Life Without Sports
-Vanessa Wilson GP Rugby (Kamloops BC)
As we know, Covid-19 has taken the world by storm including the sports community. Many of us in DDB can relate and enjoy sports. All sports-related activities have been dismissed and there are not any recent sporting events to watch, none of our teams are operating so we cannot play anything, and there are no sports to talk about on social media. Even the 2020 Olympics - an extremely important and huge sporting event that was going to be held in Tokyo in the summer of 2020 has been postponed and possibly canceled due to the virus.
This whole cancellation is causing a lot of us to reflect on how sports impact our everyday lives. Many DDB group members and a lot of people watch the NBA and are totally missing it. Many NBA players have shared their views and what they are doing without basketball - Lebron James, like so many athletes, has expressed on Twitter that his family and himself have been working out and keeping in shape while the NBA league is postponed.
Being a youth during this whole situation it’s very hard to keep myself busy. I personally play a lot of sports and without being able to play really breaks my heart. I enjoy playing a lot of team sports however I can not do any of that so it’s been difficult and very boring. Once this whole virus started it really made me realize how much sports mean to me and how much this affects me. I didn’t really understand and appreciate sports and the sporting community until now. I’ve also learned through this whole situation that a lot of people rely on sports and use sports for various things an example includes pure enjoyment like watching sports and playing sports others rely on it as a job and a way of income however the biggest factor I took away from this is people use sports as a coping method or as an escape. So do those people I really want to put my heart out to you and hang in there because I know sometimes being at home can be difficult and trust me we will get through this. I know this terrible situation can affect everyone differently but we all need to hang in there and in the end it will pay off.
The rest of the DDB members are using their free time very differently, some are using their time baking and trying new recipes others are using this time to find their inner artist and drawing and others are simply sleeping and pampering themselves. I think with this time a lot of people are using it very differently and efficiently. However some of our favourite athletes are sharing what they do in their free time. Lionel Messi shared on his social networks that he is using this time to spend with his family stating he watched movies such as “Pokémon” and “Beauty and the Beast”. He then goes on to also share that he is keeping in shape as well. Stephen Curry also goes on to share that during this hiatus he has taken the time to work on his golf game, setting up various spots around his house to keep him busy. In this time of people being very scared and in a frenzy I think it’s best for everyone to follow the protocol and stay home and social distance and I know that might be difficult especially for athletes but it’s best for everyone.
The virus is causing a lot of things in this world to be canceled or postponed so on behalf of the DDB group we hope everyone stays safe and wash your hands.
By Vanessa Wilson