The coronavirus pandemic has closed Indiana schools until at least May 1, and as a result, spring sports won’t be able to start until the following week.
In the meantime, teams have been unable to practice, and athletes have lost access to school facilities, including gyms, fields and weight rooms.
With Bartholomew County schools currently scheduled to return on May 4, many spring sports athletes are finding ways to work out on their own in the event they do get to play an abbreviated season.
“In my garage, my dad and I have dumbbells and weights and cardio, and we have an elliptical and a bench,” Columbus North senior pitcher and Indiana University baseball recruit Casper Clark said. “I also do some running. Other than that, I do my throwing routine into a wooden mattress hooked up to a wall, just whatever I can do to get my work in.”
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Columbus East senior catcher Dalton Back, a Miami (Ohio) recruit, has been doing workouts through an app called TrainHeroic that is being used by East strength coach Scott Pherson. With the app, athletes can do air squats, lunges, push-ups, athletic movements, planks and other core work.
“As far as lifting and staying in shape, our weights coach has done a really good job of giving us workouts to do,” said Back, who helped lead the Olympians, who are ranked No. 3 in the Class 4A preseason poll to a state runner-up finish last season. “He’s doing the workouts himself, too, so I have a really good role model as far as that goes.”
Back also has a barbell and mini-weights rack at his house. To keep his hitting sharp, he visits former East and Franklin College standout Sam Claycamp, whose family has an indoor batting cage attached to their barn.
“I do a lot of tee work because that’s where you can control most of the things,” Back said. “We’ll hit off the tee and then do front toss. I’ve also gotten together with a couple (East) pitchers here and there and worked on flat-ground bullpen sessions. We’ve been trying to keep the fundamentals of the game because normally, we’d be going every day by now.”
North senior shortstop Sierra Norman has been doing body weight workouts, including a two-week shredder workout for abs. She’s also been hitting into a bow net in her yard, off soft toss or a tee, and has been throwing the softball with her sister Lucy, a sophomore outfielder for the Bull Dogs, who won a sectional title last year.
“I’ve just been trying to stay active really every day,” said Sierra Norman, a Marian University recruit. “My sisters and I play volleyball outside, and me and Lucy throw.”
East senior high jumper and Bellarmine track and field recruit Elena Stoughton is hoping to return to state after making it as a sophomore. But she has had to do more running than high jumping.
“It’s been kind of hard with nowhere to go, but right by my house, they have a running trail, so I’ve been running on that,” Stoughton said. “It’s kind of hard to do anything like (high jumping) without a pit. I feel like it will be more difficult since we haven’t had a full season, but it will be the same for everyone.”
Meanwhile, Back is working on the mental side of baseball. He currently is reading “Heads-Up Baseball 2.0” by the late Ken Ravizza, a sports psychologist who worked with Evan Longoria when Longoria came into the major leagues.
“The biggest thing I’m trying to do right now baseball-wise is, I’m doing a lot of reading to improve mental-wise,” Back said. “I can control that part.”
Sierra Norman and fellow senior captain Brooke Bruin are trying to keep the North softball team on the same page since coaches aren’t permitted to direct workouts or practices during the shutdown.
“We’re trying to stay apart, but also stay together, so we’re doing online zoom meetings,” Sierra Norman said. “We’re trying to to that to stay connected because we’re really not supposed to be together.”
The Bull Dog baseball team, which is ranked No. 7 in 4A in the preseason, also is trying to stay sharp.
“We encourage each other,” Clark said. “We have a group chat that we keep up with each other so that we make sure we’re working out so we’re ready to go when it comes time for it.”
