The restrictions we have all been living under for the past year has had a painful impact on local footballers.
Exmouth Town striker Jordan Harris admitted it has been difficult without the normal routine of a Saturday, playing football with his friends and the normal social side young sportspeople previously took for granted.
It is a sad reality for many young people over the past year and, hopefully, all our local footballers can look forward to a brighter tomorrow.
“It’s been a struggle for everyone, you don’t realise how much you enjoy something until you are unable to do it,” said Harris.
“It’s not just playing football, the Saturday routine is the highlight of our week. You work through the week and look forward to a Saturday of playing football with your mates, having a good game and a few drinks afterwards.
“I work for a kitchen company in my day-job and then football is my hobby.”
While this season is now effectively over, Harris can reflect on a positive spell of football for Exmouth, with Town sitting third in the Western League when the campaign came to an end.
The focus now is on staying fit in readiness for a busy pre-season in the summer.
“We obviously did get to play a few games,” said Harris. “It was a struggle with the restrictions in place but at least we got to play some football.
“For the short spell of football we did get to play, the team did really well. We were looking to carry on with the form we showed in the season before.
“In an ideal scenario, I would have liked for this season to resume from where we are now but the realistic option is to cancel everything, and start again next season.
“We are already looking forward to playing some friendly fixtures, get stuck into pre-season and then the proper league football.
“I have stayed fit through the lockdowns, plenty of running and stuff at home.
“As a group of players, we stay in touch through WhatsApp and all the lads are doing well.”