Item
Wrestling against Covid 19 in America
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Wrestling against Covid 19 in America
Disclaimer (Dublin Core)
DISCLAIMER: This item may have been submitted in response to a school assignment prompt. See Linked Data.
Description (Dublin Core)
Traveling safely throughout the United States during the pandemic
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
Creator (Dublin Core)
Contributor (Dublin Core)
Event Identifier (Dublin Core)
Partner (Dublin Core)
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
Contributor's Tags (a true folksonomy) (Friend of a Friend)
History of Tourism
PA wrestler
Can't Stop
Win everything
Collection (Dublin Core)
Children
Essential Workers
Lost Seasons
Linked Data (Dublin Core)
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
02/07/2023
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
02/07/2023
02/08/2023
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Tim O'Toole
Interviewer Email (Friend of a Friend)
timotoole@comcast.net
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Tim O'Toole
Location (Omeka Classic)
19116
Format (Dublin Core)
Audio
abstract (Bibliographic Ontology)
Tim describes the period of time during lockdown when he and his son would travel around the country to attend wrestling meets, and the lengths they went to stay healthy.
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
Tim O'Toole 00:00
So this story takes place during the spring of 2020. And throughout the whole year, traveling and working during the pandemic with COVID-19. So I didn't have the luxury of staying home like most American citizens, some would say to you it's not a luxury, I understand but I was essential personnel as well as my wife. I'm a paramedic for the city of Philadelphia. My wife was an emergency room emergency room manager, nurse, so she was in charge of things. So we we had to go to work regardless. So we was businesses normal. It did affect my children, I have six children, and it did affect them because school and sports you know, was all limited. They went to a Zoom video based schooling. And it seemed, anytime they got a chance to go back to school, someone would get it and they would shut the school down. So were the kids really got cheated on the whole deal.
Tim O'Toole 01:04
Traveling during I did a lot of traveling during COVID 19 restrictions that I probably did more than I do regularly. That is because my son is a nationally ranked wrestler in scholastic wrestling, and pretty much Pennsylvania was shut down with everything. There was a few places but me and my son decided to travel. So we flew out the country we flew Florida, we flew to Las Vegas, we flew South Carolina a couple of times, we traveled the whole country wrestling and looking for competition as well as some other wrestlers did the same because you know, trying to keep some sanity for these kids and and let them wrestle and being the sport that they love so much. So as far as restrictions the airport, they were sticklers on it, you had to have the mask on, on your wore it all the time. There was times that I was on a plane that they wouldn't take off because or they made uh, passengers get off because they weren't wearing a mask. They refused. And so wearing a mask became second nature to us. We didn't think anything of it. You know, we had hand sanitizer and we had our deal.
Tim O'Toole 02:25
We went to wrestling events where have 1000s of people around the country at these events and everybody everybody wore masks and did the necessary evil to restrict it. ironic thing is wrestling is a you know, it's I want to I don't want to it's it's a it's when two people pretty much are grappling with each other. So you know, they're sweating on each other bodily fluids could possibly it's a close tight, almost intimate sport. So we are very keen on how to fight off diseases and like ringworm and bacterias. And that's part of the game and wrestling. So we've been doing it already. So during the whole COVID-19 travel for me, I'd say we traveled maybe 10 or 11 times. I mean, I my frequent flyer miles were crazy amount of times we flew my son or I didn't conduct we didn't catch COVID We didn't catch it at all. I mean, it wasn't till after the fact, when everything calmed down, my son caught COVID And we weren't traveling so who knows, you know, but again, it we just abide by the airport rules and the restrictions and took took the precautions need to be safe and we traveled the whole country. It was probably one of the best times and I leave spending what my son because we came close and we both did something I love coaching and he loves wrestling. So that's my story for the pandemic
So this story takes place during the spring of 2020. And throughout the whole year, traveling and working during the pandemic with COVID-19. So I didn't have the luxury of staying home like most American citizens, some would say to you it's not a luxury, I understand but I was essential personnel as well as my wife. I'm a paramedic for the city of Philadelphia. My wife was an emergency room emergency room manager, nurse, so she was in charge of things. So we we had to go to work regardless. So we was businesses normal. It did affect my children, I have six children, and it did affect them because school and sports you know, was all limited. They went to a Zoom video based schooling. And it seemed, anytime they got a chance to go back to school, someone would get it and they would shut the school down. So were the kids really got cheated on the whole deal.
Tim O'Toole 01:04
Traveling during I did a lot of traveling during COVID 19 restrictions that I probably did more than I do regularly. That is because my son is a nationally ranked wrestler in scholastic wrestling, and pretty much Pennsylvania was shut down with everything. There was a few places but me and my son decided to travel. So we flew out the country we flew Florida, we flew to Las Vegas, we flew South Carolina a couple of times, we traveled the whole country wrestling and looking for competition as well as some other wrestlers did the same because you know, trying to keep some sanity for these kids and and let them wrestle and being the sport that they love so much. So as far as restrictions the airport, they were sticklers on it, you had to have the mask on, on your wore it all the time. There was times that I was on a plane that they wouldn't take off because or they made uh, passengers get off because they weren't wearing a mask. They refused. And so wearing a mask became second nature to us. We didn't think anything of it. You know, we had hand sanitizer and we had our deal.
Tim O'Toole 02:25
We went to wrestling events where have 1000s of people around the country at these events and everybody everybody wore masks and did the necessary evil to restrict it. ironic thing is wrestling is a you know, it's I want to I don't want to it's it's a it's when two people pretty much are grappling with each other. So you know, they're sweating on each other bodily fluids could possibly it's a close tight, almost intimate sport. So we are very keen on how to fight off diseases and like ringworm and bacterias. And that's part of the game and wrestling. So we've been doing it already. So during the whole COVID-19 travel for me, I'd say we traveled maybe 10 or 11 times. I mean, I my frequent flyer miles were crazy amount of times we flew my son or I didn't conduct we didn't catch COVID We didn't catch it at all. I mean, it wasn't till after the fact, when everything calmed down, my son caught COVID And we weren't traveling so who knows, you know, but again, it we just abide by the airport rules and the restrictions and took took the precautions need to be safe and we traveled the whole country. It was probably one of the best times and I leave spending what my son because we came close and we both did something I love coaching and he loves wrestling. So that's my story for the pandemic
Item sets
This item was submitted on February 7, 2023 by [anonymous user] using the form “Upload” on the site “Oral Histories”: https://covid-19archive.org/s/oralhistory
Click here to view the collected data.