From locked-down Columbia to the English countryside, one Gamecock’s journey home
Megan Davies had planned to do a lot of travel this spring.
The South Carolina women’s tennis player was set to visit Knoxville, Tennessee; Athens, Georgia; Oxford, Mississippi; and perhaps eventually Stillwater, Oklahoma for the NCAA championships. Then the coronavirus shutdown happened, and for a few weeks there was no travel at all.
And then came one long trip — home to Wolverhampton, England.
“I stayed there (Columbia) for about two weeks after they called the season and everything shut down,” Davies said. “Because we didn’t really know what was going on and England was so open as usual.”
The United Kingdom native worried she might not be able to get back to the United State because of the travel ban from Europe.
“But then both my roommates had left,” Davies said. “So then if we were to go on lockdown, I would be at home in the apartment on my own. It’s an apartment so we couldn’t go outside.”
And then England started shutting down.
“It just seemed best to come home.”
Instead of being in downtown Columbia, she’s in a quiet, countryside village. She can help her parents and siblings with a small garden. She can take bike rides and go for runs with her brothers.
Getting there wasn’t as tricky as it could’ve been. Davies had to dig through flights: Some were outrageously expensive and others had her in transit for 30 hours.
In the end she found something simple, Charlotte to Atlanta to London, where here mom picked her up. The flight to London was packed because UK the night before encouraged citizens who were out of the country to come home.
“There were no extra barriers or questions or anything,” Davies said. “I thought there would be. I was expecting like, extra security or like questions being asked. But the only questions asked was, do you have a temperature? Or do you have a severe cough for the last two weeks? I hadn’t, so I said no and they just let you on as normal.”
She’s still keeping up with classes, as a five-hour time difference turned morning classes into afternoon ones. She laughed as she said it feels like she’s got more schoolwork now than when she was at school. (She’s an advertising major and is taking four classes this semester.)
Through all this, there was also the challenge of seeing a season end suddenly, one where the Gamecocks were ranked No. 19 in the country with the meat of the conference schedule still ahead.
Davies remembered waiting for the 9:30 a.m. trip to Tennessee when word came that things were delayed. More delays came, then the team went to practice and by the time it was over, about everything was suspended.
“It was very hard for everyone just being told that we’re not leaving for Tennessee, we’re stopping,” Davies said. “The season isn’t going to continue.
“It was sad, really sad.”
At the time the players didn’t know if the two seniors were going to return. Davies said there’s some things to figure out as Silvia Chinellato was already in grad school. Mia Horvit had already planned to stay on as a volunteer coach, so now she’ll have the chance to play.
The members of the team still stay in contact, checking in here and there. USC coach Kevin Epley’s wife works in the medical field.
South Carolina’s roster represents five countries and three continents. They’re hoping to arrange a Zoom video conferencing catch-up, maybe assemble a TikTok video as a team.
One thing Davies has lost in all this: the game itself.
“The tennis club when I come home has been closed, before I even came back,” Davies said. “The day before I came back, it closed. So not playing any tennis. My brother and I like volleying in the street, but that’s about it.
“There’s no real actual tennis going on, which is a shame but we’ll have to play catch up when we get going again.”
