Florida State University Athletics
Boselli Grateful For Training Staff, Coaches And Teammates After Coronavirus Recovery
4/13/2020 12:04:59 PM | Football
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – At first, Andrew Boselli kept the news to himself.
He was stuck on his couch, all the while suffering through the aches, pains and fevers that come with COVID-19, and few outside his home knew about it.
That changed a few days later, when Boselli’s father, former NFL All-Pro Tony Boselli, went public in sharing his own bout with COVID-19.
By then, Andrew Boselli realized that he, too, could use his platform as a member of the Florida State football team to spread the word about the severity of the novel coronavirus and the importance of social distancing measures.
Boselli did so, first in a first-person account of his journey and later in a 30-minute videoconference with reporters.
But sharing his story with the world also provided another benefit: It allowed teammates, coaches and friends to reach out and offer some welcome support as Boselli and his family settle on the other side of a difficult ordeal.
“I’ve had people reaching out all over the place,” Boselli said Friday afternoon. “Just through texts, (direct messages), kind of reaching out to see if I need anything and reaching out with love and support and prayers.
“That’s been really cool, seeing the FSU family come together. It’s really been awesome.”
Even from a distance, Boselli was able to lean on that family while wrestling with the virus.
When he first started feeling sick, Boselli notified Jake Pfeil, FSU’s head athletic trainer for football.
Over the next several days, Pfeil proved to be an invaluable resource who offered tips for managing symptoms, answered any question that Boselli or his parents had and gave advice on making it through the virus as painlessly as possible.
Boselli said that Pfeil was a “24-hour resource.”
“That, for me, was the biggest difference,” he said. “Both my parents are awesome, but they have no idea what to do in a situation like that. So, having access to someone like (Pfeil) was a huge resource for me and I used it as much as I could.”
Pfeil also looped in head coach Mike Norvell, who made the rest of FSU’s staff aware as needed.
Within a couple of days, Boselli was well aware that he had a small army of supporters down the road in Tallahassee.
“Every single coach on staff within 48 hours reached out to me with either a phone call or text,” Boselli said. “Just support, telling me they’re in my corner, telling me that if I need anything to reach out.
“Which was really huge for me because obviously it was a scary situation.”
Hearing from teammates helped as well.
While a few of Boselli’s close friends on the team made sure to check in on him regularly, communicating the news with every single player wasn’t all that feasible. Nor would it have been much fun.
But once Boselli’s famous father made headlines by detailing his own experience with the coronavirus, many of Boselli’s fellow Seminoles made the connection that the disease had impacted his family.
“Once he came out with the news, my teammates flooded me with support,” Boselli said.
Then, once Boselli tweeted out a link to his open letter, he was flooded with well wishes from people all over world.
Including some of those with whom he shares a locker room.
Glad your okay bro
— AMARI FERRARI (@AmariGainer) April 10, 2020
Yessir my boy GOD is good love you my boy https://t.co/F9RQxbsAhb
— Odell Sheffield Jr. (@deontesheff9) April 10, 2020
As Boselli progressed in his recovery, he’s been able to interact more and more with those teammates – from a distance, of course.
The Seminoles are permitted to hold football-focused videoconferences to go over schemes and film reviews, and Boselli said that he and his fellow offensive lineman will often hold group “FaceTime” calls.
And, with all elements of public life essentially at a standstill, there’s plenty of time for videogaming, too.
Boselli said that he talks regularly with teammates, friends and family members over their gaming consoles.
“I definitely think that’s an underestimated means of communication,” he said.