Athletes and professional teams talk about sacrifice so often that has become a cliche. Athletes or players are expected to make sacrifices that will put a teammate or an entire team in a better position or perhaps themselves as an individual when it comes to being ready for a task.
A great leader will sacrifice his or her own glory if it helps the team triumph. A staff member may put his team first ahead of his own reputation. Generally, sacrifice is a key element of success because you are expected to minimise yourself and put your ego and agenda on the back burner for the greater good of the team.
In current day sporting life, athletes and staff are being required to pull off a next-level degree of sacrifices because of the complications created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Every move or every decision a player makes, from where they eat lunch or dinner to whether they enjoy an evening relaxing poolside could have serious consequences on the health of themselves and their teammates or the eligibility to participate in an event.
It’s now a situation where you’ve got to hold your brothers and sisters accountable.
Bobby McCain, a team captain for the Miami Dolphins explained it as: “You’ve got to hold your brothers accountable, as far as stepping out and going to dinner with a lot of people, going to nightclubs, going to bars, being with different women. Whatever you bring home, you’re bringing to the family. It’s definitely going to take a lot of discipline.”
Those in the medical community and our national governments are overseeing rules, regulations and guidelines, attempting to problem solve to create a new normal for the world. It's clear though that there is no one big magic fix.
Members of the senior men’s national football team have undergone 12 PCR tests since late January and that number is expected to rise in the coming weeks as World Cup Qualifiers continue. The most accurate test for COVID-19 is an unpleasant experience, to say the least. A large swab gets inserted into a person’s nasal cavity, all the way back to their throat, in order to collect a sample. The idea that athletes all over the world might have to go through such an invasive test so often is concerning to some.
When Lakers star LeBron James was first confronted with the idea of playing games without spectators in the stands, he hadn’t heard the NBA had been discussing it and he hadn’t been prepped for the question. His response was his gut reaction. “I ain’t playing if you don’t have the fans in the crowd. That’s who I play for.”
The next time James spoke about the subject, he smiled and said if that's what was safest, that's what he'd do.
James wasn’t alone with an adverse reaction to the idea of playing without fans. Spectators can play critical roles in the flow of a game.
“That is so much part of what the energy is about,” said Kate Hays, a Toronto-based sports psychologist. “The vitality and the vibrancy. To not have spectators I think will be just very challenging and another weird thing. I expect in the grand scheme of things that probably won’t matter as much as some other issues will.”
It’s those moments outside of football and other sports— celebrating a big win at a restaurant or with family members and friends have been among the hardest things to give up. The T&T players could only return to their team hotel for dinner following their 3-0 win over Guyana and then back to their individual rooms for the odd video call with loved ones before heading on a flight the following morning for Puerto Rico.
Sacrifice is definitely one of the team’s core values. When news broke that a player in the T&T camp had tested positive, it did bring a bit of gloom and anxiety into the camp less than 48 hours before kick-off but then once the news came back that it was a false positive there was a huge sense of relief for everyone in the bubble.
It was reported in the press last week that Australian Olympic officials are working with state governments to formulate a quarantine plan for athletes returning from Tokyo, amid concerns about potentially forcing them into a two-week lockdown.
The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) is piecing together a post-Games quarantine plan, likely to involve Sydney and Brisbane, as it backs the federal government to vaccinate all athletes prior to Tokyo 2021.
There are still unresolved logistical headaches with shepherding approximately 480 Australian Olympians through the COVID-19 pandemic. Charter flights will operate between Japan and Australia throughout the Games, with one of many changes to the Olympic norm being that competitors will fly out soon after their event to minimise the risk of coronavirus spreading.
The AOC is in talks with state governments regarding quarantine options, with several sporting organisations concerned about the mental challenges associated with a fortnight of strict hotel quarantine after a high-pressure event.
"The quarantine solution is still open-ended. At the end of the day, we're going to have to do what the government wants us to," Chesterman told AAP.
"In an ideal world, you'd have a facility that is purpose-built for returning athletes. But we know it might just be a hotel room for two weeks. If that's the case, we need to work out a strategy on how we help our athletes through that.
"It'll be a difficult time. We need to make sure that anybody coming back, whether they've had a great Games or a bad Games, is well looked after."
Shaun Fuentes is the head of TTFA Media. He is a former FIFA Media Officer at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Turkey The views expressed are solely his and not a representation of any organisation. shaunfuentes@yahoo.com