ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. — From a distance, the St. Louis Park junior varsity soccer game on Friday afternoon looked like old times. Players jogged through their pre-game warmups, ran through light drills, and took turns drilling shots against the goalie.
All of them, of course, were wearing masks.
It wasn’t really like old times after all.
“It’s been hard. It’s been different,” coach Anson Opara said, acknowledging that it was still nice for the players to have a normal activity like soccer to enjoy. “The kids are doing something they like. Even just having a little interaction that’s human – instead of through a screen – is a lot better.”
Opara and his players have adjusted to his new reality for the past half-year, ever since Minnesota announced its first COVID-19 case on March 6. Exactly six months ago, on March 11, the situation turned even more dire when the president instituted a travel ban, Tom Hanks revealed he tested positive for the virus and the NBA postponed its 2020 season – all in the same evening. School closures and restaurant shutdowns followed in Minnesota the next week.
And nothing’s been the same since.
“Now, it’s just, take what you can when you have the opportunity. And try to make the most out of it,” Opara said before his players took the field for their JV game. “And that’s what we’re out doing today.”
Minnesota’s case total, as of Friday, has now surpassed 82,000, with more than 6.4 million confirmed cases reported nationwide since the pandemic began.
Dr. Anthony Fauci warns that “normal life,” whatever that truly means, may not return until deep into 2021, since it will take time to develop and distribute a vaccine.
“I just think we need to hunker down and get through this fall and winter,” Fauci said Friday. “Because it’s not going to be easy.”
Miguel Ocampo, a senior at UW-Superior who is completing his online-only course load from the Twin Cities, said the COVID-19 situation “just feels like normal life now.” Ocampo, a soccer player himself, saw his fall season canceled, although there’s some hope that he might be able to play an abbreviated schedule in the spring.
“I try not to think about it too much,” Ocampo said. “Just try to think about what I can do in my personal life to stay busy, stay proactive, and just do what’s best for my future.”