Take Me Back To 30 Days Ago: A Reflection On The Whirlwind Month That Was

By Marisa Lombardo (Assistant SID)

3/30/2020 2:38:00 PM

Take me back to 30 days ago.

30 days ago, I was down in Florida with our softball team on spring break. We were coming off an opening day sweep, including an extra inning win over an NCAA tournament qualifying team in the College of Saint Benedict.

If you would have told me 30 days ago that in a month I’d be working from home, our campus would be vacated, and the sports world would be on an indefinite hold I would have never in a million years believed you.

Since that day, it seems everything has changed.

Junior catcher Alyssa Acker and senior pitcher Riley Shields celebrate after defeating the College of Saint Benedict in extra innings

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Alvernia’s Assistant Director of Sports Information. I help run all communication aspects of the department, including social media and writing. I also assist in game management and staffing. In the spring, I’m also an assistant softball coach.

I work long days and weekends, and I spend more time with my coworkers, student athletes, and student workers than I do with my own family.

In short, my life is pretty crazy. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I came into the office the Monday after spring break and eased back into my normal routine, including making the schedule for our student work staff. It was an unusually light week – just one home game on Wednesday before a couple of games on Saturday. I was also told I’d be heading out to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to cover two of our wrestlers for the Division III National Championship. I, along with athletic trainer Gary Robinson, would fly out on Thursday.

On Tuesday we heard of just a couple of school closures in response to COVID-19, but they seemed like the outliers, not what would become the normal.

Senior Bridget Reynolds (who is also a member of our student staff) gets set for the opening draw against Wilkes

Then Wednesday hit, and things started changing. A few schools in the MAC were starting to suspend seasons or cancel them all together. Other schools were telling their students to pack their bags and head home. All of this was happening as our women’s lacrosse team was hosting Wilkes in a non-conference game.

During the game, an email went out to the campus stating what Alvernia’s plan was. In order to keep my students who were working the game from being too distracted, I read them the message. In short, we were going to wait for Berks County to get its first case of COVID-19 before we put any drastic measures into motion.

Everyone in the press box seemed to like the plan, after all, why jump if we didn’t have a reason to yet?

The game ended, a nice 17-5 win for Alvernia, and I was in a hurry to get out – a move that, in hindsight, I now regret. I said quick goodbyes – like the kind you say when you think you are going to see them in a few days – to my students. I didn’t congratulate our players or coaches on a great win. I wanted to get down to softball practice and wish them good luck for the doubleheader I was going to be missing because of wrestling, and I wanted to get home to pack.

21 hours. 1,260 minutes. 75,600 seconds. That’s all it took for everything to change.

Gary and I left for Iowa at 5:45 AM on Thursday. We had just been in an airport five days earlier with softball, but it seemed different now. We boarded a noticeably empty flight (like row to yourself empty) to Chicago at 8:30 AM. At the time, things back at school were still normal. We were still following the plan that went out the evening prior.

When we landed in Chicago at 10:15 AM local time, my phone blew up. Through the chaos of emails, one popped up that said the Athletics Department was having an emergency meeting at 11:00 AM (10:00 AM Chicago time). As the plane pulled up to the gate, I hopped on the call to hear that all MAC schools were suspending games for two weeks, effective Monday, March 16th.

It was a blow, but at least our athletes still had their weekend games they could play. They could savor the moments, just in case that would be it.

After a connecting flight from Chicago to Cedar Rapids, Gary and I arrived at the arena to meet up with our wrestlers and coaching staff at about 3:00 PM. I shot a quick photo of Tonee and Palmer for a feature story I was planning on finishing up and posting that evening.

45 minutes after arriving at the arena, as I was putting the camera away and getting ready to leave the arena for our hotel, my phone started going off. I was getting texts saying the NCAA had just cancelled all winter and spring championships, and people wanted to know if that meant wrestling too. But we didn’t think that meant us. Just ten minutes earlier Head Coach Kriss Bellanca had left the coaches’ meeting where they were told it was a full go. Surely things couldn’t have changed that much in ten minutes, so we started to walk out of the arena to head back to the hotel to prepare for competition the next day.

Palmer Rodenhaber and Tonee Ellis pose for a photo just moments before it was announced the Championship was cancelled

Seasons ended - some of them before they even started – as 'what could have been.'

We were mid-conversation with each other at the exit when I heard a voice come over the public address system. I stopped dead in my tracks as I heard the voice say “cancelled.” We went running back into the arena where the voice repeated himself, “In accordance with the NCAA Resolution to cancel all winter and spring championships, the Division III National Wrestling Championship is cancelled.”

The magnitude of the moment hit me as I called my boss, Jon King, to let him know what was going on. I could feel my voice shake as I held back tears, fully realizing that not only did these two great wrestlers, as well as every wrestler in that building, not get to compete on the biggest stage, but also because all of our spring athletes’ and their seasons just came to a sudden and grinding halt.

Seasons ended - some of them before they even started – as “what could have been.”

Gary and I made nearly a split-second decision that we were going to try and get back home that night. We couldn’t get through to the airline on the phone as a voice told us the wait time for a representative was four-five hours. So, we drove right to the airport hoping someone at the airline counter could help us. By some miracle, we got the last two seats on a flight to Chicago and, after a delay at O’Hare, were able to get back to Philly from there.

While we were boarding the plane in Iowa, another update from campus went out saying Alvernia was moving to online learning until April 14th and students were encouraged to go home.

We arrived back at Alvernia at 2:00 AM – 21 hours after we had left.

21 hours. 1,260 minutes. 75,600 seconds. That’s all it took for everything to change.

Back on campus on Friday, I got to say goodbye to a handful of students – ending each goodbye with the promise that I would see them again on April 14th.

We know now that won’t be the case.

I grieve for and with the seniors, both athletes and not, who didn’t know their lasts were there lasts. This isn’t how things are supposed to end.

So – take me back to 30 days ago.

Because, knowing what I know now, there would be so much I would do differently.

Senior student workers Megan Morris (left), Abby O'Donnell (right), and I

I would really savor softball’s last win of spring break. I would tell the seniors on the team to take in the moment because they would never play the game they love again.

I would take in Women’s Lacrosse’s win over Wilkes instead of rushing through the motions to get out of there. I would stop and congratulate the team and the coaches on a great win. I would congratulate the seniors on great careers, many of whom took off their fourth year to focus on academics.

I would give my student workers the goodbye and thank you they deserve, because without them, we can’t do what we do.

I would savor every moment that is the chaos of working in Division III Athletics

30 days after being in Florida, I’m sheltering in place at home. Instead of the occasional student popping into my office for a quick distraction, my Australian Shepherd pops into my bedroom/office for a head pat. There are no late nights and weekends anymore, and the last “sport” I watched was stone skipping on ESPN The Ocho.

I get it’s what needs to be done, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

So, take the time to grieve now – you are more than allowed to. But, when we return to campus in August, I hope everyone, myself included, doesn’t take any of this for granted. Because you never know when it could all be taken away.

My Australian Shepherd, Phoenix

But, when we return to campus in August, I hope everyone, myself included, doesn’t take any of this for granted. Because you never know when it could all be taken away.

-Golden Wolves-

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