U.S. beach volleyball teammates Kelly Claes and Sarah Sponcil were all packed and minutes from driving separately to Los Angeles International Airport in mid-March when they received the notification.
An FIVB World Tour event in Sydney, Australia, their first of the Olympic year, was canceled due to the emerging coronavirus pandemic.
“We called each other,” Sponcil said. “We kind of were in that moment of now what? Like everyone else.”
Claes, 24, and Sponcil, 23, then spent nearly the entire spring apart. Sponcil drove to her native Arizona. Claes stayed in Southern California, where stay-at-home measures were instituted.