After missing football, Mackin excited to be on the basketball court

Colin Mackin drives to the basket in over SMSA last winter. (Photo courtesy Paul Amrose)

By GRACE BILODEAU
Special to The Collinsville Press

CANTON – So many facets of our lives have been changed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Grace Bilodeau spoke with senior Colin Mackin, a captain on the Canton High boys basketball team and a captain on the Granby/Canton co-op football team, about participating in sports during the pandemic.

This would have been the second year of the Granby/Canton co-op program, which earned a spot in the CIAC Class M state tournament in 2019. But the 2020 campaign was postponed in September and cancelled in January by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC).

Practice for boys basketball began on January 19 and the Mackin and the Warriors will play a limited schedule of 12 games beginning in February against six nearby rivals in the North Central Connecticut Conference.  Canton has already won their first two games.

Q: How has your senior sports season been affected by the pandemic?

A: My senior season was greatly affected by this pandemic. In the fall, the football season was canceled which crushed me. I had played football for 12 years and me and my teammates worked all summer and followed all the (COVID-19) guidelines and still our season was taken (away).

Q: How did you feel about football being cancelled in the fall?

A: I was completely heartbroken when I found out football was canceled. I was named a captain and we returned back a lot of talent and were looking to make back-to-back state tournaments.

Q: How are you feeling about the upcoming basketball season? What are you looking forward to? What are you nervous about? 

A: I’m really looking forward to the upcoming basketball season even with the masks. Just the ability to play our senior season means a lot to every senior in the state.

Q: How do you feel about the guidelines for the upcoming season? What do you hope to get out of this season? 

A: As far as the plan for the basketball season, I’m really hopeful we will be able to play all 12 games and have a state tournament to make up for the canceled tournament last year when we were the No. 1 seed.