Featured image by: Darvin Nelson

The UNF beach volleyball team played just three tournaments before COVID-19 became a pandemic.

Student-athletes are trying to find ways to stay active during this social distancing period whether it’s running or weight training.

For Callie Workman, activities include roller skating, ping pong and lounging by a kiddie pool with her teammates. 

“We went out and bought roller skates two weeks after we found out the season was cancelled,” Workman said. “We have a ping pong table and just bought a kiddie pool so we try to find different activities to stay active along with the workouts that (UNF Head Strength and Conditioning Coach) Bert gives us.”

Although Workman is in Jacksonville, her hometown of Tallahassee was given a curfew of 11:00 p.m. due to the impact of COVID-19. 

“Grocery shopping is hard because the shelves are completely empty,” Workman said. “Tallahassee isn’t really a big town so people find different ways to entertain themselves but it’s affecting us everywhere.”

According to Workman, the biggest struggle for a student-athlete right now during social distancing is staying active. 

“Repeating the same things gets boring, especially for us,” Workman said. “We don’t have any weights here so we’re doing a lot of body weight stuff so finding different ways to stay active is key.”

With mostly every member being back home, the team has a Zoom video meeting every week and to spice it up, they’ve even had talent shows. 

“Our coach hosted it and we’d swipe through to see who was doing each talent,” Workman said. “It’s like a family, we talk every day, check up on each other and make sure everyone is doing great.”

Some notable talents in the Zoom meeting were Dana Roskic teaching her cat to shake along with Antonia Harrison and Lauren Galinis performing the classic Napoleon Dynamite dance to Canned Heat by Jamiroquai. 

The team has even made a TikTok video where they recreated the Full House intro but each member had their own unique niche whether it was vacuuming a parking lot or hiding in a freezer. 

In times like these, people are more alike than ever in this social distancing period. 

For example, Workman is working on her third time watching Tiger King with her teammates.

__

For more information or news tips, or if you see an error in this story or have any compliments or concerns, contact editor@unfspinnaker.com.