Student athletes around Calgary hoping for a return to play

Calgary, AB, Canada / RTBN

Brody Ratcliffe

Jan 28, 2021 5:02 PM

As the province’s case counts seems to be going down restrictions are started to be lifted again. Last week we saw gyms reopen along with personal services. But schools have not opened up their gyms to athletes.

“Weekends off…”

Last semester, Jackson Brennan and the rest of the MRU men’s volleyball team were still preparing for the season to kick off again. Multiple plans were created trying to get the players back on the court. Brennan says they were still quite busy. “We were still going five days a week in the first semester. We usually had the weekends off because we would normally have games and be traveling so it was nice to have them off but still getting in the reps.”

Brennan touched on some of the plans they had to get the season flowing again. Originally the play was too cancel the flight league. Meaning any games they would’ve had that they needed to fly for would have been cancelled but games where they could travel to via bus still had the green light. With case numbers rising at the time the whole plan was thrown out. Back to square one.

The team usually has weekly meeting were their coaches will let them know of any new developments the the season along with weekly training schedules provided by the teams trainers.

Unfortunately this unusual season has also brought some heartbreak to athlete’s.

“Back to back…”

Last year saw the University of Calgary become National Champions in football as the Dino’s beat the Rouge 27-13. For Salim Fraser, a defensive lineman for the Dino’s this season has taken amazing opportunities from him. Fraser says he had a lot to look forward too. “We were really thinking we could go back to back, I was having a really good offseason and it was my East-West bowl year so I was hoping for an invite to that.”

Fraser says he still has hope though. The league gave every player an extra year of eligibility so for guys thinking this was there last kick at the can, the hope is still there. He also commented that it was important for him to stay in the same mindset as every other season. To work hard and continue to balance both school and athletics.

There is no word yet on when the season for both teams will return. The Dino’s are slated to start training again sometime this month and the cougars are also looking to step back on the court in the next couple of weeks.