Regina Riot linebacker on the front lines of COVID-19 pandemic

Adrienne Zuck is used to trying to break through offensive lines as a member of the Regina Riot.

Now she finds herself on the frontlines in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zuck is a linebacker with the Western Women’s Canadian Football League’s Regina Riot. A standout on defence, she was the team’s most valuable player in 2019.

Off the gridiron, she’s a registered nurse.

“Most of our changes have been with policies and procedures and just safety precautions within the whole hospital and the health region. Day-to-day work for me hasn’t really changed too much just because I’m not directly looking after patients that are positive. Luckily Saskatchewan has done a great job with keeping our numbers down,” Zuck told The Green Zone.

Zuck said many health-care workers are facing a new reality as they deal with helping care for people who have the virus.

“The whole global pandemic, that’s something new for a everybody that is working. Never in their career did they think they would be experiencing a global pandemic,” Zuck said.

“A few mere months ago it was an inkling on the other side of the world and then quickly it became reality here in Canada. There’s a lot of people that had a lot of anxieties about coming to work and exposing their friends and family every time they come to work.”

Zuck is also extra cautious around her own house to help stop the spread of the virus.

“Before you’d come to work with just street clothes on and you’d bring your uniform in. You’d do your shift and then after your shift, you’d change out of your work clothes and walk out of the hospital,” Zuck said.

“For myself, I come home, get in the door and walk straight downstairs and essentially just strip down in the basement, put everything in the wash machine and just go shower.”

As athletes around the world wait to learn the fate of their seasons during the pandemic, the WWCFL has elected to cancel its 2020 season.

“Not having a football season has been a big change and something is definitely missing in my life,” Zuck said.

The nine-year veteran knows every season has extra meaning in the later years of an athlete’s career.

“It’s tough,” she said. “I’m not young anymore so I’m coming to the end of my career. It’s kind of scary that one of my last seasons I was hoping to play has been cancelled.”

As Saskatchewan gets ready to begin reopening, Zuck said people need to continue to listen to advice from health officials.

“Keep doing what you’re doing,” she said. “Like a team has to trust their coach with the game plan and the players are put in certain positions to succeed, we kind of need to take that mentality with our health authorities.”