As Ray Bradbury once said, “Do what you love and love what you do.” Those words are something that I live by to this day. However, because of the rules and regulations put into order due to the Coronavirus, I’m unable to follow this saying. 

While I continue to pursue a career in sports journalism, I’ve found it incredibly difficult  to gain any experience in my field because sports in every division imaginable are postponed or suspended. 

Deciding to pursue a career in sports journalism was a given for me because I am such a big fan of sports and they have integrated into my life since my early childhood. Sports are my way of destressing and relaxing, so the cancelation of them has taken a major toll on me.  

I completely understand that this is what’s best and what’s necessary in order to slow down the spread of the Coronavirus, but it saddens me that I cannot turn to sports to distract myself from our current circumstances. 

Before the pandemic, my life revolved around athletics every weekend, I would wake up and tune-in to live soccer games from different professional leagues around the world. During the weekdays, I would attend sports games at Los Medanos College and then watch any games that were happening such as basketball games from the National Basketball Association or National Hockey League. 

Now, the only way for me to get my sports fix is by re-watching old games, but it just doesn’t feel the same. Reruns simply can’t satisfy that craving.  

California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced a four-part plan to “re-open” the state. The final portion of the plan is the idea of reintroducing audiences to sporting events. It will be awhile for California to reach the final step of this process, meaning it will take a long time for me to be able to enjoy live sports once more. This is something that I will just have to wrap my head around. 

One particular series of sporting events I was most looking forward to were the Olympic Games that were scheduled for this summer. They’ve recently been rescheduled for the summer of 2021. Again, I completely understand the situation, but I can’t help but feel bitter because we had to wait four years for these events to come. 

For now, I look forward to the day that I can enjoy sports again. I am anxiously waiting to be able to “Do what I love and love what I do” once more.