Picture this.
 
You're in New Mexico walking into the Albuquerque Convention Center and ready to represent your university at the 2020 NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. It's something you've prepped your whole life for and as one of the top-15 hurdlers in the country you are primed to leave a lasting impression in your senior season.
 
But as soon as you enter the building you notice a change.
 
Florida State, Iowa, Duke and many other teams are all headed towards the exit doors. Coaches are on cell phones and athletes are packing their bags, but you don't focus on that, you can't, instead you start going through your usual warmups.
 
Then you hear it. Sitting down and stretching next to Kentucky All-American Chloe Abbott, she turns to her teammates and says, "Yep, it's canceled."
 
Wait, what?
 
You hear the rumors, you see the tweets, but it's still so hard to believe until the announcement comes.
 
"Attention, the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships have been canceled."
 
This was the scene for Kennesaw State senior hurdler Paris Williams just a little over a week ago as the three-time ASUN Most Valuable Performer was set to compete in his first-ever indoor championship. 
 
"It was upsetting and unfortunate because being a senior and making it to indoor nationals for the first time, this was my time to compete," said Williams. "This was one of the biggest meets I've literally ever been to and I was ready to go, but then it got canceled. So, it's just unfortunate."
 
"To be a coach, you want to protect the kids, but being in this situation I felt absolutely helpless," said assistant track and field coach Rachael Coelho. "I know how hard he fought to get there, how much work he put into it, and he finally gets there, and they cancel it the day before … I'm definitely just in shock and my heart breaks for all the kids that wanted to compete in college or in high school." 
 
Williams' story is one of many who saw not only their championship aspirations, but their entire spring seasons slip away.
 
But it was just the beginning.
 
Student-athletes, coaches, fans and the entire country watched as conferences and major league sports began shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Ivy League, done.
NBA, done.
MLS, done.
Big Ten, done.
ACC, done.  
NHL, done.
MLB, done.
NCAA Tournaments, done.
 
"I don't even know how to describe it," said Williams. "I'm not worried because I know that in the end everything will be okay, but I don't know it's just kind of weird. Everything was just happening really fast and it was one thing after another. Within a couple hours it's like school was shut down, track was canceled, the NBA is canceled ... everything just happened super-fast."
 
One by one the dominoes fell until the country was left without sports and universities were forced to adapt to the ever-growing threat. 
 
"Seeing all that stuff for two to three days was a lot to take in," said sophomore third baseman Taylor Cates of the KSU softball team. 
 
"It was just crazy, I really felt for every single person on the team because we were in such a good spot and it just abruptly stopped.I think that's what hurts the most, is how well we'd been playing leading up to conference play and just getting ready for it and then we don't get a chance to do it. We don't get a chance to show what we can do in our league."
 
The softball team was on the warpath before its season was cut short, heading into conference play with a 21-4 record, including a tremendous 13-1 home record. The Owls were ranked among the NCAA's top-10 for batting average (7th), doubles (6th) and triples (8th), but were sent home before heading to FGCU for their ASUN-opening series.

So where does that leave KSU today? With all athletic competitions and activities canceled and the rest of the 2020 spring semester moved to online courses, the Owls now have to adapt to a new way of life for the next few months.
 
"It's been an adjustment," continued Cates. "You just have to go with what they give you. Adjusting to all online classes has been tough, but you just have to force yourself to get the motivation to do it. You learn to manage somehow."
 
Faculty, staff and teachers typically have a plan of action set up in case of such emergencies, but it is very rarely put into effect and everyone is learning and adapting in the early stages to this new way of life.
 
Classes, now totally online, have been completely redesigned and KSU's student-athlete success services (SASS) department has adjusted to make sure none of the students miss a beat when it comes to their courses.
 
"We've been talking about it for a couple weeks," said Assistant Athletic Director for SASS Dr. Randy Kennedy. "But as everything started ramping up the sense of urgency became greater. I was working on some continuity plans, how are we going to make this work, and then my staff was really helpful to kind of help explore the technology options. And then when it became a reality, we were just like alright we'll get this figured out." 
 
The department, which continues to stay vigilant and available for student-athletes, has turned to programs like Zoom and Microsoft Teams to continue to have weekly meetings with students via video chat. These meetings help prepare the students for life online, making sure they understand the new technology and are aware of any resulting changes to their classes.
 
That goes double for the students' tutors who are utilizing the same programs to continue to set up meetings. Of course, there are always a few unforeseen speed bumps.
 
"The other thing we are running into a little bit is adjusting to time zone changes," said Dr. Kennedy. "We have several international students who have gone back home so they need to be aware that if a quiz is due by 11 a.m. ET what does that mean if they are in Pakistan. What does that mean if we are trying to set up a meeting with them where they are? The other reality is that student-athletes aren't up at 6 a.m. doing workouts, they are getting up at 10 and 11 o'clock and that's not the same schedule we're keeping. But we're trying to be flexible and work as best as we can." 
 
But staying on top of their coursework is only half the battle for student-athletes. Sports will begin again, although exactly when is not certain, so it is important to remain prepared and stay fit. There's P90X, Insanity, even Tae Bo if you're going old school, but the Owls have turned to TeamBuildr.
 
TeamBuildr allows the KSU sport performance staff to continue each athlete's normal training routine by sending them daily workout routines straight to their phones and laptops. But being forced to train from home has required the KSU staff to get creative, altering workouts to body weight exercises or even loading up a backpack with whatever is lying around for a heavier squat.

 
So, in total what does all this mean for the student-athletes? Well it's still business as usual, just confined to four walls. 
 
"It is different," said junior Lauren Chastang of the KSU volleyball team. "You have to be accountable for your agenda and knowing exactly what is due and when it's due because you don't have that face-to-face meeting. You have to do it yourself. Same thing with workouts, it's been moved to online, but are you doing it? Are you not doing it? I think it takes a lot of discipline for everything to move virtual. No one is there to push us face-to-face, but with the right discipline the adjustment it won't be too hard."
 
With the distractions of being stuck at home, it is now more than ever on the student-athlete to stay on top of everything they need to do. The faculty, staff and teachers at KSU are doing everything they can to adapt and continue to give the Owls the tools they need to succeed, but it's about student-athletes holding themselves accountable.
 
"We've told each other and everybody else, you can't over-communicate in this situation," said Dr. Kennedy. "You have to make sure that you talk to the students, students are talking to professors, we're talking with coaches trying to keep everybody informed with everything."
 
"I wake up every day and make a to-do list," said Chastang. "I'll put 'ok be productive for this hour', 'go do this for this hour', or 'go on a long walk'. That way I'm not cooped up in the house and going stir crazy because that could certainly happen."
 
It's an unprecedented time and this new normal will take some getting used to, but it won't last forever. Soon enough stadiums and classrooms will be filled again and when that happens, it will come with a newfound perspective and appreciation for something as simple as sitting next to a classmate in a lecture hall or cheering KSU on to victory in the Convocation Center.
 
Until then, the Owls will continue to bring the fight. 
 
"I think that there is going to be a lot of growth that comes from this adjustment," said Chastang. "No team has ever gone through this, no school has been through this and our own families are adapting to these ever-changing situations. This is a great opportunity to find different ways to be relentless and to rise above the situation. At the end of the day, it's not all about athletics, it's about the people."

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