Note: The COVID-19 Outbreak ended the 2019-20 collegiate athletics season suddenly and drastically altered daily life. The How We Adjust series will highlight how Elmhurst College coaches and staff are adjusting to the changes. 

In a span of just days, the COVID-19 outbreak brought collegiate athletics to a halt while greatly impacting everyday aspects of life. Winter sports were canceled in the middle of NCAA Championships and spring sports were canceled with their seasons just beginning or in some cases, yet to begin.
 
Elmhurst Softball Coach Scott Wachholz is in his first season with the Bluejays and was itching to get his team on the field when the outbreak began to hit. The Elmhurst softball team was just three days away from hosting its season-opening doubleheader when the NCAA announced the cancelation of its spring championships and college athletics effectively came to a standstill. The news was hard to swallow for Wachholz and his team.
 
"In times like this we definitely feel for all our student-athletes and teams as they handle their specific circumstances, but for us to never get a chance to be on the field for even an inning this spring definitely is one of the most difficult things to bear," said Wachholz. "Our players put a lot into the fall, winter and preseason spring to get themselves and the team ready to compete and they never had the opportunity to competitively measure how far we have come is definitely a devastating experience for us to handle."
 
Wachholz was faced with the task of telling his players that their season was over before it ever got going.
 
"It was a very emotional meeting for all involved, as hard as it was to break the news the team it is still as hard to put into words the emotions we all experienced and exhibited at the reality of our season being canceled," he said. "As a coach, we experience 'what ifs' on a relative basis and is in part what drives our future preparation and strategy. But this will definitely go down as one of the biggest unknowns in my coaching career."
 
Now, with the classes being taken online for the remainder of the semester and with the  student-athletes scattered, Wachholz and his coaching staff has relied more on technology to keep the team together.
 
"We definitely had been using technology and different social media platforms in the past but now the reality is those tools are the new foundation of everything we do on a daily basis," he said. "From a schedule standpoint, we are checking in at least once a week but we still have many individual conversations on a daily basis. I have an open-door office policy and that still exists even though my office and desk chair has turned into my living room and recliner. My players know I am always accessible by phone whether it is text, email, call or facetime."
 
With Illinois issuing a stay at home order and no high school athletic events taking place, the recruiting landscape has drastically been altered as well.
 
"I think from a recruiting piece, the future definitely remains to be seen," said Wachholz. "With restricted travel and not being able to get perspective student-athletes to visit our campus at the moment definitely creates a different complexity but every institution and campus are experiencing this on some level. We just have to work to keep communication lines open as best we can with any little creative nuances we add."
 
Without being able to get on the field or be in the office, Wachholz has tried to maintain a sense of normalcy and a daily routine. He also feels that being from the Midwest has helped prepare him for the current times.
 
"As much as I can work to keep some normalcy in my daily routine, that's the goal," he said. "In a way midwest softball and baseball coaches are made for this. During certain seasonal points, we spend more time indoors and on alternative surfaces compared to where we will actually play our games. We had to be creative and efficient then and that's kind of the same thing we are asking of ourselves and families right now."