https://soundcloud.com/user356114795/radio-project/s-waGoMXbPacZ
Host intro: The rise in the coronavirus outbreak has caused the NCAA and professional leagues to postpone and cancel other seasons. Valsenia Michie spoke to a couple of athletes affected by the cancellations.
Ambi: Sound of phone vibrating (fades ashost intro begins)
Track: I am on the phone with Sameera Ahmed, a collegiate athlete at Baruch College, and Dashaun Michie, an athlete at Lehman College. Both of these athletes have to deal with the virus halting their season.
Act:Sameera: My opinion in COVID-19, at first, was that it was very exaggerated, but looking at it now and the situation everybody is getting into, uhmm, it seems like a very big problem, especially with people losing their jobs and having to stay home, and everything closing, it’s just causing havoc.
Act:Dashaun: At first, I felt like the COVID-19 was a little exaggerated,that it wasn’t as big of a deal, but now i feel like, as time passed and we’ve seen the amount of deaths that’ve been happening, that it’s a big issue that we have been taking it granted for.
Track: They have to alter what their daily routines consisted of.
Act:Sameera: It’s been affecting my daily routine a lot because I would go outside and workout, I would go to a gym, I would go play basketball, uhmm, with other people, so us not interacting with others has brought my motivation down. I try very hard to workout when I’m at home but it’s a struggle.
Act:Dashaun:So, with the whole COVID-19, it affected my daily routine as a track athlete, so since the issue has sparked up, I haven’t been able to practice or compete. My season has been cancelled for this year, so pretty much, my second life of an athlete has been, pretty much, put on hold until this issue is fixed.
Track: They must improvise on what their schedules will hold.
Act:Sameera: I started to make a daily routine of things I should be doing, because I started to realize that I’ve gotten lazy, and, like I said before, me not going outside to workout or play basketball with other people,I’ve tried to set aside times so that I could workout and still get my work in.
Act:Dashaun: Well, since I’m not able to compete or practice, I, pretty much, do at home workouts, uhm, and I also just focus on other aspects of my life, like video games and school work.
Track: Everyone has been ordered to quarantine themselves, in order to help diminish how many people contract the virus.
Act:Sameera: I believe the outcome of us going into quarantine will result in us just getting out faster. For example, they locked the whole country of China down and they’ve just reopened everything, there’s not a single case, so if we just, uhmm, take precautions like that, I feel like the outcome will be good.
Act:Dashaun: Uhmm, well, before this cancellation, I was looking forward to this season, pretty much. This was my comeback season, I’ve stopped running for almost a year, so this would’ve been my “season debut,” I guess, after taking a break, I was looking for PRs and new beginnings.
Track: With professional athletes contracting the virus, it caused NCAA to cancel its remaining seasons.
Act:Sameera: It’s sad to hear that because of this outbreak a lot of people won’t be finishing their season of play. Many athletes worked very hard in the preseason and during the season. Everyone felt like they had something to play for, and, now, it just feels like everything is being thrown away.
Act:Dashaun: Uhh, I feel like the current route of cancelling the season is the best route. As you can see, that, without social distancing a lot of people are losing their lives. You don’t want athletes out there to fear for their lives, so I feel like cancelling the season was the best choice.
Track: Everyone had things to look forward to before the season ended abruptly.
Act:Sameera: I was very excited because, even though, our season didn’t go as planned, I had an opportunity to play on another team. But after finding out that, because of this outbreak, our season would be cancelled, it made everyone, including me, very upset. Even though we’re all very sad, we’re going to come back stronger.
Act:Dashaun: Uhm, even though this was my season back and I was just getting back into shape, uhmm, with this delay, I feel like it’s just a sign, it gives me more time to prepare for next season. Since I was able to start the season, I was able to see my pros and cons and now I can work on that in this offseason to come back in better shape.
Track: Collegiate sporting seasons will remain cancelled, while professional seasons are postponed, as they come up with solutions to limit the chances of anyone transmitting and contracting the virus. From Baruch College, I’m Valsenia Michie.