School is out. Student athletes head to the field, or to locker rooms, starting their second part of their day. But school is out for the rest of the year. The spring season is also paused. Where does that leave Jefferson’s student athletes? 

“It’s really hard to stay motivated. I really liked working out with friends because it’s a really great social aspect,” freshman Emma Cox said. 

Some sports, including the Jefferson Boys and Girls Wrestling teams and Girls Basketball team, are offering live sport specific conditioning and workouts throughout the break. The workouts are offered through Zoom calls, and designed to require minimal equipment.

“Over the call, Coach Phillips pulled cards from a deck and we had to do whatever number was on the cards. If he pulled a ten, we would do ten pushups, and this was repeated a lot,” Cox said.

Other sports have given suggested workouts for students to do on their own. 

Track posts daily workouts on their Facebook groups, but due to social distancing, many athletes no longer have a place to run. 

“I was pretty new to track just to begin with, since I just joined senior year to get fit. I wanted to carry that over coronacation, so I tried to keep a routine. After the coronavirus got more serious, I ended up just running neighborhood paths that were less traveled,” senior Jessica Chen said.

Other students are using home workouts to keep in shape, even if they are not directly related to their sport. Many are using YouTube home workouts that allow them to keep in shape with minimal equipment. 

“I would say it’s definitely a lot harder because I’m not as motivated as I am when I work out with teammates. It’s a lot harder to push myself,” freshman Simar Narula said.

The key to keeping in shape? Jefferson’s athletes’ self-motivation.

“Thinking about my end goal and just pushing myself harder – I want to be better,” Narula said.

Through the difficulties, Jefferson’s athletes are showing how self-disciplined they can be, as well as how committed they are to their health and their sport. 

“I feel like it really shows that they care about their bodies and about staying conditioned,” Cox said. “Even though the pandemic might have cancelled all our sports, we’ll just come back stronger next season.”