Class of 2020 Misses Spring Sports
Senior athletes lose their last chance to play for UPrep
Photo: Ann Ros/Pixabay
UPrep soccer has been canceled, one of the options for spring sports. Seniors at UPrep did not have the opportunity to participate in their last sports season amid the pandemic.
With the cancellation of spring sports comes a missed opportunity for University Prep seniors to take their last shots and say their final goodbyes to coaches and teammates.
Senior and member of the UPrep varsity boys soccer team Antonio Bernardo recalls his feelings upon learning of the season’s cancellation.
“I was heartbroken when I found out the season would not happen,” Bernardo said.
Senior Julian Renschler, another member of the UPrep varsity boys soccer team, also struggled with the news.
“It’s pretty tough,” Renschler said. “It has taken a while to set in.”
In UPrep varsity boys soccer coach Alec Duxbury’s experience, sports carry a tremendous amount of significance during senior year that this year’s graduating class is missing out on.
“When I see players who won championships, we smile at the memories. When I see players who suffered emotionally crushing final game losses, we smile at the memories,” Duxbury said.
In spite of the canceled season, coaches of spring sports have aimed to keep in touch with their teams and senior athletes.
Varsity girls ultimate coach Moses Rikin shared that his team is currently maintaining a sense of community despite limitations from enforced social distancing during the COVID-19 outbreak.
“We’re doing our best to stay connected to the captains and, through them, to the team. We’ve had workouts, film sessions, and check-ins via Zoom,” Rifkin said.
Still, Rifkin expressed a sense of loss regarding the canceled season.
“I’m really sad for the seniors who are ending their UPrep sports careers on terms they didn’t choose,” Rifkin said. “I’m sad for myself not getting to have one last season with them.”
Despite disappointment surrounding sudden end of the spring sports season, cancellations have urged many to look beyond the horizon of just one season.
“For the non-seniors, I’m always excited about what’s ahead, and think I might be even more excited than usual to have a season with those students in the future,” Rifkin said.
With the pain comes an appreciation for what things were and will be. Duxbury mentioned his expectations of what will be remembered from this pandemic.
“Someday, we will smile at the memory of 2020, too,” Duxbury said.