ATHLETICS M
illions of teenagers across the country have seen seasons canceled and opportunities lessen in the blink of an eye. Athletes at Trinity were no exception as they have had to make major adjustments to their everyday lives since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. While Aycock Stadium was empty and the doors to the Estes Athletic Center were closed, Trinity athletes found ways to stay together, active and motivated. Yes, some opportunities were lost, but these students’ ability to find positives in the most adverse situations is one of the many things that makes the Trinity community so strong. “At first, I was really disappointed because obviously I wanted to play lacrosse for my junior season, but I also wanted to be a part of the team,” said varsity football and lacrosse player Daniel Eliasek ’21. As reality started to kick in, Eliasek quickly realized that his time at Trinity had mentally prepared him for what was to come and that the quick transition to virtual learning enabled him to take his focus on self-discovery and personal development. Around the Athletic Department, the approach was simply “control only what you can control.” When Trinity closed its doors and moved to all virtual learning, most anticipated that athletic competition would be in jeopardy. So Director of Athletics Anna Prillaman swiftly began to find ways for program heads to keep their teams engaged and motivated, even something as simple as a video to encourage students to go out and get active during weeks and weeks of lockdown. “It was important from the beginning to remain engaged with our student-athletes,” said Prillaman. “We took various action steps to ensure they knew how much they mean to us and that we, as coaches and athletic staff, were still here to support our athletes’ needs.” Prillaman created videos with at home workout suggestions, held virtual team meetings, hosted a virtual signing day, created an endof-year athletics celebration video, and remained available to chat with Trinity student-athletes if they needed assistance in any way. Games weren’t the only thing lost in the process. Junior baseball athlete Matthew McRaney ’21 was looking forward to the bonds and friendships that would be formed throughout a season. “Personally I missed my seniors the most. With this being my first
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ONWARD TITANS! year at Trinity, I made many new relationships and became really close with a lot of people, especially some of the seniors on the baseball team,” said McRaney. “I was very excited to play a season with these new guys because they all carried great energy on and off the field and I knew it would be an extremely fun season. With the majority of Trinity’s students at home due to stay-at-home orders, many spring program heads used platforms such as Google Classroom, Zoom, and GroupMe to stay in constant contact with one another. Cate Monaco ’21, a field hockey and lacrosse player, mentioned that her head coach made sure her team had lots of fun activities to do during the spring months. “Coach Snead really organized a good transition into some normalcy,” said Monaco. “She communicated to players through email and a big GroupMe chat, sending uplifting messages and ways we can get some work done at home.” Strength and Conditioning Coach Adam Banwarth knew that times would be tough, but if students could stay on a tailored workout routine then maybe it would provide hope, happiness, and normalcy. “The goal for our workouts when we began quarantine was to get kids active. My idea was to provide workouts that our students and faculty could perform while at home,” said Banwarth. As access to Trinity’s first-rate athletic equipment and facilities was lost due to campus being shut down, Banwarth had to quickly develop a plan for at-home workouts. “Those included lots of body weight circuit type training that occasionally included home equipment such as chairs, broom sticks, shovels, buckets, basketballs and even swing sets,” he said. “As a staff, we wanted to do our best to keep kids physically fit so that if and when we came back to school they wouldn’t be extremely deconditioned.” Social media activities and challenges became very popular in the Trinity community while on stay-at-home orders. Adam Lonon, varsity girls head basketball coach, curated a “Pass Left Challenge” video on TikTok that featured every member of the varsity girls basketball team. “During the pandemic, we felt it necessary to offset the rigors of online learning, so we used basketball in a remote environment as an outlet to remain balanced, have fun, and continue team camaraderie,” said Lonon. “The ‘Pass Left Challenge’
