PANTHER PRIDE AS STRONG AS EVER

In early March 2019, Reed Gilmore ’21 picked up a volleyball for the first time in his life.

Like Tom Hanks and Wilson in “Castaway,” it was love at first sight. “Although I had never played before, it quickly became one of my favorite seasons,” Gilmore, also a star soccer player, said. “The energy of the team was unmatched. I’ve been playing sports my entire life and something about it was really quite special.” In the blink of an eye, that something special was cruelly snatched away. As COVID-19 came bearing down on the tristate region in the late winter of 2020, school facilities were shuttered and life changed immeasurably. As the area faced the severe implications of the pandemic, high school sports became a mere afterthought. For the athletes, however, the void was real. The camaraderie of teammates, the thrill of competition, the exhilaration of pushing one’s body to the limit — it was all gone. “That was a big letdown,” Gilmore said. “Being able to share the court or the field with the people you share your entire school day with is really significant.” Like many in the area at the time, Gilmore thought his sport’s season was merely on hold. So, he bought a volleyball and tried to recapture that same energy in his driveway, repeatedly setting and bumping the ball against a wall. Gilmore also stayed in shape by logging an estimated 230 miles of running from March to May on the Nike Run App, roadwork done in tandem with his club soccer team, Eastern FC. He would usually set out in the morning, basking in the freedom that running offered. “I was probably in the best shape of my high school sports career, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to use it,” Gilmore noted with a healthy dose of irony. As the pandemic raged on and swallowed the spring sports season whole, Gilmore and all of the athletes at Masters were confronted with a new reality. For girls basketball star Dakota Daniello ’23, it was a harsh one.

“The transition was definitely hard,” Daniello said. “Once gyms started closing sometime around March, nothing was happening. I was doing workouts on my own in my basement. With my strength and agility trainer, I’ve been having Zoom workouts every day. I went from in-person to everything on Zoom.” Additionally, Daniello practiced on a basketball court in her backyard, making sure her fundamentals stayed sharp. With the virus slowly waning in the area during the summer months, she got back to playing in some highly competitive tournaments with her Amateur Athletic Union team, Hoopers New York.

Against the odds, Daniello picked up an offer to play at the next level. In July, she committed to Florida Southern College (FSC), a Division II school that scouted her by watching livestreams of her summer tournament games. “College coaches aren’t able to come in person to tournaments, but everything has been livestreamed on a platform called Ballers TV,” Daniello said. “The FSC coaches had been watching me online.” In a fateful twist that could have occurred only during these times, Daniello’s decision to commit to FSC was partly based on its top-notch nursing program. Her interest was piqued as news media reports detailed the heroic efforts of health care workers battling COVID-19 on the front lines. “I would watch all these videos and thought, ‘Wow, I kind of want to do this,’” Daniello said. “I’d never thought of the medical field before that.”

Gilmore also worked on his college recruitment during the downtime. He was in constant contact with the coach at Occidental College, using whatever resources possible to display his skill set, motivation and drive. “I set up a tripod and video camera next to my garage and I’d do little drills that the [Occidental coach] would ask me to do,” Gilmore explained. Gilmore also stayed in touch with his soccer teammates at Masters, reuniting with them on Zoom to go over tactics and positional responsibilities during the summer months. He created a spreadsheet with Kyle Benson ’22 to organize each session and track progress, aiming to have a head start if his senior season miraculously comes to fruition. “Whether or not I get this season, it’s really nice to see all these guys are motivated,” Gilmore said. “Even though it’s not collegiate or professional, legacy is an important thing. To see our guys spend their free time to get better at the sport is something that’s exciting and humbling.”

Multitalented Reed Gilmore ’21 discovered a passion for volleyball at Masters. During quarantine, Gilmore continued his training in both soccer and volleyball at home.

Dakota Daniello ’23 was scouted by Florida Southern College through livestreams of her summer games.