The way Freedom swim captain Dan Connell sees the current state of winter high school sports, basketball players can always find a hoop and shoot, but it’s not that simple for swimmers; nothing’s been simple for the Patriot swim team over the last three months.

“High hopes and low expectations,” Connell said. “It’s hard. We’re not consistently training and every time we do train, we’re actually retraining because we’re losing endurance.”

After three practices in November, the Pates and the Liberty Hurricanes were shut down by the Bethlehem Area School District.

“I was shocked that it was just us and Liberty,” said Connell. “I was waiting for other schools to follow.”

First, they didn’t. Then, they did when Gov. Tom Wolf imposed restrictions on winter sports practices and competitions for students in grades K through 12.

But it’s the Pates who’ve been left out in the cold, having yet to compete in a swim meet this season. Soon after all restrictions were lifted in January, Freedom High School was hit with a spike in COVID-19 cases that suspended the Pates’ swim season again, after a little more than a week of practice.

“It was nice to be back. Everyone was good with social distancing at practice. Everyone wanted to be there,” said Connell, who swims distance events, 500 free and 200 free. “It’s been hard, recently. This is the longest I’ve been out of the water my whole life. Everything used to be so scheduled, and now we’re freelancing every day.”

In anticipation of their first virtual swim meet of the season, scheduled for Feb. 10 against Northampton, the Pates resumed practice this past weekend, after the recent snowstorm had shut them down for another week.

“The idea of virtual meets is great, but I don’t think it will fairly represent the swimmers. There’s a difference between racing against someone you know and racing against someone you know is gonna’ be good- like Emmaus or Liberty- it puts a little fire under your butt. But we’re just gonna’ have to push,” Connell said.

Connell has a lot to look forward to, even in an abbreviated season.

“I always liked the idea of being a captain, making sure everyone knows what to do on deck, how to set up the pool, making sure no one misses events,” he said. “I’m looking forward to being able to go fast again, to be able to compete again. I haven’t had a race since districts.”