Coming up with ways to make sure they stay fit, student athletes are making sure they come out of quarantine stronger than ever.
According to Senior Brian Reiner, the hardest part of quarantine is not having anywhere to practice his sport, baseball.
“Challenges would be actually being able to practice the sport itself, because I don’t have anybody to throw with and many batting cages are taken down,” Reiner said. “All I’m able to work on is my cardio and weight lifting because I have a gym in my basement and I go for runs a good amount.”
While other options for workouts have been taken away, Cardio is still a viable option for many student athletes.
According to junior Justin Wawrzynek, though many of the ways he works out have been taken away, he is still able to manage at home.
“It has become harder to put more work in because I only have limited equipment rather than having everything at my fingertips like at school, but I can still get outside and run and workout by myself,” Wawrzyenk said.
While cardio can be helpful for some, not all students consider cardio to be their strength.
Senior Will Leyland decides to focus more on weightlifting to keep in shape.
“ I am very strength based, and my biggest weakness has always been running, but I still used to have some types of cardio mixed in my workouts when I was at school in the organized sports offseason,” Leyland said.
On top of not being able to have access to school equipment as would be the norm, another challenge student athletes face is not having public access to fields and parks.
“The second biggest challenge has been finding football fields to kick that have not been closed down. The ones that are directly attached to the schools are not open, but any field that was funded by their borough is technically a public park, which makes it open to “walk around the track,” Leyland said.
While Leyland may not be able to kick at parks, he took the initiative to build “a field goal post in my backyard with PVC.”
A third challenge that a lack of spring sports creates is the fact that many colleges that seniors have committed to won’t have a chance to see their prospects grow during their final season.
Reiner, who will be playing baseball for Penn State University Harrisburg, and Leyland, who will be playing football for Temple University, have received workout programs from their coaches and have already started working to get prepared to play at the collegiate level.
According to Leyland, staying in shape and keeping ready will pay off for college.
“Once states finished, I immediately got on the program Temple had sent me. Starting out, the weight is lighter, but once I get acclimated again, it is back to heavy lifting along with explosive movements to stay quick. I’m also just trying to kick as often as possible,” Leyland said.