Life without the Green Ocean

Perfect weather on the last day of August. The first game of the season is at New Paltz as you look forward to facing The College of Saint Rose. The bright colors of the twenty-two player's uniforms out on the vast green ocean of freedom playing. It is great to be back playing soccer. Your team is tied at 2-2 at the half . At this point in the match, you start to grow uncertain about going onto the field let alone making the final roster. Coach Clancy calls your number and it's your time to play in the game. Your teammates and fans start cheering you on as you enter and start pushing up into the other team’s side of the field. After the game Coach Clancy congratulated you as you made the final roster and now all the nerves went away. But the following week COVID strikes campus and all sports are cancelled. 

From the adrenaline rush of playing your next opponent to not knowing when or if sports would return again, this may have been the last organized game you’ll ever play.

Media Day 2019: Carlos Cuellar pictured by the Athletic Communications Office.

Carlos Cuellar was a soccer star in SUNY Ulster before transferring to SUNY New Paltz. “The competition was different and tougher. Coach switched my position on the field and I was uncertain that I was going to make the final roster,” said Cuellar. Not only did he overcome the challenge of making the New Paltz roster but he also had to overcome challenges off the field.

Early mornings, late nights, countless hours of training, and now perhaps nothing to show for it. Cuellar woke up before sunrise to go for runs. He sacrificed school work to perfect his craft and his grades sunk. Like Cuellar, for SUNY New Paltz’s 294 student-athletes many of them will not have the chance to step out on the field one last time.

For many student-athletes and coaches, sports have impacted their lives in a variety of ways. The reason why student-athletes play and coaches coach is because they want to compete at a high level, stay active, and build new bonds. Due to this pandemic, they are not allowed to play the sports they love. Sports were an escape from the real world.

“According to the Washington Post,” the list of colleges that have either cancelled their season or cut these programs completely due to the pandemic has passed 230 and counting. As of October 2020, the NCAA announced that they have granted all Division I-Division III level fall and winter athletes an extra year of eligibility whether they compete in the 2020-2021 season or not.

Traditionally, a student-athlete has five years to play four years of their sport. Since the pandemic ruined sports and cancelled all seasons, now an athlete has six years to play four years of their sport.

Despite the extension granted by the NCAA, the early mornings, late nights, and countless hours of training Cuellar made the difficult decision to quit sports. “I want to focus on my academic career,” Cuellar sighed. “COVID has ruined my competitive drive and I learned to accept that.”

Not only has the cancellation of sports been devastating for student-athletes but coaches as well.

Picture of Coach Kyle Clancy taken by Athletics Communications Office

Coach Kyle Clancy has been a part of building and developing the New Paltz soccer team for five seasons. In his first four seasons, he has led the program to two SUNYAC playoff appearances including the first home semifinal appearance in the program’s history in 2018.

Coach Clancy was hopeful to lead the roster to another SUNYAC playoff appearance but the pandemic ruined the plans. “The athletic director gathered all the coaches via a zoom call and it was announced officially that the Fall 2020 season was cancelled”, said Coach Clancy. “It was a huge letdown especially for the athletes representing our school since they come here for many different reasons.”

Over the summer Coach kept in touch with all of his players by hosting virtual lifting sessions with the strength coach, video analysis and virtual game night where the team played games like skribbl where players draw and guess words with other players.

“My goal over the summer was to keep that togetherness, keep the group connected as much as possible.” 

Even before the semester Coach Clancy wanted to set goals to develop his roster in areas such as academically, athletically, and mentally. He wanted to find ways to develop his roster on and off the field.

New Paltz’s Men soccer tourney. Pictured in center of frame is F Carlos Cuellar taken by Monica D’lppolito

In September, the administration allowed the team to hold practice. “We were appreciative of the university for letting us do that because some schools in our conference weren’t able to.” From September 15 to November 20th the team was able to hold practices three days a week and for the last month they were able to host a tournament for the team in groups of 5. “We treated this as an actual tournament. We kept track of stats, wins and losses,” said Coach Clancy. “We wanted to create a high level of competition. We want our guys to be the best version of themselves and to strive to be the best team.”

One area of college sports that coaches get high praise for is recruiting but with COVID, the recruiting process is made more difficult than ever.

“Tournaments are going on all year round. We were always going somewhere to watch games to build a pool of players to recruit.” However teams started to record games and Coach Clancy would sit on his computer, request and watch games from potential recruits to see how consistent the player was and what type of impact they would have on the New Paltz roster. 

Another challenging part of recruiting was the dead period. NCAA Division One established a dead period where coaches cannot go out and recruit in person and they can't make face to face contact with recruits. Coach Clancy stated that New Paltz recruits fringe division one or division two players but the issue is that these athletes have to wait for responses longer than usual from D-I schools to see if they make the roster or not.

Since the NCAA gave four-year athletes an extra year of eligibility, Coach Clancy mentioned that roster management is going to be a challenge for the next four years. “Our school has a recruiting budget, but with the new rules in place we aren't quite sure about how many players we can have on a roster.”

While the roster situation is unknown Coach has his sights on next season.

“We fully believe we're going to be sitting in camps and it has been a long time since this program won a college championship.”

Jonathan Tola (center) pushing the ball upfield during the soccer tourney. Picture taken by Monica D’lppolito

While the season got cancelled, third-year player Jonathan Tola decided to devote his time to creating a club.

Jonathan Tola is one of Cuellar’s teammates and plays right back defender. His role is to deny the attacker the opportunity to turn and attack the defense if he receives the ball.

Tola got recruited to join the NP roster at the end of his junior year at Herbert H. Lehman high school in Bronx, NY. Despite making the team Tola had a major setback before his first season at NP. 

It was the dog days of August where Tola was practicing with the New Paltz soccer team. Being recruited to the squad and wanting to make an impact Tola was striving to be great but from all the bumps from slide tackling and shielding from other players he knew something felt off on his right knee. Turns out Tola tore off his knee cartilage and was declared out for his freshman season. 

Coming off a rigorous rehab and playing the following season Tola was looking forward to competing in the 2020 season at New Paltz. Since the season was cancelled he decided to dedicate his time to start a club for New Paltz Athletes of Color (NPAC). “The most difficult part in creating this was to get people invested in it,” he said. Tola hopes that NPAC will gain more traction especially if sports return to New Paltz next year.

Giving up on sports is one of the most difficult decisions Cuellar has made in his life but in the past, Cuellar faced and overcame greater challenges.

Cuellar and his family moved to the United States back in 2012. Like many immigrants, Cuellar’s first challenge was learning a new language. “When I came I didn't speak any English. It was difficult because I didn’t know what teachers or coaches were saying. Once I learned English it felt great since I understood what was happening and what was being said.”

Even an essential commodity such as transportation was challenging during the early years for Cuellar. “We had to use buses, taxis,” said Cuellar, “sometimes after practice was over I would have to walk from school all the way home.” 

Despite the heartbreak with the sport he adored, Cuellar found a new purpose. Sending aid back to Honduras.

Cuellar and the soccer team helped in the relief efforts from Hurricane Iota’s destruction in Central America especially in his home country of Honduras. Cuellar asked SUNY New Paltz students, faculty, staff, and the entire community to donate clothes and other essential items that he will ship to Honduras to help people in need.

“The relief efforts went well. We received about 30 boxes of clothes and food,” said Cuellar. He never expected the relief efforts to get the attention it received. “I imagined it to be similar to a small food drive but my teammates thought it would be a great idea for it to be something big. Word got to Coach Clancy and then he made it happen.”