Image courtesy of Skidmore College
Last year, many of us were sent home without knowing when we could return, while others were suspended in a liminal space not knowing what their college experience would look like. When in-person students came back to campus in the fall of 2020, it was a year none of us could have predicted, as our college experience was halted and changed possibly forever. Everyone has stories of how COVID affected their lives, but what was the year like for athletes, never knowing if their seasons could be cancelled due to an outbreak?
Cameron Pedemonti ‘24, outfielder for the Skidmore men’s baseball team, had to quarantine for two weeks, almost back to back, because of exposure he had to a teammate with COVID. He recalls this as one of the hardest things he’s been through: “I had done two quarantines last year, so I already knew what it was about. You can’t see anybody, and it was in the middle of our baseball season and we were all trying to find our place on the team. You know, it was hard, for sure.”
This was also a wrenching time for the baseball team who, like many sports teams, were putting all their time and energy into a specific idea of a season that they had planned. Pedemonti reflected, “When you’re in the moment, for me at least, I definitely wasn’t thinking, ‘Oh, this is gonna get canceled.’ I was thinking, 'there's no way we’re going to get cancelled, we’re doing everything right, there's no way that it’s going to hit us.’ And, you know obviously that’s not a great way to think, but we were hopeful and we wanted to continue doing what we love.”
When COVID did hit the baseball team, Pedemonti said it was one of the hardest things to go through: “Especially because it kinda comes sporadically. And when the first person texts the group chat and says, “I have COVID,” you’re like, ‘oh, man, that sucks, he’ll have to quarantine, maybe a couple other people.’ And then all of a sudden four or five more people say it, and then half the team is quarantining.”
Pedemonti says that when he looks back, he is not totally surprised that it happened, because we were still in the middle of COVID with cases running high at the school. “COVID was definitely not over, so we were lucky enough to even get half of a season.”
For Pedemonti, getting through last year’s tough circumstances, and this year as well, has been all about his mindset. He says that the challenges of last year made him even more excited for the future and what’s to come. He explains, “The way that I’ve been trying to look at it is that I still haven’t experienced a full year here at Skidmore, and that means I still haven’t experienced a full year here of baseball. So, the fun that I’ve already had can't possibly be as fun as when the year is normal.”
Pedemonti elaborated, “My teammates tell me that when the year is normal it’s ten times better. So I have no idea what to expect. I just know that I really want to work hard and just be playing baseball, and hopefully the things that we do when things are normal are just better. There’s definitely a lot of unknown in a good way.”
Another Skidmore athlete expressed similar sentiments when reflecting on her season. “It was really stressful!” said Maddy Glick ‘23, a center back on the women's soccer team, about last year. The soccer team took everything day-by-day, practice-by-practice. Glick explained, “I personally chose not to get really anxious by it. It was just the moment we were living in, and it was something I’ll look back on and think, ‘Whoa, I can't believe I lived in this moment in time and in history.’ So, in some cases it was just sort of like, 'it is what it is.’ You kind of just gotta adjust and deal with it.”
While Glick adjusted to this change, Jed Prickett ‘24, captain of the men's rowing team, said his team was “always on edge.” Prickett explained that it was really challenging to be an athlete last year: “Our coach was very harsh about COVID protocols last semester. In the fall if we got written up by Campo, we’d be off the team. Crew is an interesting case for sports affected by COVID…because it's not like we're a contact sport, but you're in a boat every day with the same people, and so it's really easy for COVID to spread.”
The crew team started off last year in small boats with everybody in a single boat for the first month. As Skidmore slowly started to transition into more accessible and less strict rules, Prickett said that the team was able to row bigger boats. But, they were required to be masked indoors, outdoors, on the water, and in the boat house.
However, without these challenges, Jed may have not been able to attain the position of captain had it been a normal year. As he explained, “We only had five or six guys on the team last year by the spring season, and I think if there had been a lot of people that stayed I would have been passed over for the captain position. Because I was put through such a challenging year, I was able to show that I can make a good leader for the team, and the coach recognized that.”
For Pedemonti, a big improvement this year with everyone being vaccinated is not having to wear masks in practice. He said, “That makes a huge difference, just being able to put in 100% effort. It's easier to do that without the mask because the mask physically makes it so that we can't breathe. So it just kinda takes away that prohibitor.” He also said that there is more hope this semester, as plans that weren’t possible last year are in the works. “Last year,” Cam said, “we got somewhat of a season, maybe half, and we didn’t get to go to our spring training trip in Florida. We didn’t even talk about it, didn't even plan for it last year, because it just wasn't gonna happen. And this year, we’re already buying plane tickets and the hotel’s already set up, so there's a lot more excitement for what's to come.”
When looking back on what is different this semester, Glick explained: “First of all, we’re competing this year. So that changes a lot of things.” Another change has been gathering and bonding as a team, which has been a huge plus for these athletes. “We get the ability to congregate as a team, so there is a different team mentality,” Glick said. However, Glick said she underestimated the amount of time dedicated to playing a sport in a “normal year”: “Sophomore year [2020], the time commitment just wasn't the same without traveling. So I think I’ve been not-so-pleasantly surprised with the idea that I’m traveling again, like yesterday I took a four hour bus ride, and just balancing that with school, and adjusting back into that grind from summer.”
During the course of the interview Glick stated, “I was talking to my housemates last night, and we were talking about how we kind of miss the COVID semester.” She said that during a COVID semester, there was a lot of time to connect with one another and be really present with one another. She says this semester with things being more open and busy, she hasn't really seen her housemates much.
Another new positive for sophomores like Prickett and Pedemonti, is that for the first time they are really seeing campus open and normal. Prickett says he didn’t know this many people even went to Skidmore since “You walk outside of the classroom, and it’s like a sea of people coming from their classes. I like that I no longer feel like I know everyone on campus very closely. It’s nice to be part of a larger community. But I also still like the fact that I can walk from place to place and still know a number of people…it's refreshing.”
Pedemonti agreed. “It’s been amazing,” he said with a smile, “I’m definitely the type of student and person who just likes to be in person and interacting with people.” He also touched on this idea of spending more time with your team, and being able to gather, celebrate, and bond together. “As far as sports goes, it makes it a lot easier to hang out with the people on your team…if you want to just go hit or even play basketball or go for a run, it's a lot easier to call someone up and be like, ‘hey, let’s go do this real quick.’”
While things aren’t as open as a normal year, Pedemonti also stated that he believes the school has done a good job of handling COVID-19. “Unfortunately, the pandemic is just not over yet. As much as we want it to be, it just isn’t,” he explained, “I think the way that Skidmore has handled the whole COVID situation has been great. It’s tedious, but it's what we need to do, and I appreciate that, just so that even if this year doesn’t work out, I’ll still have, hopefully, two full years of baseball left, and that’s more than enough.”
Glick thinks her team is close to operating again at a normal semester. She explained, “There's nothing really pandemic-wise that has changed our season as of right now. I know that our team is capable of beating and winning a lot of these games. So, we are almost there athletically, at the mountaintop, so to speak.”
As we reach the middle of the semester, for many students and faculty, despite the masks and weekly testing, it’s beginning to feel like a normal year. Pedemonti also mentioned that this semester was starting to feel normal for his athletics. As he stated, “I would say I’m very grateful for where we’re at now, especially considering where we were last year. I think the school has taken a lot of steps to help us get there. As long as we keep playing, as long as we can keep getting on the field, I can wear a mask, it’s not the end of the world.”