From lifting cases of water to pushing cars, athletes from USC are thinking outside the box — or rather, outside the weight room — to stay on top of their training.
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting millions of athletes around the globe. The Wimbledon Championships have been canceled, the Masters has been postponed, the NCAA canceled all remaining spring competition and the MLB canceled its preseason and postponed Opening Day. Even the Summer 2020 Olympics has been postponed to 2021.
In the midst of isolation and uncertainty, true athletes emerge. The “Safer at Home” order and closure of nonessential businesses includes all fitness and training facilities, leaving athletes to their own devices.
Senior Angela Kulikov, who is a captain on the USC women’s tennis team, hasn’t seen a real court in over a month.
“It’s difficult because all of the courts in L.A. County have been closed down,” she said. “And you can ask my team, I’m the biggest tennis junkie we have, so not hitting is tough.”
Using tape and her little brother's catching net, Kulikov managed to create a makeshift court in her backyard.
“I couldn’t make a full court,” she said. “But I can at least work on some serves.”
Rather than dwell on what she doesn’t have, like a regulation court, USC facilities or even the guarantee of another season, Kulikov is focusing on the things she can control and finding creative ways to get in reps.
The premature end of the season hit especially hard for Kulikov. At the start of her season as returning captain, she was ranked No. 29 in doubles with partner Danielle Willson and won Pac-12 Player of the Week honors in January. Last season, she was ranked No. 3 in doubles with partner Rianna Valdes and topped it off with All-American honors.
“It was more just disbelief in everything,” she said. “To really process like ‘Wow, could this be the end of my collegiate career?’”
While she awaits official word from the university about fifth-year scholarships, Kulikov continues to train and lead her team from home. She does core exercises with her teammates over FaceTime and is lifting anything and everything she can get her hands on, including water bottles.
“It became ‘What is the heaviest object in my house?’ I found a case of water and I balanced it on my head or carried it like a deadlift,” Kulikov said. “You had to be creative in the beginning, but I was lucky I found a 70-pound weight in my garage … It was the most exciting thing that has happened in the past week.”
This stroke of luck is uncommon, as many athletes are home without any access to weights. Junior offensive tackle Jalen McKenzie is keeping a positive attitude and doing what he can with limited resources.
“It just shook me down to my core where I started,” McKenzie said. “I didn't always have an Olympic weight room, so it's like what I was doing before … It takes me back to my roots.”
McKenzie is training “like a kid,” setting up old shoes as cones and doing a bodyweight plan provided by the USC strength staff.
USC’s strength coaches have created home workout plans to accommodate for the varying accessibility to equipment.
“Right now there's a strength training plan that involves normal equipment and a plan that involves just body weight and then everything in between that,” said Josh Heidegger, USC’s strength and conditioning coach. “It’s been fun to communicate with our athletes to make modifications so they can continue to make progress on their training journey.”
To keep each other accountable and inspired, many athletes have been sending videos of their inventive training methods to their teammates. McKenzie recalls videos of redshirt sophomore center Justin Dedich pushing a truck instead of prowlers, and redshirt junior offensive guard Alijah Vera-Tucker running a “serious incline” that were sent in a team group chat.
The quarantine orders present challenges reaching far beyond training. For many collegiate athletes, their futures and sense of stability have been put on pause.
“I love playing football,” McKenzie said. “Being taken away from my practice, taken away from my teammates, taken away from a coach's atmosphere, all that's terrible. But at USC, we have Olympians who can't go to the Olympics ... So I don't know, it's a crazy situation. But we just had to roll with the punches, I guess.”
The unprecedented break from regimented training will also affect athletes when practices resume.
“We're not going to be jumping right into high-intensity stuff … most of the kids won't be ready,” Heidegger said. “I mean, the date is still unknown. The longer it stretches out, the more we'll have to take that into account. “
To help make the return less drastic, USC has provided some athletes with a basic training kit including bands, med balls and other tools to enhance training for those that don't have any equipment. The University’s sports performance department is also utilizing social media to connect and motivate athletes.
Although keeping in physical shape is important, athletes' mental state is also a top priority for USC.
“We are first and foremost very concerned with their training and their physical preparation,” Heidegger said. “I think their mental training is just as important. So this page has all of our favorite YouTube videos, podcasts and books when it comes to leadership and high performance … flexibility, yoga, motivation, all that kind of stuff.”
Despite uncertainty surrounding the return to athletic competition, USC players are making the best out of bad situations and doing everything possible to progress their careers while staying “Safer at Home.”
In the meantime, fans can rewatch and relive their favorite games or follow athletes on social media. Particularly motivated fans can even train like a USC athlete by following along with the videos @usc_sportsperformance Instagram.