Quarantine vs. Daley

Sophomore Tijani Daley lines up awaiting the snap to take off on his route. This was the first game that Daley had ever started in for his season. The game took place at Glendale High School on Aug. 29, 2019, with an end result of a win for SG. 

With the current conditions of quarantine, football has been postponed and possibly canceled. With football’s postponement, team practices and training have also been canceled until further notice. Daley, who plays wide receiver for the varsity football team, is one of many student athletes affected and devastated by the postponement.

What he misses most about football is going out and playing with his friends. Quarantine has made Daley feel down for the duration of it.

“I miss everyone’s energy, like everyone is ready to play and get in reps and just hanging out with the guys and bonding together to form a brotherhood,” Daley said. “Emotionally, quarantine made me feel down most of the time because I can’t be at school practicing, getting ready for game day, and just seeing my friends.”

Daley has never been focused on winning or how “good” the team is. His main priority when it comes to football is having fun and enjoying time with his friends.

“[I feel] if everyone is doing what they have to do, such as lifting and getting exercise and if you are eating right, we will be healthy enough and ready to start the season as soon as possible,” Daley said. 

At the start of quarantine, Daley was slouching around and not being as physically active. This changed when he realized quarantine was not going to end anytime soon and he needed to start training to be ready for the season. 

“At the start of quarantine, I [did not] work out that much,” Daley said. “I mostly just ran but [as I got] more into it, I started lifting again and doing morning runs.” 

With social distancing guidelines, teams are unable to go out and practice as a whole. To maintain team spirit, Daley and a few teammates would go and practice, so it would be less of a challenge when they finally returned to everyday practice. 

“I feel like getting into the groove [will not]  be that difficult because I still go to the park with guys from the team to practice,” Daley said. “I feel if I get ready now, I will be ready later.”