BLACKSBURG, Va. – The entire athletics landscape was put into disarray when the COVID-19 outbreak hit both here in the United States and in other countries around the world. The Olympics were postponed, professional seasons were delayed and college athletic seasons were altered.
The same is true for the UEFA Women's Euro 2021, which was set for next summer, but has now been rescheduled to take place from July 6-31, 2022 in England with 48 nations vying for 15 spots in the final tournament.
One of those countries is Ukraine and includes Virginia Tech women's soccer player Nicole Kozlova, who is making her fifth appearance with the Senior National Team and has 5 CAPS. She has joined the team for a training camp that started yesterday (Sept. 14) and the squad will compete in a couple of EURO qualifying matches over the next week – at Montenegro on Sept. 18 and at home versus Greece on Sept. 22.
"Some of these qualifying games were supposed to be played in the spring however they were all postponed to the fall due to everything going on in the world," Kozlova said. "I got my official invite to the first camp near the end of August. UEFA has prioritized full national team games, making sure every national team can play this fall. They have a lot of protocols in place –chartered flights, COVID testing and a lot of other rules."
Opportunities like this – playing for a national team – are always a double-edged sword for college athletes, especially during their competition season. Kozlova was training with her Tech teammates for about a month and preparing for a 2020 season before she found out about the call up. She was quick to learn things were going to be a bit different this time around.
Ukraine has a second camp and set of qualifiers in late October – the 23rd versus Ireland and the 27th at Greece – and with the addition of protocols and testing due to COVID-19, it turns out she will miss most of Tech's fall season with this call back.
"It was a very stressful time and a very difficult decision to come to terms with," she said. "When I got called into camp I was ecstatic, it was another opportunity to put on the Ukrainian jersey and represent my country. Opportunities like these are very rare and each call-up to the national team is extremely special.
"Initially I was hoping I would be able to come back in between camps to play in my season with Tech like I had done in previous years. Unfortunately, with COVID and all the restrictions and protocols the coaching staff and sports medicine could not find a way to be able to bring me back into the group in between camps. From here it was decided that I would stay in Ukraine in between the camps."
"Missing this season has been very mentally tough on me and something I did not want to have to do. If I was allowed, I would be coming back and not staying over here for the entire semester. If restrictions are lifted and protocols are changed I will be quick to comeback"
So after these first set of qualifiers, Kozlova will be staying with family as well as one of the national team coaches Natalia Zinchenko, who offered to train her in between camps in order to develop and improve her game.
Kozlova will also still be enrolled in classes at Tech, taking a 15-credit course load. All of her classes were already on-line which offers little adjustment and since she has travelled so much in her previous semesters, she is well prepared to complete the semester overseas.
"If I am being honest this is not the ideal situation for me at all, I wish I was allowed to come back to Virginia Tech and play in as many games as I could," Kozlova said. "I love putting on the Virginia Tech jersey and representing Hokie Nation and it's something I never take for granted.
"However, out of each opportunity you have to grow and find ways to learn from them. Being able to live in Ukraine for an extended period of time is going to allow me to dive deep into the Ukrainian culture and get the experience of living in Ukraine – something I have never gotten to experience in the past. Maybe I will finally learn how to read well in Ukrainian, who knows."
But as she becomes assimilated to a new home, Kozlova will also miss her second home and what Tech has been trying to do here in Blacksburg with the 2020 Hokies.
"I will miss Blacksburg a lot but I will especially miss all my teammates. We have a very young team with a lot of new girls. I felt like we were building a new team culture from scratch and getting to know each other this past month," she said. "It makes me really upset that I won't be able to be one of the leaders on the team this season, but hope I can provide some support even if I am miles and miles away. I will also miss Cabo, Mezzah, Thompson Field and the Blacksburg sunsets."
Tech will no doubt miss No. 10 during the fall, but certainly wish her nothing but the best. As she keeps tabs on her teammates here, they will undoubtable keep at least one eye open on what she's doing overseas.