Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on theeaglecoronavirusproject.com, a separate website created by Eagle staff at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in spring 2020. Articles from that website have been migrated to The Eagle’s main site and backdated with the dates they were originally published in order to allow readers to access them more easily.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, almost every facet of life has changed in some way. College sports are no exception. With past seasons canceled and future ones in limbo, many student-athletes are in the dark.
Each of these obstacles is magnified through the lens of international student-athletes. Even before the pandemic, these students faced issues that domestic student-athletes did not. For example, dealing with obtaining and maintaining visas and figuring out how to manage with steeper travel costs.
AU has 26 international student-athletes participating across six of their athletic programs. The pandemic has brought on issues for these athletes when they have tried to enter the United States.
Thuraya Abdul Hamid, a women’s basketball forward who is still in Dubai, said the prospect of re-entering the U.S. comes with more weight, due to the pandemic.
“It really opened your eyes,” she said. “This isn’t guaranteed, you know, like you’re on a visa at the end of the day.”
The U.S. is home to about 20 percent of the world’s confirmed COVID-19 cases. Many countries have taken drastic measures to try to curb the spread of the virus, such as travel restrictions between countries.
“Before we knew the season was canceled that’s what we were worrying about the whole summer,” said field hockey sophomore Charllene Boshoff, who is from South Africa. “We were stressing so much about — first of all, personal plane tickets, which were ridiculously priced, and second of all, could we even get back into our own country if we went back there?”
Women’s basketball forward Karla Vres said there are no direct flights between her home country of Croatia and the U.S. It was difficult for her to find flights due to travel restrictions between countries in Europe.
Not only has the virus made it more challenging for athletes returning to the U.S., but it has also made preparing for the potential season harder. To combat these challenges, AU’s teams are instead having virtual workouts and workout plans for the athletes to follow. Yet this can have varying degrees of effectiveness, especially if international athletes run into more intense COVID-19 regulations.
Women’s basketball guard Emily Fisher, who is from Australia, lived there until early October.
“For me, it’s been a bit limited since my state has been in lockdown,” Fisher said in September. “I haven’t had access to gyms or parks or tracks or anything. Our rule right now is we can’t do anything more than five kilometers outside our homes, so I am really restricted to just running around my neighborhood.”
She was also able to shoot at a basketball court close to her home, she said.
Practice and training restrictions vary wildly. Some countries, such as England and Sweden, allow club sporting events. This has let some AU athletes continue to compete in the sports they love.
“I’m a bit luckier than some of my teammates, because England [field] hockey has found a way to make the league work,” field hockey junior Georgia Davies said. “So I started doing [field] hockey training around the beginning of August. I’ve actually been really lucky and been able to play [field] hockey for about two months now.”
Men’s soccer junior Viggo Sjoberg, who is from Sweden, has also been able to play for the Värmdö IF club back home.
“Our [club] season started in June and it’s ending now in October,” he said. “So it's been nice. We had maybe 12 games.”
Vres, Fisher and Abdul Hamid, in particular, look to be crucial contributors to the upcoming women’s basketball season, as they begin returning to campus. Despite these unprecedented times and the uncertainty of everything surrounding COVID-19, these athletes are certain their teams will be ready for the season.
“I have very high hopes,” Fisher said. “I think our team will do quite well because I think everyone has been doing a lot of work over this big summer break. I feel quite confident.”
