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Eleven months after his season was canceled due to COVID-19, John Eads stepped into the Carrier Dome for the first time as a fan, not an athlete. Eads and his club men’s lacrosse teammates took their practice to the Dome, and after not practicing all fall, Eads was excited to play in a “sacred place.”

Club sports such as baseball and lacrosse have utilized the Dome as a practice space after Syracuse University eased restrictions in February to allow them to practice in the Dome –– a space typically reserved for Syracuse’s Division I teams. Syracuse’s club teams usually practice in Manley Field House, on South Campus. The Dome was opened up to club teams partly due to limited access to athletic facilities because of COVID-19, Syracuse’s Club Sports Director Angie Petrie said. 

Upon arrival to the Dome, club sports athletes must check in through SU’s student portal, which is similar to the website students use for gym reservations. Athletes must keep their masks on at all times, refrain from contract drills and limit practice to only 25 athletes.

The 25-person limit puts practice spots in high demand, Bridget Essing said. When her women’s lacrosse team is cleared for practice in the Dome, Essing sends a text into her team’s group chat of nearly 50 members. Within minutes, all the spots are taken. 

Playing in the Dome wasn’t even a consideration last semester, Petrie said. Club sports were only cleared to practice if the university considered them non-contact, and many teams — such as men’s club lacrosse —  were forced to cancel their fall seasons. Many players spent the time off practicing individually, and some teams would schedule socially distanced informal practices and conditioning sessions to keep the team together and ready for the spring season.

“Obviously, you’re not going to risk a life-long medical condition just to play club lacrosse,” Eads said.

Last semester, the women’s lacrosse team hosted only two practices and a tryout before the university paused club sport activity due to a spike in positive COVID-19 cases in November, Essing said. Those three practices in Manley Field House allowed the team to utilize the entire field. But in the Dome, the basketball court took up half the turf for the first month of the spring semester, forcing the team to split the remaining half with the men’s club lacrosse team. 

“There’s just more space at Manley for us to do full-field drills and full-field scrimmages, but the atmosphere at the Dome is unmatched,” Essing said. 

The Syracuse men’s club lacrosse team after their first practice in the Dome in February. Courtesy of Jordan Lancaster

In addition to the cap on the number of athletes, the pandemic has also changed the way teams run practice. Club sports teams are not allowed to run drills that encourage contact, Eads said. Because of this, neither lacrosse team has been able to run one-on-one drills in practice.

Conflicts with some of SU’s Division I sports teams have caused club sports practices to be canceled. But that hasn’t diminished the thrill of practicing in such a storied place, athletes said.

“Not many people get to say they practice in the Dome,” club baseball player Colby Schmidt said.

Published on March 23, 2021 at 12:59 am

Contact Connor: [email protected]