Photo via WikiMedia Commons
The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has taken the world by storm in recent months. Our daily lives have changed dramatically due to the rapid spread of the virus. Students have been sent home from school and many parents have been told that they can’t work due to the closure of all non-essential businesses. The United States economy has been shattered by the virus, which has left the over 30 million people unemployed. Over the world, over three million cases have been reported, with one-third of those cases coming from the United States. Stay at home orders have been issued all throughout the world to try and combat the coronavirus. One particular industry that has been hit very hard by the coronavirus is the world of sports.
There is no denying the impact that sports have on the world. Sports provide entertainment and to hundreds of millions of people, not to mention the athletes participating in sports at all levels. According to Statista, sports in North America had a market value of 71.06 billion dollars in 2018. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, professional sports leagues such as the MLB, NBA and NHL have been suspended indefinitely, causing billions of dollars in losses for them. Commissioners and owners from the leagues have been left scrambling for options to save their seasons.
Not only are national sports being canceled, local sports are also being affected as well. High school and college seniors have been stripped of their final season with their teams. Spring sports have been canceled and preparation for fall sports has been suspended for the rest of the academic year.
West Chester University was the first PASSHE school to resort to remote learning for the rest of the academic year. During the students’ spring break, President Fiorentino announced that students would not be returning and that classes would resume in an online format starting on March 30, 2020. This also meant that spring sports would conclude and leave fall sports in question.
“Quarantine really took a hit on our preparation because we just lost a whole spring season of mental and physical reps that would have made us better and more in sync for the 2020 season. All we can do now is have zoom meetings, which are time-limited by the NCAA rules”, says West Chester University sophomore Joe Kennedy. Kennedy is a student-athlete who plays defensive back for the football team. The football team is coming off an impressive season in which they compiled a record of 9-3 and a playoff berth.
“It has been a slight change in the way I usually do my academics, but I have a more clear agenda and try to keep myself in a routine of waking up early and doing my work on time. It is more laid back but I need to keep that intense routine alive so I don’t fall behind.”
There is no denying the impact that the pandemic has had on the sports community nationally and locally. Fans everywhere are eager to see their favorite athletes and teams return to the playing field. Only time will tell how the industry recovers and when sports will return for good.
Erik Klambara is a first-year student majoring in media and cultures. EK924666@wcupa.edu.