The St. Joe’s men’s and women’s basketball teams ended memorable seasons earlier this month, not because of wins and losses but because of the challenges they faced due to the coronavirus pandemic.
More than anything, it was a year without fans, without cheering, T-shirt tosses, halftime performances and the pep band providing a musical backdrop.
For men’s sophomore guard Cameron Brown, not having fans affected the “energy” in the arena.
“Playing with fans just makes the game more fun,” Brown said. “When somebody makes a big play or something happens in the game, you can run off that roar.”
Prior to the start of the season, SJU Athletics announced they would not have fans at basketball games this year because of state and city COVID-19 restrictions on indoor capacity. Instead, home games, and some road games, were streamed on ESPN+.
Junior guard Katie Jekot, co-captain for the women’s team, said she missed interactions with friends and family after games the most.
“I have three sisters who all play basketball,” Jekot said. “We really enjoy watching each other and going to each other’s games, getting to see them after and going to get food and stuff. We haven’t been able to do it with COVID this year.”
Rob Sullivan, senior associate athletic director for external affairs, said his department worked with members of both teams to come up with ways to liven up the games, including placing cardboard cutouts of fans in the stands and piping in fan noise.
“It was really a way for us to stay connected and engaged and very communicative with our fan base,” Sullivan said. “It was an opportunity in a year where we knew there wouldn’t be in-person fans in Hagan. We were just looking for different ideas to stay connected with our fan base and also create an atmosphere for the student athletes that was game like.”
Sullivan said reception to the cutouts was positive. Fans were able to purchase the cutouts for $45. About 500 cutouts were placed in the end zones, he said.
“The cutouts themselves showed very well both on TV and if you were watching the game on stream or remotely,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said the athletics staff also took photos of the cutouts with the Hawk mascot and sent them to the fans who had purchased them to show the staff’s appreciation.
“The cutouts were used as an additional touchpoint to stay connected, stay engaged, stay communicative with all our supporters,” Sullivan said.
Senior guard Mary Sheehan, co-captain for the women’s team along with Jekot, said she appreciated the steps athletics took.
“It was still a fun game atmosphere with the cardboard cutouts and some fan noise as well,” Sheehan said. “That definitely was helpful in making it seem as normal as possible.”
In fact, Sheehan said there are actually some perks to playing without fans.
“It’s easier to hear each other, so that’s actually a positive, like calling out plays and talking on defense,” Sheehan said.
Andrea Wieland, Ph.D., associate athletic director of sports performance at the University of Pennsylvania, said that it’s important for athletes to mentally prepare and to find what works for them.
“The athletes know if fans can’t be there because of this pandemic environment, then I’m not going to focus on that,” Wieland said. “I’m going to focus on competing and getting myself mentally and physically ready to perform, and I’ll do my best considering the circumstances, as opposed to relying on circumstances to drive the performance.”
Women’s Assistant Coach Katie Kuester ’12 said that is what the Hawks did.
“I give a lot of credit to our players, and obviously to our staff, that we were sort of forced to create our own energy in terms of having each other’s back vocally and really verbalizing our support by cheering for each other and being very active on the sidelines,” Kuester said.
Brown said he and his teammates found their focus on the court as well.
“Once you start playing, you don’t even realize there’s no fans there until you come out the game,” Brown said. “You’re on the bench so you can hear every single thing on the floor and every single thing your coaches are saying.”
While COVID-19 made for a challenging season, Kuester said the team was just happy to play.
“I think they were so thankful and appreciative that we were actually playing basketball games that not having fans in the stands didn’t really affect them that much,” Kuester said. “I gave a ton of credit to them, to just being thankful for the moment rather than being upset that their friends and families couldn’t see them play.”
At the teams’ last home games, which were also the senior days for each team, players were allowed to have two family members in the stands.
The women’s game was against Duquesne University on Feb. 28 in which the Hawks beat the Dukes 60-52.
“It did result in a win,” Kuester said. “I don’t know if that’s because parents were there or not, but it definitely gave our girls an opportunity to realize they should never take for granted having loved ones and the fans in the stands being able to cheer for us.”
