The fall season athletes at Jones have fallen victim to injuries, extreme and minor, that cause them to miss time in their respective sports.

Injuries have had an effect on entire teams as their training has put a lot of stress on the athletes’ bodies.

“A lot of swimmers end up with shoulder injuries because of the kind of exercise we’re doing. It’s very upper body heavy,” said Bethany Poisson ‘24. “A lot of the swim team has shoulder issues. My shoulder started hurting in practice yesterday, and like three of my friends have shoulder issues.”

Athletes said the lack of access to training locations during the pandemic may be contributing to frequent injuries.

“I don’t think the injury was from the pandemic,” said cross country and track runner Ethan Sterling ‘22, who suffered from a stress fracture in his femur. “But being home all day and sitting down for a long time could have contributed to the injury.”

Others think the COVID-19 pandemic could have had an effect on their proneness to injury.

“I used to train a lot more, and then I stopped training because of COVID,” said Poisson, a swimmer who suffered from lower back pain. “I really didn’t start training again until school swim season started.”

Some athletes that got injured during the pandemic believe that being at home a lot more had more mental rather than physical effects. 

“I think the injury is a mix of the two. The pandemic played a bigger role on my mental health, while the injury sustained during water polo took a toll on my physical health,” said swimmer and water-polo player Morgan Butney ‘24, who is suffering from Swimmer’s Shoulder. “I find that physical injuries take a huge toll on athletes’ mental health, especially with the expectations put on them and worry about getting better to play their sport.”

However, being back in school has had a positive impact on the athletes’ range of motion because they are not doing school online, and are able to move around the building regularly.

“The stairs, obviously, are good for me,” said Poisson. “I’m not sitting in my bed doing all my classes; I’m moving around more and things of that nature.”

The injured athletes have a long road to recovery, and more recovery means less time actually enjoying the sport that they love playing. 

“I have to undergo six weeks of physical therapy. If there’s no improvement, I have to have special imaging done with the possibility of surgery,” said Butney. “I’m not feeling so good as my shoulder has caused me lots of stress, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

However, once these athletes recover from their injury and are back on their respective fields, courts, and pools, they reach, as Butney referenced, the light at the end of the tunnel. 

“I just ran my first race in six months on Wednesday [Oct. 6]  and it went pretty well,”said Sterling. “I’m happy to be able to run again after so long.”