VIKING ATHLETICS
CHARGING THROUGH COVID-19 HOW AUGUSTANA ATHLETICS, ATHLETES PIVOT THROUGH PANDEMIC | BY RYAN HILGEMANN
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arch 12, 2020. The Augustana Athletics Department had a pair of top-25 teams in baseball and softball, the swimming, indoor track & field and wrestling teams were at the sites of the NCAA Division II National Championships, and the department as a whole had gone through months of planning to host the wrestling championships. Then everything came to a screeching halt. Due to COVID-19, the championships for all three sports were canceled, and the seasons for baseball, softball, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis and outdoor track and field were also canceled. All sports at Augustana were affected including the spring exhibition seasons for football, volleyball and soccer, a portion of training that teams utilize to prepare for the following academic year. Kelly Kleekamp, a native of Olathe, Kansas, had completed her freshman campaign for the Viking soccer team in the fall and was just getting into spring workouts when the pandemic hit. “At first, it was — I have another week to get into gear because we were going to come back from Spring Break and run a fitness test,” Kleekamp said. “But then we moved online for the rest of the semester and it turned into, I really don’t want to miss my spring season.” On top of missing out on key development with her teammates, Kleekamp also had a realization of missing classmates. “I love walking down the hall to see my friends,”
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THE AUGUSTANA | FALL 2020
she said. “They all live four-to-five hours away from me, so I miss seeing them. I miss the atmosphere. I love school and the cultural aspect of it. I am a little bit of an introvert, but school forces me to go out and meet people and do things that put me out of my comfort zone.” The soccer team, fresh off its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance in six years, found ways to stick together although being miles and hours apart. “We had weekly team meetings, then we had class meetings, where the seniors would meet, the juniors would meet and so on, and we found ways to stay accountable,” Kleekamp said about the first couple weeks of quarantine. “Ally Young, Josie Arduser and myself, we came up with a Google Drive folder where we would enter our fitness for that day, our ball work for that day and that led into Fitness Tuesdays, an Augustana Classic. We set up a Zoom call, set our camera outside and we would run fitness together.” It wasn’t without its hiccups as the entire nation was grasping to learn the technology of virtual meetings on the fly, but by the end of what would have been the spring season, the bugs were worked out and the Vikings were staying connected. “It was a really good thing,” Kleekamp added. “Fitness is not easy, and it is very difficult to run successfully by yourself. The Zoom calls were a great way to stay motivated and feel more accountable. Having your teammates with you, even though it was online, it was a good feeling. There was good energy.” As spring turned into summer, Kleekamp took on a job at
