How the pandemic dashed this McGill lacrosse player's hopes for on-field redemption

Earlier this month, the Réseau du Sport Étudiant du Québec cancelled university sports for the fall semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The following is how that decision has affected Tanner Baldin, an engineering student at McGill University who was a member of McGill men's lacrosse team from 2016 to 2020.

My journey at McGill is ending as unpredictably as it began. During my senior year of high school, I was pursuing an NCAA Division I opportunity in the United States, but I quickly had things change when my future coach decided to resign. This left me frustrated and anxious, and I questioned my initial decision to play lacrosse and study in the United States.

Weeks before my high school graduation, I decided that it was in my best interest to look elsewhere for opportunities that better suited me academically. Miraculously, I was able to reach out to the coach of the McGill men's lacrosse team, Tim Murdoch, and he helped me through a very late admission process. With no visit, and never meeting a teammate or coach in person, I made the decision to pursue engineering and lacrosse at McGill University.

Arriving in Montreal would have been terrifying as a freshman — feelings of isolation and uncertainty would have consumed me daily. However, the lacrosse team welcomed me to the city and to the McGill way of life in a way that would shape my entire experience here. I always had a practice to be at or a game to prepare for, and a teammate to fight through it all with.

I am not sure how I would have gotten through my first few years here without that support network around me. The teammates I met in my first year are now lifelong friends, and we were blessed with a chance to create so many memories that I will never forget.

We had a rookie season that we can now look back on and laugh about. We had a chance to see teammates come and go. We had tough battles with rivals, and overtime wins. We also experienced heartbreaking defeats, like the one last year in the Canadian National semifinals, versus Western, at Molson Stadium. [Editor's note: McGill led 4-1 at the half, but Western came from behind to win 6-5.]

I think I can speak for all the seniors on the team when I say that's not how we thought the last chapter of our McGill careers would pan out. We were all planning to come back and change that narrative. The team was seeking redemption and a chance to create a memory that wouldn't leave a sour taste in our mouths on our way out the door.

No one could have anticipated the nature of how that opportunity was stripped from us, and I would be lying if I said we are not frustrated with the consequences of the pandemic.

However, I think I am more disappointed for the athletes just starting their careers at McGill. This pandemic has stripped them of an opportunity to be welcomed by myself and the other guys who are on their way out and looking to pay back the generosity that we first received upon our own arrivals.

They won't have that freshmen year that they can look back on like we did. They will have to battle those feelings of doubt and anxiety without a friend to share it with at practice, or an older teammate to ask for help.

My time at McGill is not ending the way I anticipated, and it's the same for all graduating athletes. No one could have ever predicted this. But despite how badly we would like to be out on the field competing, having a season would have been irresponsible.

Even though we are disappointed, I know that the McGill lacrosse team will come out better and more competitive than ever after all this is over. We leave behind a new coach, a new team, and an entirely new culture, and when lacrosse can resume, I have no doubt that our program will begin a successful new chapter in its history.