Bearcats Athletics Return to the Practice Field
After a very hectic 6 months that involved the cancellation and postponement of seasons, some Binghamton University athletics teams were able to hit the field this week. With uncertainty surrounding what sports seasons will look like this academic year, they are beginning to prepare for whatever the unorthodox season will look like.
“It’s honestly like the best feeling ever,” says Bearcats Sophomore Midfielder and Vestal Graduate Olivia McKnight. “We’ve been waiting for this day since March. Since we got sent home we’ve been counting down the days until we could get back on the field.”
Like the rest of the Bearcats fall sports teams, the Binghamton University women’s soccer team had their 2020 season postponed to the spring of 2021. This week they were able to take the field again in smaller groups for the first time together since the pandemic began.
“We talk about our family environment and how important team chemistry and comradery is,” says 5th year Bearcats Women’s Soccer Head Coach Neel Bhattacharje. “It’s just hard to do over a Zoom call. Now to actually do it and be together even if it’s in small groups for now, just to be back getting on the ball again and getting to see each other it means a lot.”
Safety protocols for these off-season practices include limited number of players, minimal contact drills and athletes wearing masks.
“It doesn’t really feel weird,” says McKnight. “We still get to talk, get to train, and get our touches in. We get to work out, we have to be in our space but we get to talk to each other.”
Bhattacharje says in order to get to this point and to continue to progress forward, student-athletes have had to shoulder a lot of responsibility.
"We’re asking our student-athletes to do a lot,” says Bhattacharje. “They have to be really hyper vigilant in terms of taking care of different things off the field that we’ve never asked them to do in the past.”
While there is still much unknown about what the spring season will look like for these fall sports teams, the Bearcats will be ready to play either way.
“We're just preparing for our season in the spring because that’s the goal,” says McKnight. “I know that’s Binghamton and the NCAA’s goal. We’re just super focused on the spring season and building our bonds without having to be super close.”
“There are things that we can’t control in a pandemic but the things that we can control we want to make sure we are doing to our utmost ability,” says Bhattacharje. “If we do that we’ll be in a positive mindset getting ready for where we want to be in February and March.