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It is well known that the past year has provided many unfamiliar situations and stressors for just about everyone, and the Olivet community is no exception to this. The spring semester has just begun on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and with that many extra sports seasons have followed. In a typical semester, the idea of this many teams sharing the Cutler Event Center was unheard of, which has made it difficult for these athletes to get practice time on the main court.
It takes a lot of cooperation with all of these teams trying to schedule practices at the same time, but the OC coaches have done what they can to make this unique situation possible.
“It really has been a process of getting all of the coaches of the teams practicing on the same page to work out what we can,” said Chad Loveless, assistant coach for men’s basketball.
The auxiliary gyms on campus, Upton and MacKay, have helped greatly to make sure all these teams have somewhere to hold practices. Both the men’s and women’s basketball teams have taken advantage of these alternatives when the main court at Cutler is not available.
Jade Antolec, assistant women’s basketball coach, said, “We’ve ended up moving to Upton a lot, but it doesn’t really affect our practice plan unless we were planning on lifting.”
This surplus of athletes going in and out of Cutler has also impacted the athletic training staff in a very clear way. With more teams playing at once come more student athletes needing treatment at one time.
“It has, however, been harder to get in and out of the trainer,” said Luke DeWitt, men’s volleyball coach. “The AT staff has been amazing, but with the number of student athletes cycling through the doors, it’s difficult to avoid hold ups.”
Photo by Alicia Bullaro