SASPD’s Varsity Cross-Country (XC) team has recently finished an unconventional athletic season. Coaches and students reflect on the highs and lows of the experience, given the context in which it occurred, and how it has differed from past years.
Novel Coronavirus, Novel Challenges
Life in China has taken on some semblance of normalcy as the pandemic recedes, but Varsity sports stands among those areas of life that have yet to shed their metaphorical (if not literal) mask. This year, the athletes of the XC team experienced a radically transformed Season 1 as travel restrictions, still largely in place, prevented intercity meets and tournaments from taking place – at least, the way they used to.
Novel Solutions and Successes
Unique among the Season 1 activities, the XC team continued to compete virtually with other schools, with runs taking place separately in each school’s facilities. In most cases the team timed itself as they ran a course in the Links, with the coaches then submitting times to the organizing schools. The meet organized by ISB (Bangkok) bucked this trend by instituting stricter accountability measures which required teams at each school to film themselves running around a track.
Through these difficult times, the team achieved great success throughout the season’s competitions – which included meets organized by TAS, ISB (Bangkok), Shanghai Cup, APAC, and Moscow. This culminated in a 2nd place finish for the boys and a 5th place finish for the girls at the final “virtual race” of the season, which took place between the APAC schools.
The Team Reflects
Unsurprisingly, attitudes towards the virtual format vary within the team.
“In a virtual meet, it feels like you’re only timing yourself rather than actually competing.”
Dan Tong ’22
When asked to comment on the ISB meet, third-year team member Dan Tong ’22 expressed, with a fair amount of disappointment, that “in a virtual meet, it feels like you’re only timing yourself rather than actually competing” and, consequently, that “it feels like a trial rather than an actual meet, because [it] is missing the most essential part of a meet: the part where the competition occurs”. Dan maintained a high level of performance throughout the season, and achieved a third-place individual boys’ ranking at the final APAC schools’ meet.
“Whenever we passed each other, we would encourage one another telling them to keep up the good work.”
Ashley Lee ’23
Meanwhile, Ashley Lee ’23, a first-year team member, spoke positively of how the team “was greatly bonded” and members were committed “to help one another to become a better athlete [sic.]”. She had particularly positive feelings about the ISB meet despite its more stringent rules, describing how the fact that team members could “see each other run on the track at all times” allowed them to “encourage one another” and “[tell] them to keep up the good work” while passing each other. Ashley said that the competitions gave her a chance to experience “a better sense of cooperation within our team”, and she is hopeful that “next year will be just as memorable”. However, since she only joined the team this year and “[hasn’t] yet experienced a traditional meet”, she admitted she does “not know much of how much of a difference [sic.] this year is compared to the previous ones”.
“The competition was much lower…and I think my times really suffered from that. This being said, I think that it was incredible that we even got to race, considering the state of the world.”
Celia Garcia ’21
As fourth-year team member Celia Garcia ’21 looked back on the whole season, she trod somewhat of a middle path between these two views. While she noticed “the [sense of] competition was much lower, seen [sic.] as you couldn’t physically see your opponent”, and thought “my times really suffered from that”, she also believed “that it was incredible that we even got to race, considering the state of the world”. She also appreciates how the continued competitions “did bring an element of motivation into our practices, as beating other schools was something that we could work towards”. To sum up the season as whole, she gave a brief and positive verdict: “a bit more relaxed than other years, but still just as fun”.
“Our XC Eagles made SAS PD proud by their determination and perseverance despite circumstances this season.”
Ms. G
Coach Ms. G also weighed in on the ups and downs of the season. First and foremost, she expressed (happy) surprise that the season “[turned] out to be better than we expected”, adding that “excitement started when we found out we were the only sport that could compete virtually this season”. She commended the team for “[taking] it upon themselves” to “[practice] outside school and [keep] each other motivated” even as scheduling restrictions limited practices to twice a week, and for “trying to beat their [personal benefit] by motivating each other”; as she sees it, this “all paid out during their final meet” – a sentiment seemingly matched by the accolades they won. In addition to her fellow coaches and the team itself, she expressed immense gratitude towards “our Athletic dept and PD communication for all their support”. Looking back at the season at a whole, she believed that “our XC Eagles made SAS PD proud by their determination and perseverance despite circumstances this season”, a comment she accentuated with an enthusiastic declaration of “Go Eagles!”