Eli Avellino (pictured above) is a senior sprinter on the men’s track and field team. (Kara Burke/ Editor-in-Chief).
While all our lives have changed substantially in quarantine, there is no doubt that collegiate athletes have had to adjust to a new way of life.
Not only have these athletes lost access to the gym, and possibly other important facilities, but they have lost the ability to work out with their coaches and teammates.
Geneseo Track and Field athlete Eli Avellino has had to come up with creative solutions to work around exercising in a new environment.
“One of the ways that I've replaced weightlifting is I've actually been filling grocery bags with textbooks and I've been able to lift a pretty significant amount of weight that way and keep, you know, decent strength,” he said. “With tracks being closed and gyms being closed, it's definitely been a challenge.”
While Avellino was able to run on roads by his home, all the tracks near him were closed. This was especially problematic given that he is a sprinter. Sprinters’ workouts tend to be repetitive sprints of anywhere from 50 to 400 meters, so it is almost impossible to do them without a track that is flat and easily marks out those distances.
Avellino explained that when he was able to finally get access to weights at home, it still required a lot of adaptation from his normal workouts.
“Now that some quarantine restrictions have loosened up, I can go to a friend’s house and use some of the weights they have, but it still isn’t like being with the team in the weight room,” he said. “I don’t have a coach and teammates to push me, and I still don’t have access to nearly as much weight and equipment as I would in a gym.”
Avellino also discussed the personal mental toll he experienced from being in quarantine and away from his coach and teammates.
“The hardest part of switching was not being able to work out with my team and having to do workouts on [my] own and stay motivated to do a lot of working out in general,” he said.
Avellino continued that while he does other activities, track and field has been his top priority for so long that it has been difficult to be away from competition and his team.
Avellino remarks that “losing being able to compete in the spring was especially tough, as I was really looking forward to having one of my best seasons, because I was in the best shape I’d ever been in. Watching that go to waste was really hard.”
The Geneseo Track and Field team also had members miss their chance to compete at the NCAA Division III championships in the winter, as they were canceled after all the athletes arrived to compete.
As shown by Avellino and his team’s experience, quarantine has been an especially difficult time for collegiate athletes.