“COVID Takeaways: Lessons Student-Athletes Can Learn from a Pandemic” Presented by Hudl

By Jordana Price, Florida State Women’s Volleyball Associate Head Coach

Unprecedented times is the understatement of the year when it comes to describing the past 12-15 months. The entire world has experienced major disruption and nearly every aspect of our social, spiritual, mental and physical well-being has felt some sense of the disturbance. It’s hard to imagine that COVID left any community unshaken throughout Earth. The global impacts of this pandemic funneled their way into our very personal lives. Normal everyday routines were detoured, canceled, rerouted or zoomed! We, as a society, had to adjust many aspects of our “norm” to try and survive, to even attempt to thrive, despite such unprecedented times.

Sports, which have always been a healthy outlet for many were halted, social distancing and masks replaced our beloved volleyballs. We had to strive to find a way to stay connected to loved ones, friends, family, classmates and teammates! Many student athletes were forced out of their regular season play, some seasons cancelled completely, others postponed, and we all had to find a way to exercise, to move our bodies without gyms, recreational activities and the sports we love the most.

Now when you read the title of this article it may have had you pondering what could anyone possibly want to take-away from a pandemic? Well, despite horrifying and life altering circumstances, including many of the challenges mentioned above…the experience of our worlds being turned up-side down could teach us a few life lessons, if we open our minds to it. There are a multitude of teachings one could interpret when it comes to the past 12-18 months but I as a coach of student-athletes would personally like to focus on the three biggest takeaways that I feel would most benefit the lives of student-athletes moving forward:

1. BE PRESENT
2. BE GRATEFUL
3. BE CREATIVE

Learning to be present — mental health, gratefully, has become a topic of frequent discussion over the past decade, allowing the multitude of struggles student-athletes experience to be voiced and often solutions and support have stemmed from these important and critical conversations. It’s very important for the young student-athletes reading this blog to realize awareness of your mental health is the first step in learning to be present.

You may have heard the word mindfulness; this is the same concept as being present. The reason it’s so important is because we live in such a fast-paced society. Technology has been at your fingertips since you were born. The frequent bombardment of information, wanted or not, has an increasing effect on your mental health. How you view yourself, your identity and beliefs are influenced by what you see, hear and listen to on social media, in public and at home. It used to be that our family, friends, teachers and coaches were the few places we received feedback and opinions on how our lives ought to look and who we “should be”, however, it’s nearly impossible to avoid the chronic influence of media on our personal beliefs and identity today.

The effects that social media and other people have on our mental health can be pervasively intrusive, yet if you learn to slow down, be present and realize how words, images, and others’ input on your life affect your mental health then you will be able to actively and presently accept or deny unwanted ideologies. The ability to be present allows you to realize what factors influence your mood and the best way to manage them moving forward.

There are many methods available to help you develop the ability to be present, one of my favorite techniques is mindful breathing.

Breathing is your lifeline, as I’m sure you know, it supplies oxygen to your body and mind. Take a moment right now to take a deep breath. Breath in through your nose and out through your mouth, breathing in deeply for four seconds and slowly out for six seconds. Ready set go, I’ll wait. IN for 1…2…3…4… and OUT for 1…2…3…4…5…6…amazing! Now repeat for 30 seconds and start to slowly build your way up to one minute, or more if desired. Deep breathing centers you, it brings you back to your body and gently focuses the mind inward. When you learn to center your mind on your breath it’s difficult for your thoughts to run wild and we increase our ability to BE PRESENT.

Learning to be grateful — COVID reminded us that many aspects of life are completely out of our control, there will always be situations unfolding that we can’t prevent, let alone foresee. This often happens in sports as well; on the court at any point, something could go drastically wrong…maybe your coach didn’t realize you were out of subs and the defensive specialist is now hitting on the front row, or perhaps the middle blocker that’s never served is behind the line waiting to serve for match point against your biggest rival in the championship game. When life seems out of control and nothing feels right, it can be very useful to turn our attention to the things we still have – the positives around us, the people, pets and places we can be grateful for. “In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships” stated the article “Giving Thanks Can Make You Healthier” (2011, November 22) published by Harvard Medical School.

Remembering tomorrow isn’t promised allows us to learn one of life’s greatest lessons – we ought to appreciate the things and people we do have in our lives, our teammates, our family and friends. Another important factor we experienced during the pandemic was not being able to play the sports we love. The lesson in this is to remember to be grateful, express gratitude for not only the opportunity to play volleyball but also the level you’re able to play at, and that your body is healthy enough to allow you to move and play a sport you love. As the world begins to open back up and play returns, I encourage you not to take the moments you have on the court for granted. In good times and in bad, we should always remember to be grateful.

Learning to be creative — when you have a plan and it doesn’t work out, get creative. During the pandemic many of us couldn’t leave our homes and this forced us to find new ways to stay in shape and to exercise. Lifting milk jugs and squatting with books in backpacks became the new norm. COVD taught us that when life gets heavy, try to find creative ways to cultivate strength, analyze and apply new methods. When you find yourself in unfortunate circumstances and your back is against the wall, when you’re down 10-14 in the fifth set…ask yourself, “how can I create and make a new way?” As we discussed earlier, being present will allow you to survey your surroundings, take account of the situation, think through possible solutions and create a way out of the struggle. Find a way to succeed, be creative.

COVID took many of our loved ones and our liberties. It had an incredibly negative impact in countless ways for billions across the globe. I want to make it clear that this was a horrific tragedy and fully acknowledge the pain and heartbreak many experienced. In no way do I intend to make light of the awful parts of this pandemic. I do, however, want to be able to look back over the past 12-18 month during such unprecedented times and be able to hold and honor the suffering experienced in one hand, while in the other, honor and bring forward the lessons. COVID highlighted our ability to create as a nation despite such tough circumstances, an ability to show one another gratitude, and it definitely forced us to slow down and learn to be present. These are the valuable takeaways and important lessons student-athletes can learn from a pandemic.

Reference:
Giving thanks can make you healthier. (2011, November 22). Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier#:~:text=In%20positive%20psychology%20research%2C%20gratitude,express%20gratitude%20in%20multiple%20ways.