Sports don’t stop for the holidays.
Rather than plan around sporting events, students involved in fall Division I collegiate sports typically fit the holidays into their busy schedules.
Friday’s football game against Arizona just one day after Thanksgiving has displaced people involved in some aspect of the game — from players to fans, from band members to coaches.
One of these groups is the Oregon Marching Band Color Guard, which must report to Autzen Stadium at 9 a.m. before the 4 p.m. kickoff Friday.
Because of the short time frame, many of the guard’s members will not have enough time to make the journey home for Thanksgiving.
“It’s my first year without my family on Thanksgiving. I feel fine about it right now, but I don’t know how I’ll feel about it on Thanksgiving. I might feel a little lonely,” said Samantha Rohrich, a sophomore art history major in her first year with the color guard.
Even through Rohrich is from Portland, she can’t feasibly find time to make the trip.
“I have to be here on Friday for marching band in the morning, so I didn’t want to skip class to be home for more than a day,” Rohrich said. “It’s stressful to try and ride the bus back and forth in the span of one day.”
Nine of the guard’s 18 members will spend Thanksgiving in Eugene this year because of limited travel time.
“I will be spending Thanksgiving at my house in Eugene with my roommate,” said Meghan Polite, a senior history major.
Such sacrifice is something that people involved in fall activities have come to expect. The trade-off between responsibilities and family time is just one of the downsides.
Polite said this wasn’t her first Thanksgiving at home that she was missing.
When a club soccer tournament at another university coincided with the break, Polite also wasn’t able to make it home.
“I’ve gotten pretty used to it, but my grandma got mad for a while,” Polite said.
For the color guard’s instructors, the responsibility goes beyond the years of just being a student.
“It’s my fifth year with the guard, and every year for Christmas my mom likes to make plans, but we go to a bowl trip with the football team,” head instructor Emily Crocker said. “Every year I have to tell her I don’t know my Christmas plans until the team knows which bowl game we’re going to.”
Understanding the challenge of not being able to go home for the holidays, the Oregon Marching Band and Color Guard will hold a Thanksgiving dinner for members who can’t go home.
“This is a class for them, and they are required to be there, but this is a holiday and we don’t want them to be all alone on it,” Crocker said.
Other guard members have attempted to work around the schedule conflict to celebrate the holiday.
“My mom and sister are driving up for the game,” said Mia Silvani, a freshman majoring in sociology.
Rather than miss out on Thanksgiving festivities, the Color Guard’s other nine members are making the quick journey home.
“I’m a freshman, and I’m kind of missing my family. I want to spend time with them, even if it’s for a day,” said Jesseca Knorr, a human physiology major whose family lives two hours away in Central Point, Ore.
Knorr and her family plan to leave as early as 7 a.m. Friday morning.
Missing out on Thanksgiving at home or rushing through it is not ideal, but the members of the Color Guard never said they regretted being involved.
For all, it appeared missing out on one Thanksgiving was worth the camaraderie and experience they find with the group. “I’m excited for every game,” Knorr said.
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