With sports shut down at UCLA, mind games are all anyone can play

The running back who considers himself the fastest player in college football keeps slamming into an invisible wall.

The novel coronavirus pandemic first waylaid UCLA’s Kenroy Higgins II in March, just before the dual-sport athlete was going to compete in the NCAA indoor track championships. He was on the verge of trying to top his school-record time in the 60-meter dash when he was summoned to an emergency team meeting.

The championships were canceled. His dreams were dashed....

.....Chip Kelly, the Bruins’ football coach, told his players there’s no handbook they can reference for what can feel like the real-life equivalent of a fourth-and-long situation trailing late in a game.

“There’s no Page 52, ‘In the event of a pandemic do this,’ ” tight end Greg Dulcich said, repeating what Kelly told his team. “It obviously is pretty frustrating that there’s no one to turn to for answers on it because nobody really knows how things are going to play out, so you’re just kind of in this weird limbo.”.....

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Bethany`s Notes: There is no playbook for coaches on how to help their athletes through a pandemic. Athletes who lost one season already are struggling when their next sports season has been cancelled too.