COVID-19 Impact on Student-Athletes
By: Ryan Moreland
Posted on:
ACCIDENT, Md. — The COVID-19 pandemic has canceled many sporting events across the country. For thousands of high school seniors, this means missing out on prom, graduation, and many events that make your senior year special. For the student-athletes who play spring sports, it also means missing out on your last season of sports.
Northern Garrett High School senior Ian Eggleston is one of those athletes. Eggleston is a baseball player for the Northern Garrett Huskies in Accident, Md. Just as baseball practices were kicking off, COVID-19 shutdown all sporting events. Eggleston will at least miss out on most of his senior season. And it is not likely that Northern Garrett will play any of their 2020 season.
“I mean, its really disappointing because I probably won’t be able to play organized baseball again,” Eggleston said. “So, I feel like you build-up to this for all four years and then it’s kind of disappointing when you can’t play.”
Eggleston, who is a second baseman on the team, prepared hard for the season.
“He put a lot of time in last summer playing on the (American) Legion team,” said Eggleston’s high school baseball coach Phil Carr. “He spent from May to early August playing three or four days a week to get ready for this season.”
Eggleston is only one of many who will miss out on their last season. According to the NCAA, nearly eight million high school student-athletes across the county are likely to feel the pain of cancelled seasons and events. Nearly half of those athletes play a spring sport. And for the vast majority, high school will be their last chance to compete in an organized sport. The NCAA also notes that less than 10 percent of high school student-athletes will make the jump from high school to college. Hundreds of thousands of student-athletes, who have dedicated much of their free time to honing their craft, will never get to play their sport again in a competitive environment.
Northern Garrett’s field is just one of thousands across the country that will remain empty. As of right now, their season has not been canceled. However, Coach Carr did say that if the State of Maryland extends the school closures, salvaging any part of a baseball season would be unlikely. On Wednesday, March 25th, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced that schools would extend their closure until April 25th.