Photo Courtesy of Sports Information
By Carly Mersky, Contributing Writer
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, all fall sports were postponed this semester.
“We were prepared for it,” said Kuuipo Tom, the head coach of Susquehanna’s volleyball team.
“We had been watching the temperature across the nation and thought that we would fall into the same situation as other institutions across the board. Even though the Landmark was one of the last three conferences to make the decision, it was a no brainer when the NCAA pulled the plug on championships.”
There are no games, but that doesn’t mean the team is going to stop practicing and staying in shape. Tom said, “We continue to have systems in place where the team participates in weight training as well as training in the gym while adhering to the safest structure that we could engage for safety’s sake. Up until now, those on campus lift three times a week with the strength and conditioning coach, and they train twice a week on the volleyball court. We’ve also used outdoor volleyball systems in order to create a fun atmosphere with better air quality that one would find in the gym.”
Typically, for all sports, students must scout and engage with prospective student-athletes to see if they like them or not and want them at their school. This has changed because of the pandemic but technology has been helpful in connecting students.
Tom said, “Just like every other aspect with school, we are learning to lean on technology for our recruiting needs. We look at video, meet with prospects on Zoom, have team introductions through the Zoom applications so that the recruit can get a feeling of our team’s personality and culture, and we have limited on-campus visits. We haven’t been permitted any travel or even local recruiting opportunities as we are currently restricted by the institution for off-campus, in-person recruiting.”
The coronavirus has been a challenge for everyone, but it’s definitely challenging for athletes that cannot play their sport.
“The entire process has been a challenge, but probably working through small groups instead of having the whole team here as a whole and working through planning each player’s future. There are a lot of NCAA rules as well as academic and grad school considerations that must be managed for the best outcome for each student-athlete,” Tom said.
Tom explained the two most important things in being a coach. “The first is the realization that volleyball is a thing that we do, but it doesn’t define who we are as people nor whom we’ll become in our [prospective] futures. It bonds us in commonality and certainly is part of our collegiate experience, but with or without volleyball, we’re going to be successful contributors to society and that’s our main goal.”
“The second thing is that life isn’t ever fair,” Tom said, “and it’s also unpredictable. As such, we must be flexible, adaptable and able to overcome those challenges.”
“So, it goes with COVID restrictions… they are far beyond our “controllables” so it does us no good to lament endlessly over it. We just need to move forward… ‘i mua.’ As a coach, this is where you must hold true to your coaching philosophy and do what you promised that recruit when she and her parents were wide-eyed and excited about collegiate athletics, and for me, that is to take care of the ‘whole person’ not just the volleyball player” Tom said.
Tom said, “I preach to our coaching staff that we must remember “The Three R’s” in our philosophy, those are ‘Recruit, Require, and Relate.’ We’re really good at the first two, and
now we need to continue to work hard on relating to what they’re going through, because we don’t know.”
Hopefully by the time the spring rolls around, everyone will be back to playing their respective sport. Coach Tom said, “I look forward to having the whole team back in the gym.”
He also added that he looks forward to the interactions, the laughing, the competition, the travel, the meals, the moments that have no words and most importantly, their heavy breathing in the huddle in the middle of a struggle of a viable opponent that reminds us that we are still alive.”
