Photo by Mary Franciscus

Freshman center Chase Haun goes up for a basket to take the lead against Parkway South. In mid-December, the freshmen boys basketball team defeated the Patriots 36-35. “Going up with the ball there was very risky because of the percentage of that shot. It was a mid-ranger that was semi-contested and I’m surprised that I made it,” Haun said.

“Go!” Head freshmen boys basketball coach Matt Catanzaro yells for the next athlete to begin his dribbling zigzags across the court. Fourteen athletes heaved across the court from baseline to baseline as their teammates mirrored their actions. But as the team’s season got underway, COVID-19 would soon interfere.

At the start of the season in early November, players did not have to play with masks but were required to practice social distancing. This included during warm-ups and cool-downs.

“I did not feel like I was in much danger of the virus, but it still was in the back of my head. I think the coaches enforced the rules and restrictions of what we have to do to prevent COVID[-19] and what precautions we have to take pretty well,” freshman shooting guard Mitchell Seavey said.

In late November, the team had to quarantine for three weeks due to a teammate having an exposure. Because of this, the team had to quarantine for roughly three weeks and attended virtual practices for an hour each day.

“This affected the way the team played in a minor way because virtual practices were not as effective,” Seavey said. 

After quarantine, the team started taking more precautions including wearing masks during games and practices.

“The mask made it more difficult to play because it was difficult to breathe in them. After a little bit, you got a little used to them,” Seavey said. 

In the beginning of December, the team won their first two games against Parkway North and Parkway Central. But in mid-December, the team’s success took a turn for the worse, falling to 3-3.

“It started to go downhill for us when people had to quarantine and were injured. [When they] came back, they were not the same. Skill-wise, it just did not help losing people for such a long time,” freshman center Isaac Allgeyer said.

The team finished 7-9, at one point having only eight athletes able to play.

“It was definitely unfortunate, the way our season ended because of the loss of athletes. We took a lot of precautions, but that still didn’t prevent many athletes from quarantining,” Allgeyer said. “Especially when athletes came back from quarantining, they were not as good or rusty. I’ve heard that it takes way longer to get back in shape than to get out of shape. I think that definitely applies here.”