Tournament stoppage latest hurdle for players in 2020 season
It been a wild range of emotions over the last seven days for high school volleyball teams around the state of Michigan. A total of 32 teams got enjoy the high of winning a regional championship last Thursday, knowing it…
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Continue ReadingIt been a wild range of emotions over the last seven days for high school volleyball teams around the state of Michigan.
A total of 32 teams got enjoy the high of winning a regional championship last Thursday, knowing it would advance to the final week of the season.
That joy turned to sadness on Sunday night when the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services enforced a three-week epidemic order, forcing the shutdown of nonprofessional sports in the state.
The MHSAA had to oblige, putting the final week of the volleyball season on hold.
“We talked about it all year, that it was a possibility. Whether it was a shutdown, or someone on the team getting sick, we had to be mentally prepared for that,” St. Mary Catholic Central coach Karen O’Brien said. “My heart just breaks for the girls. That’s where my emotions have been.”
The MHSAA has stated it is committed to finishing the fall tournament. On Wednesday, it released a schedule if the order does in fact end on Dec. 8. In that case, the quarterfinals will be held Tuesday, Dec. 15, while the semifinals and finals will take place Dec. 17-19 from Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek.
“I feel like you give us 3-4 days to practice, we should be ready to go. It’s kind of like Christmas Break in a certain way for other sports,” Cadillac coach Michelle Brines said. “You hope your kids will be doing something at home to stay active physically and mentally, and be ready once the pause is lifted. I don’t think we need extensive time to get ready to go.”
Cadillac is one of eight teams remaining in Division 2. The Vikings are one of the few teams remaining that didn’t have any kind of pause in their season. They were able to partake in indoor competitions when the season was originally scheduled to begin while most of the state was forced to practice outdoors.
“Never would I have dreamed that we would be allowed to play and the rest of the state wouldn’t,” Brines said. “We have had to usually go south to play the top teams in the state, but now they had to come to us. I think they enjoyed the trip, so hopefully it will be a little more balanced in the future and we can get those teams to come back to our place. We were spoiled. No masks and playing inside. I felt for the other teams training outside in the heat.”
The challenge now for Brines and other programs around the state is keeping their athletes engaged and ready to play if the season is able to resume in a month.
“We had a Zoom call and my message to the girls was that we need to be mentally and physically prepared to go on Dec. 9,” O’Brien said. “We gave them ideas for things to do at home to stay as prepared as they can. If the MHSAA calls and says ‘you’re going Dec. 9,’ we need to be prepared to play five sets that day. That’s obviously a great challenge, but that’s the mindset we are taking.”
O’Brien coaches the defending Division 3 state champion Kestrels, who have held on to the top ranking throughout the 2020 season.
O’Brien also has a very unique approach to the challenges this season has brought. As a three-time cancer survivor, overcoming adversity is something she is very familiar with.
Her experiences came into play on Monday when she spoke to her team on the Zoom call and encouraged them to let their frustrations out.
“The girls were all on mute and I told them that I wanted them to unmute and when I finished my next sentence, I wanted them all to scream. So they unmuted, and we all screamed,” she said.
“What I learned, when my cancer came back in 2019, is I allowed myself a day to be frustrated and angry and mad and all those emotions. You give yourself a day to do that, then you have a job to do. That’s the same way it is right now. They had until 6 p.m. (Monday) to be mad and angry and yell and do what they had to to get rid of that frustration. After that, you have a job to do. You have to mask up, you have to socially distance, you have to stay at your home unless absolutely necessary. They have a very specific goal in their heads, and you have to make sacrifices to be able to even try to reach that goal.”
While coaches and players have been frustrated by not being able to play out the final week, most are unified that everyone plays a greater role in getting everyday life back to normal, beyond just resuming volleyball.
“I think it’s not just important in the volleyball community, but the whole state – mask up! We have been told this for months and months and months,” O’Brien said. “If this is the best way to lessen the curve, then we all need to do it. No one likes it, but we just need to suck it up and do it. Not just for fall sports, or even winter sports and spring sports, but for the state and everybody’s health. I’m at high risk. Being a three-time cancer survivor. I know the importance of wearing a mask and I encourage everyone to do the same.”