Due to the consequences of the Coronavirus pandemic, a variety of clubs, organizations and sports teams have the remainder of their school year activities and seasons put on pause—some even ended. As a result, students are now filled with clouds of uncertainty with some questioning the future or preparations of the next season. However, despite being in quarantine, the Bonita Vista High (BVH) Girls’ Basketball team remains productive by performing workouts on a daily basis. 

“Our coach has given us a weekly schedule to go by where he provides different workouts to do. So we continue to stay productive and improve on our game despite the circumstances that we are currently in. We also have a Zoom call every Wednesday which allows us to stay connected as a team and continue to be informed on anything new for the upcoming season,” junior and BVH Girls’ Varsity Basketball Captain Isabel Rector said. 

According to junior and BVH Girls’ Varsity Basketball Captain Julia Cosalan, the reason why their coach decided to encourage these workouts was to ensure that the team players stay fit and prepared when the next season starts. 

“This started about a month ago. My coach understood the situation and wanted to make sure that all of the returning players would be in shape for the season ahead of us,” Cosalan said. “I was thinking that it isn’t ideal, being unable to practice for our offseason with my coach and the other girls. However, this creates an opportunity for all of us to get stronger independently and to focus on what we need to improve on as individuals.”

Sophomore and Varsity Guard Halle Smith reaffirmed Cosalan and their coach’s hopes and goals in regards to implementing these weekly workouts into the students’ daily routines. One of the team’s main goals is to improve and keep on moving forward despite the lockdown. 

“Around this time, our offseason has started and we are playing games and going to tournaments. Since we are unable to practice or play, our coach has planned out workouts to do at home in order to stay in shape,” Smith said. “Additionally, our goal during the offseason is to always be better and move forward. These at-home workouts help us to do that.”

Agendas on their weekly Zoom meetings include participating in well-being checks and the assigning of weekly schedules with various workout routines in order to stay active and healthy by their coach. Moreover, a way to keep track of students’ progress has been implemented by their coach, so they are all held accountable for doing the assigned workouts. 

“So, what we do is we submit a video of doing these at-home workouts in a folder that the coaches can see. The coaches will know who has and hasn’t been sending their workouts,” Smith said.

Being in quarantine also poses a few challenges for the players on the basketball team. The stay-at-home order hinders the team players from working together and developing skills necessary to do well in the upcoming season. 

“The most challenging thing, I believe, is not being able to practice as a group which is very important because that’s how we build that chemistry that allows us to win games. But it’s also a positive because now we are able to work on ourselves as individual players,” Rector said. 

In spite of the problems that members of the basketball team face due to not being able to physically interact with one another, Cosalan is thankful for their Zoom meetings because it allows them to virtually stay in touch with one another and be on the same page for upcoming chapters ahead of their team. 

“We all stay in touch and remind each other to work out because we all know we have a very exciting and hard season ahead,” Cosalan said. “Staying in touch with each other ensures that we are all safe and healthy and so that we can all be on the same page mentally about the goals we are trying to achieve.”

Along with Cosalan, Rector and Smith, other varsity members of the team include freshmen Madison Conan and Kaylyn Buchanon, who all have expressed that they believe it’s important to stay productive during quarantine. Regardless of the negative effects caused by the worldwide pandemic, players from the girls’ basketball team are hopeful for better times and determined to come back better than ever. 

“Staying productive is important because it’s so easy just to lay around, especially in times like these. I believe it also benefits us mentally because we’re actually engaging in physical activity and not being lazy and stuck in our house,” Rector said. “Our main goal after this quarantine is to come back stronger than ever, work hard, and hopefully win a CIF [California Interscholastic Federation] Championship.”