How school sports changed this year under COVID-19
June 2, 2021
This year, students and teachers alike have had to adapt. They spent a whole year in foreign territory and integrating practices in their life from which they had never seen before. Things like masks, hiding coughs, temperature taking and testing for COVID-19. Sports were forced to change drastically as a result of the virus.
Prior to the spring season start, the school decided to test all student athletes for COVID once a week. All student athletes congregate in the main gym to take the test. They normally take about five minutes to get done, and 15 minutes for results. If students don’t take a COVID test, they aren’t allowed to participate in their sport.
“Every day was a challenge for us just trying to keep our distance from each other and masks up.” varsity soccer Coach Matt Sullivan said. “Most high schoolers think they are invincible and often can’t see the bigger picture so keeping them focused on being safe and thinking of others was our priority each and every day.”
With spring break causing more quarantines, sports teams were affected by their lack of players.
“With quarantines surrounding us, it was important to cherish each and every day we had together,” Sullivan said. “I’m proud to say the boy’s soccer team had zero problems cherishing each other. In addition, the girl’s soccer team is having a blast thus far.”
Moving on from the previous boys soccer season in 2020, Sullivan had some words about the girls’ season and how that has gone so far.
“It’s all because of great senior leadership,” Sullivan said. “I am assuming next year will pose similar challenges, but I know we will meet them head-on and have more fun than we did this year. In terms of high school soccer, I can see masks being worn for a while longer and post-game handshakes going away, but not many other changes.”
The athletes also found these new challenges to be restricting.
“It was hard to keep by the guidelines. Things like keeping our masks up while running around a field was really hard.” JV soccer player Zac Jones said. “We got through it as a team, and eventually got used to it as a team.”
Fall sports and winter sports were the most affected. At that time, Fenton High hadn’t fully worked out how to manage their sports while in the middle of a pandemic. Parents of the Fenton High football program insisted on the season continuing.
Although this year may have been unorganized and clouded in confusion, students at Fenton High look towards the next school year with high hopes and expectations.
