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#SomeoneToListen Archive
John Kean
Missouri S&T
Sports Information Director
Whatever role you may play in athletics – whether that is as an administrator, coach, student-athlete, support personnel or in my case, athletic communicator – this has been a spring season like no other.
In our profession, we’re used to weeks where we’re going well past the 40-hour mark to get our tasks completed, including dealing with the games our teams play and having the pleasure to let our audience know about their accomplishments. We are at a point in the calendar where most of our spring season would normally be completed and we would have just come out of hosting the Great Lakes Valley Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships this past weekend.
Unfortunately, that event was canceled along with all the spring events after March 12, the last day one of our athletic teams was in competition. Our swimming team arrived at the facility for the second night of the NCAA Division II Championships just moments after the NCAA made the announcement that all of its championship events for the remainder of the academic year were not going to take place.
Needless to say, it was tough for them to not get to complete their competition … or for the spring teams that had their seasons abruptly postponed or later canceled altogether. My colleague at William Jewell, JaeLynn Ellison, wrote in her piece in this series that going from having numerous home events to none at the snap of a finger was a “gut punch” and it certainly was for student-athletes across the nation.
In our field, we have had to embrace some new challenges during this period of time. In my case, I’ve been able to get many of my year-end matters wrapped about two months earlier than usual, while also using some time to do some research that I enjoy doing and to work with my assistant, Claire Johnson, in planning some projects for the summer that we’ll have a little more time to work on before the next academic year begins. One of the most important things we’ve made a priority is working to keep our audience engaged with no games taking place right now.
What the 2020-21 athletic year will look like for us is still to be determined. Are there going to be games? If so, how soon can we play and how many games will we be able to play? And if we can play, we will be able to do so with spectators present? How will we deal with press box or scorer’s table setups in this time of social distancing? There’s a lot of questions in which answers are still needed for in the weeks to come.
We will have games again and personally, I’m optimistic that we’ll have a fall schedule in some form. The students will be back in school and campus life will be vibrant again around the country. In the meantime, please take a moment to dial things back a bit and make the most of the things you are able to do.
I know many of my colleagues around the country were looking forward to this year’s CoSIDA Convention, another of the events that got shelved due to the events of the last couple of months. Being on the organization’s board of directors, I would encourage my fellow athletic communicators to please take the time to take part in the virtual convention that CoSIDA is going to put on during the month of June. This is a great opportunity to learn from others in our profession and even though it will be in a different format than usual, it is still a chance to gain ideas and information that will be helpful for you in your growth in the field (and the price is right too!).
In the meantime, please stay safe and I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again in the very near future.