One word to describe the year 2020 for professional athletics? Disaster.
Back in January, the United States’ first case of COVID-19 was detected in in a nursing home in Washington state. In the weeks that followed, instances of the virus continued to pop up — first in Washington, then in more traditional hotspot sites like Massachusetts and New York. Less than eight weeks later, the nation was seeing over 500 new cases per day, the World Health Organization officially designated it a pandemic, and professional sports were shut down for the indefinite future.
Here in Connecticut, that meant one of American soccer’s newest teams, Hartford Athletic, was forced to temporarily close its doors just twelve months after playing its first match in club history. The months that followed were difficult for players, coaches, and media personnel alike, as a two-month layoff made way for a season headlined by new protocols and safety measures. Through it all, though, Athletic carried on, and a postseason berth in just its second season became both a prize for its perseverance and a symbol of its resilience.