Olympic hopefuls
AUBURN, Ala. — Jence Rhoads and her sister, Kourtney, often walk to a sand volleyball court near their home.
The Auburn University campus is abandoned now, students sent home because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“It's a little bit quiet around here,” Jence Rhoads said. “It's usually a campus of 30,000 people, now there's no one.”
Except for Jence and Kourtney, Slippery Rock High School graduates and members of the United States national beach handball team.
They are still in town, practicing when and where they can for national and international events that may or may not happen this year.
It's a strange position to be in for Jence, who recently completed her Ph.D in kinesiology, and for Kourtney, who works as a health coach.
“The beach team was supposed to have the world championships in June in Italy,” Jence said. “That concerns me on two accounts: it's not happening in Italy and it probably won't happen in June.”
COVID-19 has thrown sports like handball — both the indoor and the beach game — into limbo.
Jence is a member of both teams.
The indoor team had Olympic aspirations for 2020 in Tokyo, but those Summer Games were postponed until 2021.
Beach handball is not yet an Olympic sport, but because of the delay in the games, may be added as an exhibition in time for 2021 and may be a full-fledged offering in 2024.
“That's the one silver lining,” Jence said. “Hopefully beach will become an Olympic sport. We have a lot of improvement to do, but it's definitely a possibility to qualify for the Olympics (in 2021 and 2024).”
Jence, 31, and Kourtney, 28, can take some solace in the fact the playing field is level.
Every country's handball teams are facing the same tribulations.
“We can find some peace, if you want to call it that, knowing we're not the only ones,” Jence said. “All athletes in the world are going through the same thing.”
There's also the bigger picture.
The IOC took the step earlier this week to postpone the games, a move Jence applauded.
“It's such a massive event and there are so many arrangements to make,” Jence said. “A lot of athletes, they can't train.”
Jence is taking the opportunity in the downtime to film movement session workouts.
The sessions use light movement, easy stretching and controlled breathing.
“I was thinking about how I could contribute and connect with other people,” Jence said. “This is a way I can put my knowledge to use.”
