As a student athlete here at St. Lawrence University, I am grateful to finally be back in season with the volleyball team. It has been a long time since the 2019 Fall volleyball season, AKA the last time we’ve played in an intercollegiate match. Yet, rules and regulations have been constantly changing due to COVID-19 ebbing and flowing over the past 18 months. COVID-19 protocols are put in place to keep everyone in the community safe, while also letting the student athletes resume their athletic careers in an adjusted way. For example, the volleyball team and coaching staff must be masked while on the sidelines during matches, but the six active players have the option to remove their masks if comfortable doing so. Spectators are welcome, but they are required to wear a mask, regardless of their vaccination status. Early in the season, we had three teammates, including myself, test positive for covid. As us three quarantined for 10 days, the rest of the team stayed masked during practices and got tested five days later, as they were all close contacts. Luckily, the 12 remaining players, along with both of our coaches, tested negative and were able to travel to SUNY Cortland for a tournament. An additional teammate was being contact traced, so with the guidance of our coach, Shelly Roiger, and head athletic trainer, Brian Atkins, we’ve decided that it would unfortunately be best if she stayed back. Since then, we haven’t had any more covid scares, and we’ve been lucky enough to keep competing.  

Volleyball, however, is the only fall sport that always plays indoors. Men’s and women’s soccer, football, field hockey, and cross country are in the midst of their full outdoor season, with sports like tennis and men’s and women’s lacrosse participating in an abbreviated fall season. “Luckily as an outdoor sport, we do not have many COVID restrictions” women’s soccer senior captain Lauren Arthaud tells me. “If you are a close contact, then you wear a mask while playing [and] we established team expectations for off the field to limit our exposure and chance of getting COVID.” It sounds like the outdoor sports have similar expectations to indoor sports, but there’s a little more freedom with them being outside.  

Covid protocols keep us safer and help reduce the chance of a season-ending breakout, but there’s still a mental health aspect that goes not talked about too much by administrators. Student athletes like myself have been waiting for so long just to have a “normal” competition season. Having a looming cloud over our heads of a possible team or even schoolwide shutdown takes a toll on us. But it does have a bright side. On the volleyball team we constantly talk about gratitude and living in the moment, because we never know what could happen tomorrow. Arthaud had something similar to say about her team: 

“Things are not yet the way they were pre-COVID, and COVID still could put our season on pause for individual members and the team as a whole. After losing a collegiate season, it feels like every game and practice are such a privilege, but one that can be taken away so quickly. The hardest part is just the stress, because we have other friends and are involved in other things, but we have to have in the back of our mind our responsibility to the team and how our actions could affect the season.” 

 I speak for all SLU fall athletes when I say how grateful I am that we get to have a real season again. Though I missed the first six games of my season while in quarantine, I find it’s best to never look back. Living in the moment is key right now for all student athletes amid the pandemic, as we never know what could be lurking around the corner. Arthaud touched on the point that some of the most important protocols are the ones not written on paper. The team expectations for off the field, court, etc. are the ones that keep covid from ruining seasons. As of now, the case count at SLU is decreasing and covid scares are becoming less frequent. The goal moving forward is to keep the campus safe and  sports teams play for as long as possible.