Young athletes lament lost sports seasons

NEW YORK - Last spring, then-sophomore Manhasset Secondary School middie and attackman Aidan Mulholland scored 36 goals and tallied an additional 18 assists before committing to play at the University of Michigan in 2022. This spring, amid the coronavirus pandemic?

"We found a bench, got some dumbbells," Aidan said. "Me and my friend we're going on a bike ride two or three times a week."

A year removed from batting north of .400 as the Owings Mills, Maryland, McDonogh School's starting shortstop, sophomore Harper Allee-Press now spends her afternoons Zooming with her teammates and catching pop flies hit to her by her dad.

"It's been really tough," she said.

A seventh-grader in Ridgefield, Conn., George McCaffrey normally spends this and most every season playing competitive sports seven days a week.

"Two sports, three teams: two lacrosse teams and one spring hockey team," he said.

Now he rollerblades up and down his driveway and watches reruns of games on ESPN.

"I'm not able to skate or anything because there's no ice," he said.

And instead of defending last year's Forest Hills Little League International League championship, 9-year-old infielder Parker Thaw and his dad/coach, Adam Thaw, occasionally play catch by themselves on the sidewalk in front of their building.

"Debating getting into the Korean Baseball League," Adam said.

"For us, it was kind of a shock," Aidan said.

Aidan learned the school district canceled his junior season via Twitter.

"This year was really going to be special," he said.

"It was definitely really sad," Harper said. "I feel really bad for our seniors."

"Him and a lot of his friends are on the team together," Adam said of Parker.

Parker and his friends won't attend college for nearly a decade.

George is only 13.

"I really miss sports," George said. "I miss seeing people, the socialization aspect."

While in the midst of the recruitment process now, Harper still has a junior season in which to prove herself.

"Definitely a little stressed," she said. "I would've liked to have this season to work on things."

And Aidan already committed to Michigan. But both high schoolers see teammates losing out on chances to impress college coaches.

"For those players, it's going to be very difficult for them to get committed now," Aidan said.

Most of all, all four of these athletes—from Maryland to Connecticut, grade school through high school—say they just miss playing in games that matter, outside of their houses and apartments, with friends they haven't seen in weeks.

"Just like the energy and the environment," George said.

"It's just such a great group of girls," Harper said.

"There's more important things than sports right now," Aidan said.