University of Delaware Athletics
How Delaware Coaches Are Adapting To Their New Normal
4/2/2020 11:33:00 AM | Delaware Athletics
With the writing on the wall that the season was about to change dramatically, Delaware women's lacrosse moved quickly. On Thursday, March 12, the day that Delaware suspended all spring sports competitions (schools across the NCAA shortly moved to cancel the spring season entirely) and the day the Blue Hens were supposed to host Louisville, the women's lacrosse program held an impromptu senior day.
"The girls decorated the locker room within like a 30-minute notice, which was awesome, and the seniors came in, we presented them with their framed jerseys and started a new tradition for our program," head coach Amy Altig said. "So it was a nice moment in spite of a delivery of bad news."
Like so many aspects of life, the sports world has been turned upside down by the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by a novel coronavirus. But despite the heartbreak of having a season cancelled, Delaware student-athletes and coaches have been finding ways to adapt and make the best of their new normal.
While they can't be together in person, Delaware teams have still been staying connected with each other. Just like many workers and classrooms across America, the Blue Hens have been utilizing Zoom to have team meetings over video conference, in addition to keeping in touch via texts, GroupMe and social media.
"Coach [Danny] Rocco's doing a great job communicating with us as a staff, and offensively and defensively, we're doing a great job communicating together," Delaware football defensive coordinator Manny Rojas said. "Now we have the opportunity to communicate better with our players. I think this whole situation has given us the opportunity to really communicate better through text messages, emails, phone calls, Zoom meetings, all that stuff."
The football program, which had started spring practice when everything was cancelled, has already worked out a rhythm for meetings: the coaching staff gets together on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, while the coaches meet with the student-athletes on Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday. Sunday is reserved for virtual team activities.
For some teams, that connectedness is a way to get their attention away from lost competition.
"We have not been focusing on hockey," Delaware field hockey head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof said. "It really helps for us to create a platform in our Zoom meetings with them to talk about how they feel, talk a little bit more about mental health, just any updates."
Technology has also enabled the different Blue Hens programs to continue to get better. For football, the spring is a time to install new offensive and defensive concepts. And while the Hens can't play through those new concepts, they can still watch film and receive detailed instruction from coaches. For offensive coordinator Jared Ambrose, this time is also an opportunity to delve deep into film.
"Being so film heavy, it's kind of a cool thing. You get to sit there and watch things in their entirety," Ambrose said. "I think that's the theme, to take everything in this situation and make it a positive."
Elsewhere, field hockey is taking advantage of the International Hockey Federation releasing video Olympic qualifying matches for their film study, while men's lacrosse is watching film on each of the opponents they were scheduled to play as they would if they were prepping to play them. The softball coaches have been giving their players quizzes on obscure rules to boost their Blue Hens' softball IQ. Delaware's strength and conditioning staff has been working with all the Blue Hens to tailor workouts to what each student-athlete has available to them.
Delaware coaches and student-athletes have also been finding interesting ways to pass the time while social distancing. In addition to showing off their stick skills members of Delaware field hockey have been learning a new language. Softball head coach Jen Steele adopted a black golden doodle puppy, while football head coach Danny Rocco has been spending time with his St. Bernard and working around his eight acres of farmland. Volleyball head coach Sara Matthews has been cooking new recipes with her husband.
The coaches have also been able to spend more quality time with their families than they would have during a normal spring. Altig has been chasing around her one-year old daughter, while Rojas has enjoyed playing Xbox with his daughter.
Everywhere, Blue Hens are making the most of a difficult situation. Possibly the best perspective came from Ambrose, whose wife Ashley works in the health care field, and has been watching his kids and helping with fractions while she goes to work.
"She's trying to help, cure, take care of people during the worst medical pandemic that's ever happened in our life. She comes home every day with a smile on her face, maybe a little more tired than normal. She's amazing," Ambrose said. "When my kids are all grown up, they're probably going to think about that time in 2020 when 'I got to spend a lot of time with my dad and he got to teach me a lot of stuff.'"
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"The girls decorated the locker room within like a 30-minute notice, which was awesome, and the seniors came in, we presented them with their framed jerseys and started a new tradition for our program," head coach Amy Altig said. "So it was a nice moment in spite of a delivery of bad news."
Like so many aspects of life, the sports world has been turned upside down by the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by a novel coronavirus. But despite the heartbreak of having a season cancelled, Delaware student-athletes and coaches have been finding ways to adapt and make the best of their new normal.
While they can't be together in person, Delaware teams have still been staying connected with each other. Just like many workers and classrooms across America, the Blue Hens have been utilizing Zoom to have team meetings over video conference, in addition to keeping in touch via texts, GroupMe and social media.
"Coach [Danny] Rocco's doing a great job communicating with us as a staff, and offensively and defensively, we're doing a great job communicating together," Delaware football defensive coordinator Manny Rojas said. "Now we have the opportunity to communicate better with our players. I think this whole situation has given us the opportunity to really communicate better through text messages, emails, phone calls, Zoom meetings, all that stuff."
The football program, which had started spring practice when everything was cancelled, has already worked out a rhythm for meetings: the coaching staff gets together on Monday/Wednesday/Friday, while the coaches meet with the student-athletes on Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday. Sunday is reserved for virtual team activities.
For some teams, that connectedness is a way to get their attention away from lost competition.
"We have not been focusing on hockey," Delaware field hockey head coach Rolf van de Kerkhof said. "It really helps for us to create a platform in our Zoom meetings with them to talk about how they feel, talk a little bit more about mental health, just any updates."
Technology has also enabled the different Blue Hens programs to continue to get better. For football, the spring is a time to install new offensive and defensive concepts. And while the Hens can't play through those new concepts, they can still watch film and receive detailed instruction from coaches. For offensive coordinator Jared Ambrose, this time is also an opportunity to delve deep into film.
"Being so film heavy, it's kind of a cool thing. You get to sit there and watch things in their entirety," Ambrose said. "I think that's the theme, to take everything in this situation and make it a positive."
Elsewhere, field hockey is taking advantage of the International Hockey Federation releasing video Olympic qualifying matches for their film study, while men's lacrosse is watching film on each of the opponents they were scheduled to play as they would if they were prepping to play them. The softball coaches have been giving their players quizzes on obscure rules to boost their Blue Hens' softball IQ. Delaware's strength and conditioning staff has been working with all the Blue Hens to tailor workouts to what each student-athlete has available to them.
Delaware coaches and student-athletes have also been finding interesting ways to pass the time while social distancing. In addition to showing off their stick skills members of Delaware field hockey have been learning a new language. Softball head coach Jen Steele adopted a black golden doodle puppy, while football head coach Danny Rocco has been spending time with his St. Bernard and working around his eight acres of farmland. Volleyball head coach Sara Matthews has been cooking new recipes with her husband.
The coaches have also been able to spend more quality time with their families than they would have during a normal spring. Altig has been chasing around her one-year old daughter, while Rojas has enjoyed playing Xbox with his daughter.
Everywhere, Blue Hens are making the most of a difficult situation. Possibly the best perspective came from Ambrose, whose wife Ashley works in the health care field, and has been watching his kids and helping with fractions while she goes to work.
"She's trying to help, cure, take care of people during the worst medical pandemic that's ever happened in our life. She comes home every day with a smile on her face, maybe a little more tired than normal. She's amazing," Ambrose said. "When my kids are all grown up, they're probably going to think about that time in 2020 when 'I got to spend a lot of time with my dad and he got to teach me a lot of stuff.'"
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