Elisha Evans Adjusts During Uncertain Times
3/24/2020 11:04:00 AM | Field Hockey, Les Johns
Elisha Evans already misses her hockey stick and her teammates.
While visiting her boyfriend in Texas for spring break, the returning senior midfielder for Jen Averill's Wake Forest field hockey team got the word that classes were moving online and all sporting activities were coming to a halt for the rest of the spring semester.
"Oh, that's really cool," Evans thought at first about the extra week of spring break.
Upon further reflection, Evans knew why the extended break and massive changes were in order.
"Oh, this is obviously terrible," she said. "It makes you reflect on all the lives that will be lost and negatively affected. I didn't think this would happen.
"It surprised me so much, even though I knew how bad it was going in Italy. I never thought it would be something that would affect my own life."
Once Evans mentally processed the information, she had a massive decision to make — try to head home to Oxford, England or stay in Texas. The various travel restrictions led to her decision to stay in America.
"I might not be able to return if school restarts," she said. "It's not too bad here right now with Coronavirus, but it is back home. I wasn't sure what to do. I didn't want to go back home and then not be able to get back to Wake.
"Now that I've settled into the decision, I've been more at ease. What's sad is not being able to be with my team or play field hockey. I feel very grateful. My family reminds me of just how lucky I am for my life at Wake."
The pandemic is also impacting Evans' home in England, where her parents are stressed.
"My dad owns a pub and it's going to have to be closed down," she said. "He's stressed out, but he's working on trying to keep the business afloat and pay all his workers."
Her grandmother lives in Holland, and her mom wanted to go visit her, but is holding off for now.
"They're a little further down the road with the Coronavirus in England than we are here in America, so they're closing down shops," Evans said.
While field hockey is a fall sport, Wake Forest had baseball, golf, tennis, and track and field seasons end prematurely because of the response to the pandemic.
"I feel so bad for all the spring seniors," Evans said. "I can't imagine how angry I'd be if my playing season was taken away from me, especially as a senior.
"I hate not knowing what's happening and knowing when I'll be able to be back playing with my team again. The unknown is quite frightening."
The hockey team was building momentum in spring practices, gearing up for what they believe could be a return to prominence after making the NCAA Final Four in 2018.
"We were getting in a good flow and were playing well," Evans said. "We were getting on the same page and working really hard together. The spring break came at such a good time, because we had worked so hard and kind of needed that week to do our own thing. When we got back we would have been ready to go again. We haven't been back and it's quite sad."
Many members of the team are tracking each other's workout progress while they're apart on an app called WHOOP.
"It's like a FitBit or an Apple Watch," Evans said. "You can sync the data of what you're doing and share it. I can see if my teammates are getting in a workout, and what time. Then I can see if I can do better. That's one way we're working to keep the ball rolling.
"It's totally optional. You can see how hard everyone is working, and that's motivating."
With classes just starting back online, Evans has had a bit of extra time on her hands. She's been able to get in daily morning runs and do some yoga and baking.
"I'm trying to do the social distancing," she said. "I feel like a lot of people still don't believe it's going to get bad. But I want to prevent older people from getting it.
"You don't really get much free time when you're a student athlete. I'm trying to utilize the positives from this time and do some things that I haven't had the time to do. It's different."
She's excited about the prospects of getting back on campus with her teammates and working toward taking a big step forward as a team in 2020.
"I think we can be really great next year," Evans said. "We have some incredible freshmen coming in. When I come back, I'm going to work even harder. We're so lucky to be in such a great environment where the coaches really care about us. It's people first. I just really want to play right now, and I don't even have my hockey stick with me."
