Shortly after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were postponed by the coronavirus pandemic outbreak, athletes from around the world took to social media to react.

And shine a light on the situation’s silver lining.

One of the most poignant responses came from prominent American middle-distance runner Emma Coburn, who tweeted, “Our dreams aren’t canceled, they are just postponed. Looking forward to dreams coming true for athletes everywhere in 2021.”

Playing the waiting game isn’t something most athletes look forward to.

But it’s a feeling many have grown accustomed to, from the professional ranks down to the youth levels.

The last several weeks have seen many college conferences press pause on the fall sports season, a difficult decision but not a decisive blow.

The Centennial Conference announced on July 7 that it was suspending the upcoming fall sports season, with the Patriot League and PSAC, among others, following suit a week later.

Title defense on hold

All three leagues have maintained that they will reevaluate, they will monitor the situation, and work with the NCAA to provide athletes of fall sports teams a championship experience, potentially in the spring.

Maura Phelan is one of a number of local athletes to be impacted by a league’s decision not to play this fall.

Phelan, a Lehighton graduate and the 2017 Times News Field Hockey Player of the Year, has played a key role in her two seasons at Division I American University in Washington, D.C. The No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament last fall, the Eagles defeated Lafayette for the league title, before a loss to Fairfield in an NCAA opening round contest ended their season.

“This was definitely going to be a really exciting season for us,” said Phelan. “We only lost two seniors, so we had pretty much the same foundation for our team this year, which was really exciting. But we’re working with the situation, staying connected and I think we’re ready to get going again and see what we can do.”

In its announcement on July 13, the Patriot League stated that it “is committed to exploring creative approaches and alternatives to providing future competitive experiences to our fall sport student-athletes, including the possibility of conducting fall sport competition and championships in the second semester.”

Phelan started all 19 games this past season for American after starting all 18 as a freshman. She was a key component of the Eagles’ back line throughout the season, including the three shutouts against Towson (Sept. 15), Boston University (Oct. 19), and Lafayette (Nov. 2).

“It’s so different to be without our team for so long. I don’t think I’ve ever gone this long without seeing them,” said Phelan. “And it’s so much more difficult to train on your own, and to stay motivated to do all these crazy workouts without coaches and teammates encouraging you. But the NCAA has allowed us to keep in communication with our coaches and our trainers so we’ve been having team meetings and stuff like that to keep in touch, which has helped.”

Phelan, who was selected the team MVP in her junior and senior seasons at Lehighton and helped the Indians to a berth in the district championship game her final season, has been named to the NFHCA National Academic Squad and Patriot League Academic Honor Roll two years in a row at American.

Spring football?

The idea of a fall without the routines that have been commonplace for so many years has been unimaginable for most.

“I never thought this would ever happen, and of course I’m kind of depressed about it,” said Seth Paluck. “I was really looking forward to the fall, because football was my life so many years. But at least our conference cares about the players, and is worrying about health. So I can see where they’re coming from. I just hope that we can still play in the spring. I’m just trying to keep my head up about that.”

A Marian graduate, Paluck experienced a historic ride with the Muhlenberg football team as a freshman last fall. The Mules (13-1) enjoyed their best season in program history, which ended with a 45-14 home loss to North Central in the NCAA Division III semifinals.

Plans for a repeat were put on hold when the Centennial Conference announced that it was suspending the upcoming fall sports season.

“In the current climate, I believe the Centennial Conference decision makes sense,” said Muhlenberg Director of Athletics Lynn Tubman. “It allows for a cautious and safe return to practice while providing the flexibility to evaluate the possibility for competition should we feel we can do so safely.

“The decision not to compete in football this fall semester was not an easy one for the conference. However, I am hopeful the Centennial Conference will continue to explore a spring football season, with the potential for competition and a conference championship.”

Paluck played in 12 varsity games as a reserve running back for Muhlenberg while also seeing action on the kickoff return unit. He carried the ball 18 times for 52 yards.

“Having at least a season in the spring would be great for our seniors,” said Paluck. “But it’s going to be a little different because I don’t think I’ve ever played football in the spring before.”

They’re the same circumstances Palmerton graduate Garrett Perschy has been grappling with over the last several months at Franklin & Marshall.

An eighth postseason appearance in the last 11 years and third consecutive Centennial-MAC Bowl victory highlighted the 2019 football season for the Diplomats, who ended the year with a 7-4 record.

Perschy led a decisive 31-13 win by F & M over Misericordia on Nov. 23, where he was named MVP.

He was a Centennial Conference Fall Academic Honor Roll member in 2019 and appeared in all 11 games as a junior, seeing action at quarterback as well as a punter. Perschy threw for a total of 1,745 yards (158.6 ypg) and 10 touchdowns, while also punting for 1,730 yards, landing 19 inside the 20-yard line.

“When this whole thing started, if you would have asked me, even a month ago, if we were going to have a football season, I would have said absolutely, 100 percent yes,” said Perschy. “And then over the last four weeks, as each day went by, and the more I heard and got the chatter from the school itself, and then from within the conference, I started to grow a little bit more skeptical each day. By the time they decided to make the decision, I didn’t have a good feeling about it. I kind of felt it was coming the way things were going with not just sports, but everything as a whole. Not that I prepared myself for it, but I wasn’t blindsided by the decision. I kind of had a growing sense that it was going to happen.

“Throughout the summer, in the beginning, myself and the other captains were always talking with our head coach, kind of just about how he thought it was going to go. He’s extremely knowledgeable, and just a great person, and I trust his judgment and opinion. From listening to him, I kind of thought a shortened season could happen. But I really didn’t see the cancellation coming.”

Remaining ready

It’s a similar situation for the East Stroudsburg University women’s volleyball team, which defeated Shepherd in a five-set thriller to win the 2019 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship. It was the fifth PSAC Championship and first since 1987 for the Warriors.

ESU (29-7) set several program bests throughout the season and returned to the NCAA Tournament for just the second time and first since 2000, falling in the first round of the NCAA DII tournament to Shepherd.

Former Marian standout and two-time Times News Volleyball Player of the Year Jasmine Mooney paced the attack with 14 kills, one short of her season-high, in the loss.

Mooney was eager to build on the momentum the program created and excited to work with new head coach Tricia Melfy, who was hired in April.

“I think we’re just taking it and trying to look at it in a positive way,” said Mooney. “It will be more time to prepare, more time to get to know her (Melfy), since she’s new.

“We’re trying to look at it positively, but obviously it’s a shock to everyone.”

As a sophomore, Mooney was fourth on the team with 176 kills and fifth with 191 points. At Marian, Mooney led the Fillies to three PIAA Class A state runner-up finishes, and was a three-time All-State selection.

The PSAC and its member institutions will develop guidelines for all teams to continue individual skill instruction as well as strength and conditioning activities under social distancing protocols by the end of the summer. The determination as to when winter and spring sports may begin workouts and practices will be considered at a later date.

All fall and winter sports scheduled to begin before Jan. 1 are impacted by the decision. The conference will evaluate the necessary schedule changes and will communicate its plans for moving all competitions to the spring semester at a later date.

Mooney has worked to stay active with teammates and friends as often as possible to stay ready for the season, whenever it comes.

“I think we’re a little nervous with the transition there of having a new coach,” said Mooney. “They have to learn how we play, we have to learn how they coach, and you have to learn the conference; the PSAC is a very competitive conference. So we just have to adjust to that and adjust to her, and I think it’s going to be great. She seems like a great coach so far, even though we haven’t really met her, but just the way she’s presented herself to us and tried to stay in contact with us throughout all this.”

Staying positive

The chance to compete, at any level, often comes with a limited window of opportunity.

It’s a privilege that’s been put into perspective for athletes across the globe in recent months.

But it hasn’t diminished their dreams or devalued what they’ve already accomplished.

“I think we were all pretty thankful that our season hasn’t been canceled; we’re just kind of pushed back,” said Phelan. “Things could still change, but I think this is a good thing for us and a lot of other teams, because it would have been hard with all the changes that are currently happening - we keep dropping games - so even if we did play in the fall, we wouldn’t have our full season. So this might even be better for us, given the situation.”

After a meeting with her coach and teammates on the day the fall sports season was suspended, Mooney was optimistic a season will take place in some form next semester.

“Coach Melfy said that we’re hopefully just postponing it and not canceling it,” said Mooney. “She’s hoping to start at the beginning of January, and then possibly have a condensed season into eight weeks, so I’m thinking we’ll just be playing conference matches and we might end up having three games a week instead of two and a shorter preseason.

“It’s going to be hard with all the other sports, if everybody plays in the same season, because we have to work out the gym schedule, and the field schedule, so it’s going to be tough. But I hope we still do it.”

Paluck is also continuing to work and stay optimistic.

“Throughout the summer, we are still going to do our lifting program that our strength coach sent us,” he said. “The school also said we could still have our offseason practices. So we will get 15 practices, almost like spring ball, except now we will be doing it this fall. After that it would be winter workouts.

“I’m not sure after that. It’s just all up in the air right now. We’re just hoping that we will have some type of season in the spring.”

Perschy is also staying hopeful, while trying to be realistic.

“I’m really staying optimistic, trying to stay as positive as possible through the training routine I’m in and everything along with that and preparing for a spring season if possible,” said Perschy. “But at the same time, I talked to my coach and my friends and whatever happens, I’m blessed that I was able to play at the collegiate level.

“If last season was the last time I played football, I’m just so thankful that I was able to do it with the group of guys I did. I’m super thankful just to be able to have the opportunity to be able to play the game that I love and be healthy through all of it, because so many just don’t have that opportunity.”