18
Tayler Smith
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Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the world in many different ways, including how individuals view and participate in sports and exercise. The pandemic shifted the sports and fitness world in a way that no one could have ever predicted, but the various adjustments have become the new norm. The adjustments that have been made would not be possible without the help of technology and scientific knowledge. COVID-19 has altered the sports and fitness world. It has forced individuals and companies to modify their fitness routines, find new ways to remain healthy, and stay active amid the pandemic, and combat mental health issues.
Connection to STS Theory
Voices of Clemson Undergraduate Students
“I have enjoyed being able to exercise at home and find new ways to stay active.”
Mental Health, Fitness, and COVID-19
Isolation and quarantine have had a tremendous effect on the mental and physical health of many individuals. Suddenly altering routines and having to remain isolated caused an increase in mental health illnesses such as depression, anxiety, stress, etc. Many people who include fitness in their daily routines had to halt their activities and remain home to ensure their safety from the virus. The lack of sports and exercise negatively affected individuals’ mental and physical health and showed how vital such activities are to people’s daily lives.
Forced isolation and the lack of social gathering became too much for some people and resulted in an increase of mental health issues. To combat this, individuals were prompted to go outside of their homes and get roughly 30 minutes of exercise a day.
Fitness Gyms and Sports Team to the social distancing restrictions, workouts had to shift virtual formats, and some team practices had to be conducted virtually. Gyms provided online materials for customers in order to help everyone stay active while isolating. Virtual workouts are imperative for individuals to remain their healthy selves throughout the pandemic. I have enjoyed being able to exercise at home and find new ways to stay active. Virtual workouts were not a thing of the norm before the pandemic. The health restrictions put into place closed gyms and forced people to get creative and find new ways to remain physically healthy. Many people now have home gyms inside their houses or dedicated spaces outside used for workouts and fitness games.
Furthermore, sports teams had to alter their practices, recruiting, and competition routines in order to adhere to the new guidelines put into place. The pandemic has been difficult for individuals but even harder for sports teams as a whole. Many teams suffered from forced cancellations and shortened seasons. Professional athletes were not able to use their talents to make their regular income. Large franchises took significant financial hits due to the cancellations and lack of revenue from sporting events. Not only did COVID-19 mess up the current seasons, but it also put a halt in recruiting, which focuses on future seasons. Coaches had to find new ways to express interest in and gain interest from players.
It has been hard to work out the logistics for games and practices in the Fall seasons. Constant testing has had to be done to ensure the safety of all coaches and players on every level. Some programs test their staff and players every day in order to keep everyone safe and monitor contact tracing. Football season has looked a lot different this year with the reduced amount of fans allowed in stadiums and the altered pre-game traditions. But everything that has been done is to protect the health of everyone as much as possible and reduce the spread. Hopefully, this time next year, things are looking a lot better, and sporting events can go back to normal.
Clemson’s Response: Football & Men’s Track and Field
Football is one of Clemson University’s greatest traditions, economic opportunity, and source of community. On football weekends about 133,000 fans, travel to Clemson, South Carolina (population about 17,000) (Kreidler, 2020). Following the COVID-19 pandemic, stadium capacity was reduced by about twenty-three percent (Adelson, 2020). This restriction accounts for nearly forty million dollars of loss in revenue (Adelson, 2020).
In November of 2020, Clemson announced it would be cutting the Men’s Track and Field team due to financial challenges associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic and future Title IX compliance (Murphy, 2021). Many were disappointed in this decision which will cut two-thirds of the Black male athletes at Clemson who do not participate in football or basketball (Murphy, 2021). Former Princeton runner, Russel Dinkins, has advocated for these Black athletes who do not earn revenue for Clemson by filing a Title IX complaint with the Department of Education which will lead to further investigation of this decision(Murphy, 2021).
Conclusion
Sports and fitness have changed in ways that no one could have ever imagined, but everyone is doing what is necessary in order to remain safe and still have fun and be active. The year 2020 brought about many challenges, and the pandemic came with the most.
Chapter Questions
- Explain how sports teams adapted their training during the pandemic
References
Adelson, A. (2020, August 27). Clemson will reduce capacity to 19,000 fans for football games. Retrieved April 18, 2021, from https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/29755004/clemson-reduce-capacity-19000-fans-football-games
Graupensperger, S., Benson, A. J., Kilmer, J. R., & Evans, M. B. (2020). Social (Un)distancing: Teammate Interactions, Athletic Identity, and Mental Health of Student-Athletes During the COVID-19 Pandemic. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 67(5), 662–670. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2020.08.001
Klundt, M. (2020). Managing Your Mental Health During the Pandemic.https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/managing-your-mental-health-during-the-pandemic
Kreidler, M. (2020, August 03). How college football is trying to adapt to coronavirus. Retrieved April 18, 2021, from https://time.com/5874483/college-football-coronavirus/
Liu, I. Q. (2020, August 04). The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on High Performance Secondary School Student-Athletes. https://thesportjournal.org/article/the-impact-of-covid-19-pandemic-on-high-performance-secondary-school-student-athletes/
Murphy, D. (2021, January 05). Complaint alleges Clemson’s removal of men’s track is racial discrimination. Retrieved April 20, 2021, from https://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/30655868/complaint-alleges-clemson-removal-men-track-racial-discrimination
Suss, N. (2020, September 04). What’s it like to watch college football in the social distancing era? Weird, to say the least. https://www.clarionledger.com/story/sports/college/southern-miss/2020/09/04/what-its-like-watching-college-football-social-distancing-era/5661971002/
What COVID-19 Means for College Sports, Recruiting. (n.d.). https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/what-the-coronavirus-means-for-college-sports-and-recruiting
Yeo, T. J. (2020). Sport and exercise during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, 27(12), 1239-1241. doi:10.1177/2047487320933260
Images
“March Madness” by Marshall Ramsey / A derivative from the original work