The 2020 fall sports season will be different, and at the helm of leadership for Goshen College is Erica Albertin, interim athletic director.

Albertin has been the athletic trainer for Goshen College since 2016, and with the release of former athletic director Harold Watson last spring, she stepped into a bigger role in the athletic department.

“[She] has demonstrated the ability to lead in her area,” said Gilberto Perez, vice president of student life, in an earlier interview this year. 

Along with her role as head athletic trainer, Albertin was the associate athletic director and senior women’s administrator in 2018. 

When asked what she was most looking forward to as the new athletic director, Albertin said, 

“The biggest one would be when the pandemic is over,” she said. “But I am just really excited that our student athletes can be back. There is a really good energy even though people are getting used to a new reality that we are living in.”

One of the biggest challenges Albertin faces is adjusting to the pandemic, which has affected schools and their athletic programs all around the country. At GC, fall sport’s championships have been moved to the spring, which means cross country, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s soccer will play their championships in April and May of 2021. 

“We are hoping just to be able to play through this season, having the events on Wednesdays and Saturdays,” Albertin said. “We have been limiting our travel a lot more than we have in the past. We are really excited for it, we are in a tough division, but everything in the Crossroads League is tough, so we are looking forward to starting up and seeing what our teams can do.” 

Another pandemic challenge Albertin and the athletic leadership team face is the health of student athletes. Some of the tasks the athletic staff did to prepare the campus for the return of student athletes included meeting with the other athletic directors around the Crossroads League, getting neck gaiters for all athletes and reducing the seasons. 

“The single hardest one was the unknown,” she said. “But being able to be flexible, and making decisions that probably won’t make everybody happy and making sure that the number one goal is keeping everybody healthy moving forward,” Albertin said.