realization that we could've lost it (the entire season).
“Let's enjoy the few weeks we're together and play for each other. If we win, we win. If we lose, make sure we played hard and did everything we could to help each other.” n.griffen@theday.com