Seniors hope for one last chance to compete

Typically in this time of year, teams are gearing up for playoff runs. However, UIL has suspended all competitions indefinitely and named May 4 as the earliest play could resume. The move effectively pushes back the playoffs for every spring sport, and for some sports, it could mean no championships at all. This is something that weighs heavily on the minds of senior athletes at Graham High School who could have their high school athletic careers end prematurely.
“It just sucks right now,” said Steers soccer captain Alonso Arvizu. He said that despite not being allowed to practice officially with his team, he has been using soccer to keep his mind occupied.
“I’ve have been spending my extra time playing soccer,” he said. “These past three days, I’ve been going to sleep at 2:00 a.m. I’m practicing(...) soccer is the only thing that takes my mind off things.”

COVID-19 has ushered in times of uncertainty, unlike these athletes have ever seen. It has created issues that coaches have never prepared for in their careers either. This isn’t to say that not being allowed to play sports is worse than a global pandemic. However, it is something that weighs heavily on the minds, especially of senior athletes.

“After the ride home from the Sunrise Optimist Fields in Wichita Falls, I was left with this eerie feeling that it very well could have been my last softball game,” said Lady Blues second baseman Alex Husen. “Once I finally made it home, I did not take my softball uniform off until almost 11 (p.m.) that night. I could not come to terms with the fact that it might have been my very last time wearing the jersey I have worn for the past four years. It is super sad to feel like I am done with the sport I have played since I could pick up a bat. Softball was the very first sport that I seriously played. I made lifelong friendships, spent countless hours at lessons and tournaments, and put blood, sweat, and tears into this sport. Right now I feel robbed of the senior season I have been dreaming of since I was a little girl.”

Athletes are handling the absence of sports in different ways. Of the five that spoke, they all shared the same underlying feelings. They are disappointed and they are sad.
“It has been just about two weeks since we heard of the first push back of UIL spring sports,” said track team member Claire Jones. “This push back meant no PK Relays for my senior year. I have grown up around the track, consumed in all it entails. To hear that I would never run a home meet again because of a virus was heartbreaking. When we received word that UIL events are to resume May 4, I was shocked. I figured we would be out a few weeks and dive back in, but over a month? That was crazy to me. I still don’t think it has all processed, though. The fact my senior season is on the line -- it’s hard to process.”

Jones, along with Summer Croxton, Chloe Menard and Rosie Schaffer run on the 4x200 relay team and were primed to earn a trip to the state meet. Allison Lee, who graduated in 2018, was on the 2018 team, with Menard as an alternate.  The quartet has made it to state in each of the past two years and placed sixth both times. They placed first in each of the three meets they have run in this season.
“As much as I wish my mind wouldn’t wonder, it does, and it often goes to thinking that my track career is over,” Jones said. “That I have run my last meet and did not know it. It goes to (show) that we really should not take anything for granted. I really hope that my athletic career is not over. I pray that track resumes back to normal in May and that we can finish out our senior year with another trip to state.” Jones plans to attend Abilene Christian University in the fall to major in communications.

Another athlete hoping for more games before going on to college is Bryze Bozeman. He will attend Angelo State to major in communications as well. Bozeman splits time at first base and on the pitcher’s mound on the Steers baseball team. He was also a starter at center on the basketball team.
“I was hoping it wasn’t true,” he said of finding out about the UIL’s decision. “When it was, I was just trying to work by myself and get better.” Bozeman has been spending time working for a wrecking company with a family member while keeping his arm in shape.

The Lady Blues softball team feels they were hitting their stride and ready to make a run towards the postseason.
“I was upset because we had just started getting our groove,” said Lady Blues pitcher Emma Southerland. “We were all back to tip-top shape, and we’re ready to start district.”
The Lady Blues were on the second day of the Graham softball tournament when they found out. After backing out of the final day of the tournament, the Lady Blues finished the Graham tournament with a 3-1 record with wins of nine and 10 runs.

“It was a huge disappointment,” Southerland said. “But I wanted to remain positive that it would only be a short break, and we would resume quickly. it was a shock to me when they suspended activities until May, a real heart breaker.”
Arvizu, Husen, Jones, Bozeman and Southerland have all kept active during this unprecedented downtime. Southerland keeps working out and no matter the UIL outcome has more softball in her future. Southerland signed to play softball at Lubbock Christian University next year.
“One big thing I’ve learned playing softball is to control what I can control,” Southerland said. “If that’s how it is, then I will be devastated, but I can’t do anything about it. Going forward from it, I will take the valuable lessons that I learned and run w them as I go to college and continue play.”

All four teams have one thing in common throughout this highly uncommon situation. They just want to play.
“We are trying to keep our hopes up that we will be able to out finish the season,” Southerland said. “We all have so much love for one another so we are really clinging to the hope to play together again.”
And for Jones, that means the chance to run with her team and to represent her city at state one last time.

“I talk to Summer, Chloe, and Rosie on a daily basis,” Jones said. “We all miss the sport, and we all miss each other. The bond that the four of us have created over the years is one of the closest I have been a part of, and not being able to comfort each other in person during this time is hard. We all would give anything to step out on the track just a few more times. When, not if, we get to run again, I know that we all are going to leave it all out there. We hope to make Graham America proud just a few more times.”