With college sports on hold, Hampton grad lends hand at nursing home

Hampton graduate Jason Goodman last winter won a PSAC indoor track championship.

This winter, the Slippery Rock senior is doing something even more important.

Goodman is working as a nursing assistant at a Pittsburgh-area nursing home during the covid pandemic that canceled all winter sports in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference for the 2020-21 season.

Goodman, the defending PSAC indoor heptathlon champion, is using his newfound free time to gain more experience toward his goal of being a physician assistant.

While on winter break from Slippery Rock, he is working as many as 40 hours a week, helping the residents get dressed, use the bathroom, take showers or anything related to activities of daily living.

“We’ve been super busy with the pandemic,” he said. “It’s been pretty crazy. … Luckily, we’ve only had a few (covid) cases and nothing serious. But for me working, it’s been pretty difficult.”

Goodman is one of a number of Hampton graduates who found themselves suddenly without the routine and competition afforded by college athletics because of covid shutdowns.

Case Western Reserve senior guard Antonio Ionadi, Saint Vincent senior guard Jenna Lafko and Waynesburg junior center Brooke Fuller are among the ex-Talbots who had their winter seasons canceled or postponed.

While the Ivy League, PSAC and University Athletic Association (CMU), among others, canceled all winter sports, the Presidents’ Athletic Conference pushed back the start of their winter season until mid-January.

The athletes were scheduled to return to practice Jan. 18 with a start date no earlier than Jan. 23.

“I was definitely happy and relieved that they are trying,” said Lafko, the reigning PAC Women’s Basketball Player of the Year. “I think that’s all we can ask for amid these crazy times. At least give it a chance. Obviously, if it’s too unsafe and we can’t play, then we understand. But at least being given the hope that there is an opportunity to play definitely makes it easier.”

Fuller, who was named second-team all-PAC last season after averaging a team-best 16.1 points and 8.7 rebounds, also is supposed to start practice Jan. 18. She has spent her free time this winter at a local fitness club, conditioning outside or shooting at the hoop in the backyard of her Hampton home.

“It feels so weird,” Fuller said. “Yeah, I like having a long winter break, but it’s kind of sad because it is my junior year. I’m winding down the last couple years of my basketball career. I’d do anything to be back to where it always is.”

Lafko has spent some of her winter helping out her father, Joe Lafko, as a volunteer assistant coach for the Hampton boys basketball team. One of the benefits is she gets to shoot around in the school gym if the facilities are open.

“I’m lucky in that way,” she said.

She is also fortunate to have a dad who is a WPIAL Hall of Famer and owns a 423-214 record in 24 seasons at Hampton. In between at-home workouts and Zoom calls with the Saint Vincent women’s basketball team, she is getting invaluable experience as his assistant.

“I love coaching,” Lafko said. “It’s definitely something I want to do in my career, stay involved and stay coaching, whether it’s men or women or whatever age. I just love being around basketball.”

Goodman, the 2017 WPIAL Class AAA triple jump champion, began working at the nursing home a couple of months before the pandemic struck. But, as a student-athlete, he only worked every other weekend for much of the year. During his sports-less winter break, he returned home to work full-time.

“It’s been really tough, but it’s all right now,” he said. “I don’t really remember what it was like before covid hit.”