The outbreak of COVID-19 has changed so many lives and activities that it’s impossible to imagine. This pandemic also affected the sports world. The coronavirus became so bad that the NCAA had no choice other than to cancel all college sports. Then, the Oklahoma State Department of Education chose to close all educational facilities and cancel the traditional school year, while implementing and maintaining distance learning. No school means no school sports for the rest of the year at least. This took away a lot of hopes and dreams of successful seasons. If that means losing a chance to repeat as state champions for the Norman North girls soccer team, imagine also having your senior season completely stripped away. The Lady Timberwolf seniors are crushed.

“Having my senior year end this early is devastating.” Jamie McGinnis said, “I’ve waited for this year since kindergarten and second semester was going to be filled with so many lifetime memories, such as my senior prom, my last soccer season, graduation and so much more. School being canceled means we can’t have any of this which is heartbreaking.” Jamie wasn’t the only one that was sad about this. 

Another senior who expressed herself was Liv Hocker, “It’s devastating for all the seniors especially, this is such a close group of girls that have been playing forever together, and we had a big chance of winning state again this year. It’s just really disappointing.”

Senior Annabella Potts is in the unique position of having to miss some of last year’s season and almost the entire season this year.  Bella missed last year’s playoffs due to injury.  She will miss this year due to an attempt by the State of Oklahoma to slow the spread of coronavirus by closing traditional school attendance opting instead for distance learning.  The complete closures of schools will mean no more sports (as well as the fine arts and every class and every building-even from faculty).  Bella will miss this year on a tragic technicality.

I sent an email to each senior girl asking the difficult questions, here are the difficult answers:

Annabella Potts

O:  How does it feel to have lost your senior season of soccer?

AP:  Losing the last season of soccer was devastating. Many of the seniors, including myself, will not be playing soccer in college, so our last moments on the field were stolen from us. It’s such a heartbreaking loss, especially since we had been excited to be recognized and celebrated since we were freshmen.

O:  Moreover of school?

AP: Not being able to attend prom, senior night or any of the last wonderful events of the school year is disheartening. We were all right about to enter the best part of senior year, where all of your hard work was recognized. It is also very disappointing to consider the fact that many of us will not be able to see our friends before they leave for college.

O:  I know you seniors were close, but you were defending champs until the season was terminated, you still are.  How does it feel to continue as champs without the games being played?  Would you have won it again?  Do you deserve to keep the title or should it be vacated this season?

AP:  I strongly believe that we would have won the State Championship again. We defeated every team at the start of our season, including Westmoore, who we defeated in the quarterfinals last year, and Union, who beat us in last year’s regular season. We were very talented and we played well together. Our team deserves to keep the title.

O:  How close is this group of seniors?

AP: This group of seniors are incredibly close. We have all played at NYSA together for over 13 years, most of us staying on the same teams with each other. These girls are like sisters. Our trust on and off the field remains unbroken.

O:  Think of the things you will miss, Prom, graduation, those last tearful goodbyes in the halls with your close friends,  what do you feel the most?

AP:  I feel disheartened, but mostly just hopeful for another chance to see everyone again. Our grade is working to plan events for the seniors in the summer if the virus has cleared up and we are allowed to meet in large groups again. I am just counting on that.

O:  What are you doing to stay in shape?  Are you still training?

AP:  I’ve been running, going on bike rides, and practicing at whatever fields are open with soccer goals to stay in shape.

O:  Last thoughts??…

AP:  All of the seniors are just hoping that we can plan a Crosstown Clash scrimmage in the summer, and be celebrated during our banquet, whenever that may be. Thank you so much!!!

Ashton Seratte 

O:  How does it feel to have lost your senior season of soccer?

AS:  It’s been hard coming to the realization of my senior season coming and then going so quickly. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to my friends, teammates, coaches, and supporters.

O:  Moreover of school?

AS:  Graduation is supposed to symbolize moving on to the next chapter and finishing 14 years at norman public schools and not getting the normal graduation and party has been difficult but everything happens for a reason and this will make us stronger 

O:  I know you seniors were close, but you were defending champs until the season was terminated, you still are.  How does it feel to continue as champs without the games being played?  Would you have won it again?  Do you deserve to keep the title or should it be vacated this season?  

AS:  I don’t know how the season would have gone but honestly I think we could have made it back to the championship. Our team is composed of so many wonderful hard working girls who all strive to win and do better. Being the champs in 2019 will never be taken from us…and we know that so I don’t think keeping the title or vacating it really matters because the playing is what mattered. Everyone loved to play and wanted to win and it showed, so being given the title of state champs is amazing but not all [that] we were looking forward to. We didn’t get the proper goodbye. No senior night, no Alabama trip, no team bonding. That is what our team is about all the fun memories so the title doesn’t change how I feel but rather not getting to play with my teammates. 

O: How close is this group of seniors? 

AS:  All of these girls I have been playing with for so many years. This group has been together through so much in both high school soccer and club soccer. It has been great being so close because playing together just makes it so much easier and fun. 

O:  Think of the things you will miss, Prom, graduation, those last tearful goodbyes in the halls with your close friends,  what do you feel the most?

AS:  For me, graduation and never walking the North halls as a student again is what I feel the most. We are missing so many goodbyes that shouldn’t be taken away but we don’t have a choice. That has been hard for me to believe because it doesn’t feel real that we don’t get the same as previous seniors.

O:  What are you doing to stay in shape?  Are you still training? 

AS:  To stay in shape my club coach is keeping us on task by giving us workouts to do 4 days a week. We log in what we did each week. It really keeps me on track, especially for my college career. 

O:  Last thoughts??….

AS: I have seen 3 years of seniors come and go. I have been to multiple graduation parties, 3 graduations and I have seen the smiles of them accomplishing high school and showing it off to their family and friends. I have waited so long for this big moment and it was taken within seconds.

Jamie McGinnis

O:  How does it feel to have lost your senior season of soccer?

JM:  Losing my last year of soccer at Norman North is heartbreaking for me. I have played soccer for over 14 years and I have been waiting for my senior year of high school soccer. For me my senior year was supposed to be the ending of my soccer career and I wasn’t even ready for the ending when we still had a full season. With it being cut short has been devastating, I never got to say goodbye to the sport I have played for most of my life. 

O:  I know you seniors were close, but you were defending champs until the season was terminated, you still are.  How does it feel to continue as champs without the games being played? Would you have won it again? Do you deserve to keep the title or should it be vacated this season?

JM:  I think having won State last year has helped us play harder in our games because we knew most of the teams would want to beat us. I am very superstitious so I could have never said we would have won State, but I think we would have had a big chance to win the state again. I believe we still should keep the title because we are still state champs, no one has taken the title from us.

O:  How close is this group of seniors?

JM:  I have been playing with most of these seniors for over 8 years, so I would say we are very close.

O:  Think of the things you will miss, Prom, graduation, those last tearful goodbyes in the halls with your close friends,  what do you feel the most?

JM:  Some of the things I miss is getting to walk the halls as a student, not being able to say goodbye to the kids in my service learning class as well as my teachers. I will miss all of the events that came in the last few months of my senior year. I will miss having the normal graduation experience but I am hopeful that we will still get a normal graduation.

O:  What are you doing to stay in shape?  Are you still training?

JM:  I have been running a lot, doing a lot of at home workouts, and I’ve walked a marathon.

Skylar Revas

O: How does it feel to have lost your senior season of soccer?

SR: I feel like it was ripped away from us and we had just gotten started. It was very unfair but we had absolutely no control over it. I’m just thankful for the time I got to play with some of the best players and friends through my years at North. 

O: I know you seniors were close, but you were defending champs until the season was terminated, you still are.  How does it feel to continue as champs without the games being played? Would you have won it again? Do you deserve to keep the title or should it be vacated this season?

SR: I believe we had a lot more to show than what we had time to show for this season, but we went undefeated in the time we got to play. Our team was young this year but I think if we would have kept progressing throughout the year and stayed focused we had a very good chance of making it to the end of playoff and winning it again. 

O: How close is this group of seniors?

SR: The groups of seniors is pretty close, in my opinion, most of us have been playing together since we were little throughout club. Playing on the same teams, same club, or playing against each other. 

O: What are you doing to stay in shape?  Are you still training?

SR: I will continue playing soccer at the next level in college so I have been having to follow workouts from my coaches at Baker University to stay in shape during this time. 

O: Last thoughts?

SR: I just want to say thank you to my coaches at North that I have had throughout the years: Don, Trevor, snd Brandon. They have all done so much for me and all the other seniors and they were overall great mentors and we all had a really strong bond with them. Thank you to my family without them I wouldn’t be where I am today. To the seniors: I love each of you, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you all. Thankful I got to be a T-Wolf and be a part of such an amazing program for 4 years. #t-wolfforlife. 

Jordan Blatt

O: How does it feel to have lost your senior season of soccer? Moreover of school?

JB: Losing our senior season of soccer sucks, we were all really excited and looking forward to the season and what we would accomplish. It is especially sad to see the season go away as we could have definitely won state again. The seniors have all grown together especially with what we have gone through throughout the years. The bonds we have made with the team are so special and I definitely won’t forget it. It is heartbreaking to see our senior year end without getting a true graduation, grad parties, senior night, prom and so much more. We will come out of this ordeal stronger and I am so excited to see where the future takes all of us.