They’re not sure how it’ll go, but they’re all eager to find out.

Coaches at James Madison are anxious for their players, who have waited since last March or last November, to compete in game action again.

“That’s what we want,” Dukes 17th-year field hockey coach Christy Morgan said. “We just want to play and I think the other thing this pandemic has taught us is every day when we go out there, we have an appreciation. We get to do it. We don’t have to do it. We get to do it right now and I think that’s why the energy is so good within our teams.”

Fall sports teams that had seasons postponed to the spring and the traditional spring sports squads at JMU will open their campaigns at various points in the coming weeks.

Volleyball is scheduled to host Delaware at Sinclair Gymnasium and women’s soccer is slated to welcome Old Dominion to Sentara Park on Sunday, and later next week lacrosse, men’s soccer and football follows. Softball and baseball begin in the weeks after and field hockey gets to start in mid-March.

“Just that it’s actually going to happen,” JMU women’s soccer coach Joshua Walters said about what he’s excited for in regard to the unconventional spring. “I think with all the sports and all of the athletes, it’s difficult. It’s hard to put your heart all the way into it because you don’t know.

“You look at us in the fall, the girls came back in late July to be ready. We trained in preseason for seven days and some girls spent a month in another country just to be able to come into our country. But, we trained for seven days and then were off for 15. We trained for seven days and then the school shut down, so we were off for 15. And then when we finally got started up again, we had a really good run the last eight or nine weeks, but I think the girls need to feel that the game is going to happen.”

None of the coaches in charge are naïve. From paying attention to college basketball and FBS football, they know schedules can change rapidly and a positive coronavirus test or contact tracing can alter the flow of the season.

Three JMU coaches said they have already contracted the coronavirus.

Morgan told the DN-R she had it in the fall. During a video conference earlier this week, lacrosse coach Shelley Klaes said she got it, too. And volleyball coach Lauren Steinbrecher told the News-Record on Wednesday she recently had it, forcing her to watch practice through a screen from home.

“I got COVID about 10 days ago,” Steinbrecher said. “So I haven’t been in the gym with them, which has been so tough. But I’ve been able to FaceTime in and they look really good.

“They’re just so excited to play another team. Just to get out there and compete, and we are probably one of the deepest teams that we’ve had since I’ve been here in the last decade. So picking a starting lineup – one, with not being there, and two, the team being so deep – has proven to be a good challenge.”

She said though she’s fatigued at times, she should be ready for Sunday’s matchup with the Blue Hens.

Morgan said there’s no great way to deal with preventing the virus other than to follow the protocols.

“I didn’t do anything,” she said. “I don’t know where I got it, because I was preaching to the players, I’m like, ‘If anybody gets it and brings it to me, I’m older and I could die,’ and then I got it.

“But I guess the main thing I can say is we’re all vulnerable and we all have to do our part for each other. And it’s the commitment right now for our players and our coaches in athletics that is greater than ever before to do the right thing to stay healthy, so we can move forward with our seasons.”