Latest / RiseUp - Live Joy Your Way / Ep. 6 – Student Athletics and the Pandemic

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Ep. 6 – Student Athletics and the Pandemic · RiseUp - Live Joy Your Way

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Today's episode is produced by my friends at Walk West.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_02: If you're looking to grow your brand and generate leads through podcast or video production, head over to walkwest.com.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, let's start the show.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Rise Up.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Live Joy Your Way with Comedy Wood.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to step into your power.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_02: Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of Rise Up, Live Joy Your Way.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm excited because I once again have wrangled one of my children into joining me for a show.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: So one of the things that this pandemic has provided us is for a lot of time in our house, and all of our activities have been canceled.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: So one of the things that I've been able to do is convince them to join me on my podcast.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I really wanted to have my 16-year-old son join us because he is an example of a student athlete, somebody who's been managing high school and competitive sports.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_02: In his case, it's lacrosse.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I really wanted to just slow down and get a look into how a teenager who, you know, had a very busy schedule, was managing school, managing sports, had social life, was doing all these things, and all of a sudden this pandemic hits and all those things just disappeared.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_02: And I feel that it's really important to talk about this because there is so much uncertainty going on right now.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_02: We don't really know what's happening on a day-to-day basis.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_02: We hear certain things from our leaders.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um the school leaders are also trying to figure out how long the kids are going to be doing virtual learning, if they're even going to be able to come back this year.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_02: And then, of course, you take into account the student athletes who did have their season um sort of abruptly ending.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_02: And for instance, in my son's case, uh he's got a full summer schedule that was planned and packed with different lacrosse events because he does have the um goal to play in college.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: And so there's this unknown that's happening right now.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I know that I've heard in my own circles with different adults, you know, we're talking about those anxieties and those worries, but I don't really know that people are slowing down enough to recognize that our children and our teens are facing as much uncertainty as we are, and they are suddenly put in this world of virtual learning, and um they're trying to manage it.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: And if we don't give them that space to really um, you know, sort of process through the emotions that they're having, they get left unchecked, they get left just sitting there, and eventually they're they're going to that stress and that anxiety is gonna overtake them.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: So anyway, I wanted to bring my son on because I do think that he is a great example of um a teenager who was very well-rounded, who was um, you know, uh very academically inclined, but then also very inclined with his activities outside of the classroom.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I just wanted to sort of bring this to the forefront so that we could understand from a teen's perspective about what's going on.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_02: So, without any further ado, I would like to welcome my son Coven to the show.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Hello.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_02: Hi, Coven.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for being on the show.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: So what I wanted to really start off with is can you sort of take us through what it's been like for you from an academic perspective of going from being in class to suddenly being in this world of virtual learning?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's been a tough transition from the classroom to now learning everything virtually because every teacher's different, so some of my classes I'll have to do a video call, versus some of my classes I'm just supposed to get a list of work done, and some of my teachers just email me a list of work for the entire week and I can complete it whenever I want to.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_01: So ever every teacher is treating this differently, and so it's making it tough to kind of, you know, pick which assignments I'm gonna complete first.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's getting kind of tough to stay focused in class because, you know, I'm not actually at school and I'm not actually in the classroom and I'm not learning in an interactive sort of way.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm more just kind I feel like I'm kind of doing just busy work and it's been tough, you know, being virtual just because I'm not actually there to sort of learn it in the classroom.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I feel like that was something I took for granted before this pandemic.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like I used to think that I didn't really like going to school because of all the tough work that I had to do there, but now with this pandemic I realized how much I actually miss actually going to school and actually learning all the material through the classroom.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_02: So it's interesting because it's almost as if yes, it's caused a little bit of stress and anxiety, but when you are able to process through it, you're able to also start to see some of the um gifts that you had prior to the pandemic.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean I used to complain all the time about how tough school was and how I hated silly little projects that I used to do, but now I kind of miss that stuff.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like I'm not able to do group projects with my friends, I'm not able to do labs with my friends, I'm not able to interact with my friends in between classes just for as little as five minutes, and I kind of miss that aspect of school as well.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so talk about that for a little bit, about just the stressors that are put on you from a social perspective.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, given the fact that in North Carolina where we are, we're on lockdown, so we can't we're not supposed to leave our house unless it's, you know, to go to the grocery store or to the to a doctor's appointment.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_02: So what has that been like from your perspective and you know, that teen perspective on just not being able to have that social outlet?
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: It's been tough.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've definitely stayed in touch with my friends uh on the phone through the Xbox gaming, stuff like that, but it's been it's been tough.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't really think about it until now and how how much I really appreciated that social aspect of my life, even if it wasn't perfect, and even if my friends and myself were like in a fight or something like that, I just missed all of it.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_01: And I just I can't I can't get it back, if that makes sense.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Like high school, you get four years with these people, and like I'm not be gonna be able to get this time back, so that's been tough to sort of realize.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so then that kind of takes us and leads us into the you know the the sport aspect of it.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I know um being the cross parent um and being um one of the volunteers for the the sport or for this the the team, there was a lot of playing that went into the season, and you all had had your first game, and then you had an entire training camp that you all went through, and then suddenly boom, the season kind of was end just ended.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: And so what has that been like from you know that emotional um mental perspective, as well as just again, routine?
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: How has that sort of shifted for you?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's been the toughest part, honestly.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I prepared for this spring season basically my entire fall and my entire winter.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like I put so much time in the weight room, so much time just shooting on my own.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: I even we didn't have a goalie in the fall, and I went and then I asked one of my good friends, like, can you play goalie?
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: And of course he'd never played lacrosse before, he'd never played goalie before, but he agreed to do it, and so immediately I started training him.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: I trained him basically the entire fall and the entire winter, and by the spring season he was just starting to get good.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: And that was kinda that kind of represented the whole team for us.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, you taught you touched on that training camp we had where we just kinda it w we we were on a break for school for a week.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: It was our spring break, and instead of spending that break, you know, traveling and stuff like that, we as a team decided to spend that break, you know, getting together and putting work in through uh weight training, speed and agility training, and then practices.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_01: And after that week I felt like we were in a really good place for this season.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_01: I felt like we were we had just uh started to show like how much potential we had to you know have a really good season, and uh it was tough that this abruptly ended because I honestly feel like we were just getting started.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, going from a one-win season a year ago, we win our first game, we get through a tough training camp, and I I'm feeling like we're ready to start to make some noise, and all of a sudden the season is ended by something we can't control.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's one thing to get injured or something like that, but this is completely different.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've never seen the world just stop like it is right now.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, you and in us adults too.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, you and I have had conversations about this where I've looked at you and said, Coven, I mean, I I don't know.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I actually don't know.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: I have no answers, I have no idea how long this is gonna last.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_02: And so, I mean, even in our conversations, and while I would never divulge our personal conversations as mom and son to the world at large, but you and I have talked about the fact that sometimes there are things that happen in life that we don't have control over, but we have to slow it down and to find the things that we do have control over in order to figure out what our next best step is.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: And I know that I say that as a parent, um, and yes, I do work with teens and I coach them and and I and I work with them on building that resilience factor and and building their confidence and self-esteem and also just learning to really identify with who they are rather than living to those external validations and expectations.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: But when I when you and I have talked about it, you know, I know at first it was kind of like, oh mom, you're just being mom, but I think after a while it started to resonate with you about how, okay, I can't control the situation, and yes, the virtual learning is tough, but would you say that you're starting to get to that point where it's like you're you're recognizing the things that you can control?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: And has that been helpful, or what have you done if it's not that?
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: What has helped so I used to have a coach on my travel team when I was younger, and he used to tell us this funny little saying, and it never really made sense to me until now, but he used to say uh to us to control the controllable.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_01: And uh what that meant for lacrosse was control your effort, your attitude when you step on the field and just how much of a good teammate you're gonna be for that game.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Because those are things you can't control.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: You can't control if the ball hits the pipe, you can't control if the ball bounces a funny way.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: You can't control the refs that game, you can't control uh anything like that.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: So now I've been realizing like I can't control this global pandemic ruining my lacrosse season, you know, taking me away from school, taking me away from my social life.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_01: But I can control, you know, the effort I'm gonna give in this time away from my friends, away from school and away from lacrosse.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: The effort I'm gonna give towards all of that.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, getting up in the morning and going and shooting, that's something I need to start doing because that is something I can control.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_01: Making sure I get all my assignments done, so that sounds like a simple task, but you know, when you're learning virtually and you're not actually in class, you don't feel a need to do assignments on time.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: You don't really feel a need to complete tasks, but you know, you can control that.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: So control it.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what I'm learning I'm gonna have to do for a while now because of this global pandemic.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I think you talked about it earlier too, about how you you're starting to see these little gifts that you took for granted before, and it gives you pause because now you get to you get to have the gratitude, right?
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: You get to actually have gratitude for the things that you had before.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um so just you know in as we kind of are wrapping this up, what would you say to other teens who are kind of stressed or overwhelmed with the situation that they're facing with, or just the anxiety with that comes with the uncertainty of all of this?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_02: What's what's your sort of take and advice?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I guess the best thing you could do during something like this is just remember that everyone's going through this.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's not like a special thing to yourself, and it it of course is gonna feel that way because at this time you can't really put yourself in anyone else's shoes.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: You only really know what you're going through through this pandemic.
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: But I mean, just remembering that everyone right now is going through this and at some point it's all gonna be better.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's the that's the only thing that's gonna be able to keep you going.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_01: Because eventually it will be better.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: It could be at the end of April, at the end of May, who knows?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: But at some point everything's gonna be better and it'll start to get back to normal.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's so well said.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's really it's it's a practice of self-compassion, right?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: It's recognizing that you're not alone, that there are other people, it's like the it's the world, the common humanity of all of us going through this, and that it's okay to ask for help and support.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, if your teen is struggling or you're a young adult listening to this and you're like, you know what, I could use some support, it's not a weakness to ask for it.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's not a weakness to uh voice what it is that you're feeling and what it is that you're needing.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so on that note, if anybody would like to reach out to me and would like additional support or just wants to talk, feel free to email me at contact at itme.com or visit me on the web at www.itsauthenticme.com.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: And until next time, I'm Comedy Wood.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening to Rise Up.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Always remember your uniqueness and the gift that you bring to this world.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Life happens for you, not to you.