Disappointing. Boring. Rough. At the same time, optimistic. Less stressed. Enthusiastic.
For Northwestern’s student athletes, the news that their athletic seasons had been canceled was upsetting. For some, their last chances of running for the 50-yard line or making the winning basket are gone. They feel hurt. They feel abandoned.
‘Less stressed’
Gracie Riddle, Women’s Volleyball
Gracie Riddle is a redshirt freshman on the volleyball team. She plays right side. She is a health and sports science major.
Q: How does it feel to have your season canceled?
A: Having our season canceled makes me feel honestly really bored, but also a little less stressed. I am a freshman, and I definitely wasn’t prepared or experienced enough for the season if it were to have happened this fall. Having more time to learn and bond more with my teammates makes me feel more excited for what is to come.
Q: What is it like to practice for games you may not play for months, if you ever get to play them at all?
A: As of right now, we are taking things slow, running through our defense and offense plays and taking things one practice at a time and not going so fast. I believe, personally, this is giving our veterans and my fellow freshmen time to remember and learn plays.
Q: What do you do to stay motivated during practices?
A: Currently, I am a redshirt freshman, which means that, normally, I won’t get playing time, and I wouldn’t get to do everything the other players get to do. But since season isn’t for a while, us freshman have been a little more involved. Most people would see a redshirt next to their name as a bad sign and take things easy in practice, but I don’t. I watch my teammates when I am on the sidelines and I remind myself that, if I work hard enough, I can be at that level, and my teammates help me, too. When I get frustrated, they remind me that I am new, but that I am doing a good job and I will get there. It just takes time.
Q: How has the loss of your season affected your class and work schedule?
A: It has been rough. I have a lot of free time right now, which is sometimes good, but I also have a lot more time to miss my family. If we were in season, my schedule would be packed, and I wouldn’t have as much time to miss them. I got my first job ever only because now I have a lot of free time. That doesn’t mean coach doesn’t keep us busy. I still have an hour and a half of study hall every day. Right now just feels like the end of senior year all over again.
Q: How have your coaches responded to the
cancellation of your season?
A: Coach Aubuchan and Coach Cunningham, of course, are upset about season being canceled, but they’re doing their part to keep a defined schedule. They plan on us still playing in the spring and are focused on building a strong team this year between the freshman and veterans. They try every day to keep us motivated and have our eyes set on winning a championship this year.
— Interview by Ovell Patterson, student reporter
‘Having hope’
Mya Johnson, Women’s Basketball
Mya Johnson, a redshirt junior health and sports science major, plays center on the women’s basketball team.
Q: How does it feel to have your season canceled?
A: It’s pretty disappointing. I was very excited about the season and how far I believe we could go.
Q: What is it like to practice for games you may not play for months, if you ever get to play them at all?
A: It’s like you said. We may or may not play, so there is some type of hope or chance that we may play, and just having hope of actually playing this year makes me really push and practice because I want to be in the best shape possible for the season we may have.
Q: What do you do to stay motivated during practices?
A: Again, like I said, the fact that it is still up in the air that we may have a season is all the motivation that I need.
Q: How has the loss of your season affected your class and work schedule?
A: Really hasn’t affected my classes or my work schedule because my coaches make sure that practices doesn’t interfere with our classes and with the school in general. Coach [Diesselhorst] looks at all of our schedules, and she picks a time slot everybody is free, and that’s when we practice.
Q: How have your coaches responded to the
cancellation of your season?
A: I feel like you found it pretty well again. Like I said in a previous statement, there still might be a season, so she’s kind of clinging onto the hope of us still playing. It is still approaching the season. … So we still have practices, start conditioning. We still have all weight, but she does make precaution since we are still in a pandemic.
— Interview by Jara Reeder, photo editor
‘Get better’
Parrish Hewitt, Men’s Basketball
Parrish Hewitt, a junior health and sports science major, is a guard on the men’s basketball team.
Q: How does it feel to have your season canceled?
A: I wish it never did, but it doesn’t feel good. But all we can do is get better and do really good when we get our chance to play again.
Q: What is it like to practice for games you may not play for months, if you ever get to play them at all?
A: It sucks because we do all this hard work with no reward of being able to play, but I’m just happy that we get to be back in the gym.
Q: What do you do to stay motivated during practice?
A: Just getting better and being able to at least practice because nobody thought we would even able to practice.
Q: How has the loss of your season affected your class and work schedule?
A: It hasn’t changed much yet because were not officially in basketball season yet, but it probably will when we get to the season.
Q: How have your coaches responded to the
cancellation of your season?
A: Really positive even though they want us to play, but they’re being safe and letting us do as much work as they can.
— Interview by Ethan Everson, student reporter
‘An opportunity’
Briley Yunker, Women’s Cross Country
Briley Yunker, a sophomore pre-med biology major, is a member of the women’s cross country team.
Q: How does it feel to have your season canceled?
A: It’s really disappointing because I, along with a lot of my other teammates, was really looking forward to the season. But also, you have to look on the bright side and think of it as an opportunity to continue to grow in our sport and continue to improve ourselves.
Q: What is it like to practice for games you may not play for months, if you ever get to play them at all?
A: Again, it’s really disappointing. But at the same time, you’re like, eventually, we’re going to have a season. It might not be this year. It might be next year. I think about athletics as a way to improve yourself and your character, not just your physical aspect. I think we should all just enjoy the time with our teammates and think of it as an opportunity to improve ourselves and live a healthy lifestyle.
Q: What do you do to stay motivated during practices?
A: I rely a lot on my teammates, and I know we all “draw” from each other for energy and enthusiasm, and so I think we all just try to have a good time.
Q: How has the loss of your season affected your class and work schedule?
A: It really hasn’t impacted it much besides the fact that we’re not doing our competitions on the weekend. Again, on the brighter side, it gives us more of an opportunity to focus on school, so that’s nice.
Q: How have your coaches responded to the
cancellation of your season?
A: Coach Binkley and Coach Lancaster have been really optimistic and positive about it. They just try to keep our spirits up and look towards our eventual competition.
— Interview by Kaylea Brown, student reporter
‘Togetherness’
Kaitlyn Morphy, Women’s Soccer
Kaitlyn Morphy, a sophomore health and sports science major, plays defense on the women’s soccer team.
Q: How does it feel to have your season canceled?
A: It’s disappointing, but I feel it’s a good thing as well. We get time to prepare. There are a lot of new girls on the team who have not played with us yet, so it is kind of better for us to prepare for the season that we potentially will have in the spring. We could “gel
together” as a team. Once we start playing in the spring, we have already practiced together and bonded together because it takes time to get that togetherness.
Q: What is it like to practice for games you may not play for months, if you ever get to play them at all?
A: It does suck that I potentially don’t know if I will play or not in the spring. I still like playing soccer. It is nice to get your foot on the ball, especially going in the weight room. It keeps us busy even though it feels like we are not working towards something, but you are. In the end, it will benefit you.
Q: What do you do to stay motivated during practices?
A: Being around my teammates. They are all so supportive in motivating me to want to get better. Obviously, just me being myself, I always want to get better. The team is really supportive with that. I feel like the girls are just very supportive with the extra “push” each day. I live really far because I am from Canada. I can’t even go home until Christmas. I am here for the long haul. I am for a purpose. I’m here to do soccer and get a degree. It is nice to have your team who makes it feel like a big family, especially during this time.
Q: How has the loss of your season affected your class and work schedule?
A: I thought it would not affect my class schedule, but it has. Lately, with soccer, obviously, we are busy, but we are not as busy. Just like me being really busy makes me feel more successful in a way. I get more stuff done whenever I have soccer. It really helps with school, and lately, we are busy with soccer, and right now, it is not as busy.
Q: How have your coaches responded to the
cancellation of your season?
A: I think they responded really well. I feel like they are doing whatever it takes. Even though we aren’t doing contact, we are doing technical and tactical. They are still making our practices efficient where they benefit in the long run. Little things that our coaches do with COVID guidelines is good, such as social distancing and masks.
— Interview by Dacoda McDowell-Wahpekeche, student reporter
‘More time’
Quinlan Ganther, Football
Quinlan Ganther, a freshman health and sports science major, is a member of the Northwestern football team. He plays quarterback.
Q: How does it feel to have your season
canceled?
A: I’m kind of disappointed because, coming in the summer and everybody working out, it was only a couple of freshmen that came, and then the whole summer doing all this working out, then everybody moved in. Right after my parents left, everybody gets an email talking about how the season is canceled, so then we had a team meeting about it. Everything just got pushed back.
Q: What is it like to practice for games you may not play for months, if you ever get to play them at all?
A: I’m not going to say it’s pointless, because I’m a freshman, so I’m really practicing for long-term, for next year and the year after. It’s really a learning experience because now I get a lot more time to get the playbook down, and to really get my “feel” of it. In a regular season, you come to fall camp, and right after that, you’re in season, so us freshmen, we’ve got a lot more time to get everything into us.
Q: What do you do to stay motivated during practices?
A: I think about the reason why I’m here. The doubts and the people saying I wouldn’t have gone D2, and my friends and family who have supported me throughout this whole journey. It keeps my head up and keeps me going.
Q: How has the loss of your season affected your class and work schedule?
A: It really hasn’t affected anything. The coaches do a pretty good job at having our schedules set. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, we lift, and then Tuesday, Thursday we have position meetings, so it’s nothing crazy.
Q: How have your coaches responded to the cancellation of your season?
A: They’ve really been just trying to keep everybody in Alva because he knows everybody is like, “What are we going to do?” “Are we going to leave?” or “Should I leave?” Everybody is just questioning everything.
— Interview by Kaylea Brown, student reporter
‘Not bad’
Ashton Tuck, Women’s Golf
Ashton Tuck, a sophomore chemistry major, is a member of the Northwestern golf team.
Q: How does it feel to have your season canceled?
A: It’s really disappointing to have our season be canceled, but our coaches have done such a great job getting us to stay positive about it. We are just thankful for every day that we get to spend in-person, on-campus. We know how hard the decision was to make, and we know it was made with all of the athletes’ best interests at heart.
Q: What is it like to practice for tournaments you may not play for months, if you ever get to play them at all?
A: It’s not bad at all. I’m doing something I love a lot. Golf has been one of my greatest loves for a long time, and my routine doesn’t feel complete without it. Whether or not we get to play, we’re all still working our hardest and improving in hopes that we will get to play.
Q: What do you do to stay motivated during practices?
A: The thing I do to stay motivated is think of my parents and everything they sacrifice to allow me to get to play this sport that I love and all the countless hours they’ve spent at tournaments, driving me to lessons, sitting with me on the range, and being my biggest supporters. I just want to make them proud because I am beyond thankful for the opportunities they’ve given me.
Q: How has the loss of your season affected your class and work schedule?
A: It hasn’t affected it that much. Golf is an individual sport, and we are all free to go out and practice as much as we want, so we all spend quite a bit of time practicing on our own. Everyone is still working really hard despite the circumstances.
Q: How have your coaches responded to the cancellation of your season?
A: My coaches have been the reason that all of us have been able to stay positive about this situation. They remind us all the time how lucky we are to be able to be on campus and have the opportunities we have. They’re incredibly supportive, not only in golf, but outside of that, too. And they support us all as people, not just as players. We’re very lucky to have coaches that would do anything to help us succeed. … They haven’t been negative about the situation once when it’s most definitely a lot easier to complain, than it is to find the bright side.
— Interview by Destiny Gardner, student reporter
‘Positive’
Timothy Jacobson, Men’s Cross Country
Timothy Jacobson, a sophomore instrumental education major, is a member of the men’s cross country team.
Q: How does it feel to have your season
canceled?
A: It’s not our favorite thing, but since we know we are having a season in the spring, we are just preparing for that.
Q: What is it like to practice for games you may not play for months, if you ever get to play them at all?
A: Using our time to practice and get to know each other. Building the team chemistry.
Q: What do you do to stay motivated during practices?
A: We give each other encouragement. If we know someone is down, we can encourage them.
Q: How has the loss of your season affected your class and work schedule?
A: Without the season in the fall, it gives me a lot more free time on the weekends to hang out with friends, practice band and study.
Q: How have your coaches responded to the cancellation of your season?
A: The coaches have been as positive as can be, encouraging us to be ready for spring and to use this time to stay on top of classes.
— Interview by Trinity St. Andrews,
student reporter