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I Want to Make Something of This Opportunity I’ve Been Given

Champions' TriBUne 3/4/2021 10:38:00 AM

Champions' TriBUne Archive

By: Andy Thomas

Champions' TriBUne is a special feature through Baylor Athletics that gives you the student-athlete's perspective and the chance for them to share their own story. Andy Thomas, a fifth-year senior catcher from Murrieta, Calif., is a career .320 hitter with 10 homers, 34 doubles and 89 RBI. Awarded a Prentice Gautt Big 12 Postgraduate Scholarship, Thomas is working on an MBA after earning his undergrad degree in marketing. Baylor baseball hosts Memphis in a four-game series this weekend at Baylor Ballpark, starting with Friday's 6:30 p.m. game:

JANUARY 2020 - I get back from winter break feeling good about the upcoming season, and I am loving life. I am expecting to catch most of the games and really help our team as a leader and a middle-of-the-order type hitter.

FEBRUARY 2020 – The 2020 season begins. We have a rough opening night, but we battle our butts off and pull of a series win versus Nebraska. Our team chemistry was building, and we felt as if we were starting to click on all cylinders. The third weekend, we travel to Houston to play Missouri, LSU and Arkansas from the SEC. WE SWEEP!! Our team was rolling, and we finally had that big weekend we needed to build our confidence. Two weeks later, our worlds come to a complete stop.

MARCH 2020 – COVID-19 shuts down all college athletics for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year. The information we get is minimal. The only thing we know is the rest of our season is canceled and we would not be playing another game in 2020.

When this happened, my initial response was fear and sadness. I had no idea what I was going to do and whether the NCAA was going to grant another year of eligibility back to us seniors who hadn't exhausted our four years of college ball. It was as if time stood still for months. Finally, we get the word that all players were going to be given another year. Hope. For the first time in months, I had an idea of what I was going to do. I wanted to return to Baylor and play another season with my brothers. As it turns out, though, nothing is ever as easy as it seems.

In the spring of 2020, I was applying to law schools and patiently waiting to hear back from them to assess which decisions I should make. For the first time in my life, I had zero idea what the future held for me. On top of researching law schools, I was trying to figure out with the Baylor coaches how I could come back for another year and still afford it. That two- to three-week gap in time was one of the most stressful and difficult times in my life. I am not someone who does well with the unknown. I am okay with ambiguity, but when things about my life or future are unknown and there isn't light at the end of the tunnel, that is a helpless and scary feeling.

Andy Thomas

APRIL 2020 – I make my decision to return to Baylor to play my fifth year and was awarded the Prentice Gautt scholarship for graduate school students by the Big 12. I was beyond thrilled that I could play my final season and take this team to Omaha. The only thing up in the air was what degree I was going to pursue. I had applied to Baylor Law School and was right on the cusp of getting in. However, when I didn't, I was left wondering what to do. I applied for the Masters of Business Administration degree within the business school and was accepted later that week.

Andy Thomas

The hardships I have faced regarding COVID-19 are not comparable with tragedies all over the world. However, they have taught me lessons I would have never been exposed to if it had not been for the virus. Patience is the first thing this virus has taught me. Most people have no idea what is going to happen, and learning to go with the flow and not being in control is a HUGE lesson I had to learn. It was either stress about the uncontrollable, and be consumed by things out of my control, or learn to live with them and take the punches as they come.

Andy Thomas

Another lesson I learned from COVID-19 was time management and preparation skills. Since all of our classes went online in the spring of 2020, I had to prepare much differently than if they were in person. That change made me much more adaptable and made me comfortable with doing things online. I am very grateful for that. The last lesson I learned was that we must not take anything for granted. Our season was taken from us last year, and that pain may never go away in my heart. But, as many people who go through a near-death experience say, I am going to make everything I can out of this opportunity that should not be given to me. I am lucky to still be playing college baseball, and I will make something from this.

Andy Thomas