HBCU baseball is making a highly-anticipated return to competition as programs are preparing to make season debuts to start 2021. They’ll be returning to the diamond for the first time since the onset of COVID-19 in March of last year.
There were so many unknowns for everybody across baseball, especially HBCU teams which played less than 20 games before the pandemic threw all of them a curveball. Many seniors didn’t get the chance to finish their final seasons.
HBCU coaches were proactive in their response to the effects of the pandemic on their sport. All were prepared for anything and everything.
The 2020 season is done and will never be seen again, so moving on to the 2021 season has been the main focus the last three months. Shaping the 2021 team has pretty much been the sole focus of all coaches.
Every athlete looks at playing sports with different goals in mind. When everything normally known to the athletes shuts down, they were brought to a halt by stay-at-home orders. While these athletes felt disappointed and discouraged, some of them rose to the challenge to work harder and come back stronger for their future seasons.
The coaching staffs were determined to fuel students to keep them going, getting better and not develop bad habits focused on lifting weights and becoming better student-athletes mainly through online studies.
Fall ball was a shift to start thinking about the possibility of playing college baseball again.
HBCU baseball programs are doing everything they can to practice health safety protocols to get the 2021 season started.
Although HBCU collegiate athletics will likely look different this year, students nationwide have adapted their normal training routines and remain focused on their goals of playing at the college levels. By creating unique workout plans during the pandemic, these athletes have quickly pivoted to stay ready for the sport’s return.