The Life of a Student Athlete: Transitioning between shortened seasons

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Lydia Plahn,lowell high school,the herald,correspondent,OSAA mask mandate — Lydia Plahn , The Herald’s Lowell High School correspondent and columnist.

By LYDIA PLAHN/The Herald — On April 13, the Lowell softball team played its first game of OSAA’s “Season 3.” Just a week before this game, seven of the softball players, including myself, had been playing in a volleyball game for the league championship. The week between seasons only entailed four practices and was a frantic scramble to not only find nine girls who can play softball but also to make sure everyone had a uniform and all the necessary equipment.

Because of COVID-19 adjustments, OSAA shifted all sports seasons to fit between February and June, shortening every season into six weeks instead of the usual three months, including pre- and post-season. These shortened seasons lead to rushed transitions between the major sports seasons of volleyball, football and cross-country to softball, baseball, and track and field.

A week in between sports seasons is another challenge brought on by the pandemic year. Nicky Sotomayor, a senior starting football and baseball player, said, “The conditioning aspect is definitely different. Going from football to baseball and having a baseball game a week after was hard on our arms. We were definitely not ready; it’s a different set of muscles.” With only one week to transition from a sport to another, the new sports setup can be challenging physically and logistically.

On the flip side, Katie Chapman, a senior who runs cross-country and track, agreed with my assumption that it has been easier to go from cross-country to track than in a regular year where there would be three months of basketball in between. Cross-country and track are two sports that go hand-in-hand. So, having them back-to-back is an advantage for long-distance runners like Katie.

The new shorter seasons and quicker transitions definitely are an advantage to some athletes while a disadvantage for others, but Katie put it best when she told me, “In all honesty I’m just glad there’s been seasons at all. I wasn’t super hopeful about having sports at all this year. So, just to be able to have six weeks in each sport for one last shot makes me happy.”

Lydia Plahn, a sophomore at Lowell High School, writes about her experiences while participating as a member of the volleyball, softball and basketball teams.

Doug Bates

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