With spring sports being cancelled due to COVID-19, college committed athletes are faced with a lot of adversity before their first seasons at the next level. Spring sport athletes especially face this challenge with the cancellation of their final season.

According to Butler baseball commit Cam Mallegg ‘20, missing in-game-action is the most difficult aspect of the season cancellation.

“There’s no substitute for live at-bats and being in front of a live pitcher in a real game,” Mallegg said. “A lot of other sports you can substitute for in game scenarios, but in baseball there’s nothing that can really substitute for live action.”

According to strength and conditioning coach Tyler Vivian, finding a new daily lifestyle may be the hardest part of this lockdown for athletes.

“Athletes, in general, are just so used to having routines.,” Vivian said. “They are so regiment and used to being told where they have to be at all times and what they have to do.”

The closure of gyms and other workout facilities is a major obstacle to many athletes, according to Albion football commit, Nick Fannon ‘20.

“The biggest obstacle for me is the fact that I can’t go to the gym,” Fannon said. “I’ve been running a lot to stay in shape and I’ve been doing body weight workout to stay in shape.”

According to Vivian, without having a full gym of equipment, learning new ways to workout is the best thing to do during quarantine for athletes.

“Now is a perfect time to ‘get a PHD’ in your sport,” Vivian said. “There’s so many resources out there like YouTube, and you can just go online and really learn a lot about your sport.I think that if you are smart and you understand your sport and have a strategic advantage over your opponent that it will make you a lot better.”

Fannon said that his college coaches have been in contact with him during this and have been helpful during the process.

“Albion has been in contact with me often,” Fannon said. “They’ve sent workouts I can do without equipment and plans for the fall season.”

Mallegg said that even though this is a hard time for all athletes, there is still no reason not to use this time to get better.

“It’s important to not make excuses based on the type of equipment you have, because everyone has their own body to workout,” Mallegg said. “Even though it’s a time we aren’t playing anything right now, it’s still a time to work hard and get better.”