While most other sports teams here at Guilford College have been put on hold for two weeks, the men’s basketball teams will be pushing forward with their season. 

“The basketball teams are continuing to play because they were already active in their seasons,” Athletic Director Sharon Beverly stated in a recent COVID briefing. “They were not just in a lifting, or light practice stage, but in their season.” 

All other sports have been put on pause after Guilford’s recent spike in positive COVID cases. The campus is taking the necessary precautions to slow the spread, which, unfortunately, included putting the majority of sports teams on pause. 

As announced earlier this week, the women’s basketball team decided not to continue with their season. 

“I think we would’ve done pretty good this season,” said first-year Aanyla Jackson when asked about the cancellation and how it affected her. “However, the late start with COVID really messed up our team chemistry, especially with most of the players being first-years. It sucks we did not have a season, especially since we still don’t know when things might get back to normal. This may be the new norm, which is a really scary thought. Luckily, we still have four years of eligibility.” 

On the other hand, the men’s basketball team is in quarantine during the first week of the two week pause. They are looking for their first full practice back to be Feb. 2. Meanwhile, they are given workouts to complete each day, and they have recently begun online practice sessions, where they go through plays.

When asked how confident they were with the season finishing out due to COVID, sophomore Drew Shaw voiced his concerns about putting hours of practice to waste.

“We are hopeful that we get to finish out our season. Nothing is worse than putting all of those hours of practice, film and the weight room for our season to be stripped from us,” he stated. “You just really hate it for the seniors. They deserve one last year to play for Guilford and have fun doing it.”

The College’s men’s basketball team is also taking the necessary precautions to stay safe during the pandemic.

“COVID restrictions definitely make everything more challenging,” said Shaw. “We try and stay on top of everything so we are cleared to play each day. We know there are certain rules that we have to follow and we hold each other accountable to follow those rules. If this is what it takes to play then that’s what we will do. We are just trying to take it day by day.” 

Although the team has many challenges to face with pandemic-related restrictions and is currently quarantined, they still have high hopes for the upcoming season. The Quakers’ first game is set to take place on Feb. 7 versus Randolph. 

“We have always had a phrase: ‘GID,’” said junior Liam Payne. “It stands for ‘get it done,’ so when we are faced with a COVID related obstacle, we have to think ‘GID’ in order to get past it. I am fully confident in our guys and our system to be successful.”