Winter Athlete’s COVID Struggle Part 2

On November 18, Governor Tim Walz temporarily delayed the winter sports season due to the rapidly rising number of COVID-19 cases. Winter sports are not allowed to resume until Jan. 4, cutting many seasons extremely short.

Despite this, athletes are still finding ways to stay prepared. One of these athletes is ski team member Brynn Mills, 10. Mills has been on the Nordic Ski team for three years. “I really like the team and really just the sport in general,”  Mills said. 

When news about winter sports hit, Mills was upset. “I was really sad when we found out that winter sports might be postponed or might not even happen because it’s one of my favorite parts of the year,” she said. 

Practices and meetings are now over Zoom where athletes are continuing to prepare for a winter season. “I follow a weekly training plan where I run and ski,” Mills said. “[The team does] Zoom workouts three times a week so that we will be ready.”

However, postponing sports creates more struggles than just a change in training. According to Mills, getting motivation has been a hardship for her. “I have to be a lot more self-motivated because of COVID-19. Usually, I would have a team to motivate me,” Mills said. 

Through all the difficulty COVID-19 has brought on, winter athletes have persevered and found a way to continue doing the sports they love. With that, Mills hopes the ski team will be closer to normal next season. “I think that by next year, things will be more or less back to normal for winter sports but we might still have to wear masks,” Mills said.