None of the more than 200 Southern New Hampshire University winter and spring student-athletes that were still competing thought their seasons would draw to a close March 12. But no one could have foreseen the spread of COVID-19 forcing the Northeast-10 Conference to suspend competition until April 13 or the NCAA needing to cancel all winter and spring championships later that day. In keeping with state and federal public health guidelines, the NE10 extended its suspension through the end of the spring season of competition and canceled spring championships six days later on March 18. The NCAA approved a blanket waiver for all student-athletes participating in spring sports to be able to extend their eligibility for an extra year, but, depending on circumstances surrounding each individual student-athlete, the seniors may have not just seen their seasons cut short, but their entire careers suddenly wrapped up. While most people's thoughts were with the players and coaches whose seasons had just abruptly ended, everyone felt for the seniors that might not step foot on the field, court, green or stage again. With enough time passing for sadness to begin moving toward acceptance, we thought we would check in with our seniors from each affected team and let them, in their own words, talk about how they felt when they heard the news, how they have been keeping busy and what might be next. In our eighth installment, we hear from men's tennis senior, Bas van Biezen.

Before the Coronavirus created a large impact on our society around the world, I am blessed to say that I could not have ended my school year and tennis season in a better way. The SNHU men's tennis team was in Florida for spring break and we were still able to stay there for the full seven days and compete against other great schools. Shortly after spring break, the NCAA decided to cancel all the spring championships. I was still at SNHU when I heard about the suspension.

The cancellation of all the spring sports included our tennis season and shaped a variety of feelings in me. Also, because I am a senior, I saw my last season and graduation flash away in front of me. This created a mix of several feelings such as being mad, sad, upset, anxious, and fearful. We were involved in a situation we had never experienced before and we had no answers to some important questions. This made me feel anxious and a little afraid. School- and tennis-wise, it brought up feelings such as being mad, sad, and upset. The time period you look forward to the most in your college career is not going to happen. This, I could not believe at the time. After watching what is happening to other parts of the world, communities, and families, it is much more important that everyone stays healthy now. My entire family and all my friends are still healthy so that is much more important to me now. Therefore, I am feeling much better and created a positive mindset.

I know that the entire team had worked hard all year around for our spring break and season to start. All the players are happy that we still had the opportunity to compete during our spring break trip, but unfortunately we never started the NE10 season. But as a captain I can tell we were ready for another undefeated year to add another ring to our collection. We were all fit and in great shape to maybe beat and improve our records again this year.

At the moment, I am back home in The Netherlands with my family. After President Trump made the announcement about the travel ban, my family and I decided it would be better to be at home instead of staying in the United States and not being able to go to The Netherlands for a long time. I am a person who likes to stay physically active, while increasing my knowledge by learning. An example of what I normally do during the day is I wake up, do my homework, go for a run, watch one or two episodes of a show, play some board games/puzzles with my household family and go to bed. 

I have taken a few online courses before, but remote learning during your last semester as a senior created a different experience. I am not saying I hate or love it, but it provides us another opportunity for all the SNHU students to be able to finish their courses/semester in a unique way. I enjoyed logging into 'Zoom' or 'RingCentral' to get face-to-face with my professors and students, so there is still some sort of connection and interaction.

SNHU has transformed my life of learning and offered me an exceptional student experience with recognized academic programs. Therefore, the past four years at SNHU have been remarkable for me and I would love to come back for another year. I have been in contact with my head coach and we are looking into some options for me to come back to SNHU next year for another season and so that I can obtain my Master's degree.

I have attended SNHU since September 2016. From a young age. SNHU gave me the chance to pursue my school and tennis career on a high collegiate level. Adapting to a new and different culture was probably the biggest step I have taken in my entire life. However, SNHU provided the feeling of a second home for me, and I have felt welcomed since the first day I stepped foot on campus. Since my freshman year, I felt I belonged to the community. I love SNHU's diversity and the level of engagement from students across the globe.

-Bas van Biezen

Previous Installments

In Their Own Words: Maddy Barone (March 23)
In Their Own Words: Anthony Milano (March 24)
In Their Own Words: Maddie Young (March 30)
In Their Own Words: Ashley Elder (April 6)
In Their Own Words: Joshua Goldstein (April 13)
In Their Own Words: Morgan Mitchell (April 20)
In Their Own Words: Samantha Bates (April 27)