After months of waiting, the athletic season has begun.

Majority of athletes will gear up to play against unfamiliar opponents in unfamiliar territory because of the new conference changes passed by the AAA (Arkansas Athletic Association). After the change of conferences, the Hornets will now have to travel long distances to pick up a victory: Russellville (58 miles), Greenwood (109 miles), Van Buren (121 miles) and Siloam Springs (159 miles).

Some of the athletes put in their input of their perspective about the new conference changes.

“Playing teams far away can be very difficult for us, especially playing them on a school night,” sophomore basketball player Lania Ratliff said. “We would have homework and we would be home late. And we usually have both varsity and junior varsity teams playing which means that we could be out until midnight.”

Senior cross-country runner Talyn Billins also voiced her opinion about the new conference changes.

“Not knowing our opponent will cause us to feel less prepared, which is going to cause us to prepare more,” Billins said. “We are not used to running with these new teams. We have no idea how fast or slow they will be. All we can do is just do what we normally do.”

Besides traveling far, there are some positives that can come out of the new conference changes.

“Playing new schools will give us a better chance to overcome challenges,” senior football player Ryan Hall said. “It can cause us to become one whole team. It gives us a new insight of seeing other people play and will give us better competition playing those good northern schools.”

Not knowing who the athletes will play is not considered such a bad thing to them. They actually consider it something great.

“I think we will go into this season with a different perspective,” Ratliff said. “It will be a good experience for Bryant teams to play teams we have not played before. I feel it’s better not to know how our opponents are. We will just go in, play hard, and give it all we got.”

The players may be in a different conference, but it doesn’t mean they are changing their style of play.

“We are going to look at every game as an important game,” Hall said. “We will just take it game by game. Our goal will always be to win the state championship, no matter who we are playing.”