A month ago, Jackson Prep grad Gene Wood and the rest of the Texas Christian University (TCU) baseball team had just flown home from playing in California and were preparing to take on Maryland in a weekend series before news broke on what coronavirus would mean for college sports.
“We were practicing and preparing for Maryland. We hadn’t really heard anything from Big 12 at that point, so we were just preparing to play,” Wood said.
However, during practice, they got word that the rest of the season had been suspended and the College World Series was canceled.
“After that, we shut down practice,” Wood said. “We actually went to celebrate with the TCU basketball team after their win. Their season was ended too, and they were having one of the best seasons they have had in a while.”
The changes were quick. Everything the team had worked toward up to that point was gone before they even got a chance to really get started.
“It was a whirlwind three days,” Wood said. “We have a great team. It was really disappointing because we had high expectations and high hopes for what we could accomplish with this team. We had a lot of talent and a lot of pitching.”
While he describes the situation as “disappointing” and “unfortunate” for many reasons, Wood is still hopeful for what the 2021 season will look like.
“We will have to wait to see what we can accomplish next year,” he said.
Wood is a graduate transfer from Alabama and is in the process of completing his master’s degree in liberal arts, which he will finish next year while playing his last college baseball season of his career.
“My plan is to head back to Fort Worth when it is safe to do so and start working for next year,” said Wood, who has been playing baseball since he was around five years old.
For now, while they are home, he and his teammates are staying connected with weekly meetings and check-ins.
Individually, each member of the team is doing what they can to stay in shape from home and prepare for their return.
Wood, the son of Greg and Kelly Wood, is one of the fortunate ones, as he has a batting cage in his backyard and access to a home gym to stay active.
Stedman Strickland, a Jackson native and junior studying business at Mississippi State University, also has a home setup to help him stay active and train after his tennis season was cut short.
A tennis net - leftover from when he played as a kid - draped across his driveway forms a makeshift court for Strickland to practice with while he is home and social distancing.
Strickland, a graduate of St. Joseph, played tennis his freshman year at Delta State before transferring to Mississippi State.
“It’s all so weird because we were right in the middle of our season,” Strickland said. “We were on a road trip. We played in Tennessee and played at Georgia.”
When they returned, it was spring break. So, they had a day off and then returned to practice the following day when the news began to come in about other sporting events being canceled.
“Our coach was like, ‘We’re just going to keep doing what we do until the SEC calls it,’” he said, which they did a few days later.
Strickland, who is the son of John and Jill Strickland of Jackson, said he is the only American on the team, so all of his other teammates flew home after the news broke.
“When I got home, the first couple of weeks, we were not on a stay-at-home order,” he said. “Now that we are, it is really difficult to do things.”
He and his dad will practice out in the driveway, and he goes for jogs, runs sprints and rides a bike in his neighborhood to stay active.
To stay connected, Strickland and his teammates meet with their coach and academic advisor once a week.
“It’s funny, because we have to find a time where everybody can talk because everyone is all over the world,” he said.
Staying connected with her teammates is something that is helping Aubree Dillon stay motivated while learning and training remotely. Dillon is a sophomore soccer player at Southeastern Louisiana University (SLU), where she is studying biological sciences.
Dillon, a Madison-Ridgeland Academy grad, has played soccer for the past 15 years, with the last two years being at SLU.
While the soccer season begins in the fall, the spring is peak training time for the team. So, being sent home due to the coronavirus pandemic has thrown a wrench in their plans.
“It has been difficult for everyone,” Dillon said. “We’ve made efforts to stay close to each other and bond as a team.”
In addition to her teammates, keeping a strict schedule has helped Dillon to stay sharp.
She begins her day at around 6 a.m., which is when she would typically be on the field for morning practice. Now, she begins her coursework at that time.
“Classes do come first,” she said.
Once her coursework is complete, she spends the other half of her day practicing, running and logging miles for a team competition and other training.
So far, she has logged approximately 30 miles on her Nike Run app as part of a competition with her teammates.
“It definitely has been an adjustment going from classes to online,” Dillon said, which is something she would have struggled with more if not for her strong support system, including her family, teammates and coaches.
She and the team also have weekly Zoom meeting to stay connected.
“It is helpful to see their faces,” she said. For fun, they have a yoga class planned via Zoom. “Our team is made up of girls all over the world, from Japan, England, Spain. It’s great to be able to get in the chat and see them.”
Dillon, who is the daughter of Lance and Teresa Dillon, had a piece of advice for other athletes dealing with similar struggles: “Keep the faith and stay working hard. Hold yourself accountable and stay at it.”
