Students and teachers alike reacted to the constant shifting of COVID-19 protocols amongst different sports.
When first registering for a fall sport, eighth-grader Deacon Prince had second thoughts about which sport he was going to play. “I was still going to play football, but my parents were very hesitant,” he said. He also added that he would have played basketball during a normal school year.
In terms of the most affected sport by these protocols, some sports faced more restrictions than others. “Football restrictions changed the game the most,” Interim Director of Athletics Josh Balabuch said. “I think football, and really just all the high contact sports,” seventh-grader Adam Gold said, agreeing with Mr. Balabuch.
Deacon felt differently. “Squash because it was inside and already hot and you had to wear a mask,” he said.
Adam also recounted the differences between this year and last in terms of sports, reflecting on how practices used to be in the middle of the day in past years. Sports now take place directly after classes end at 2:30 for the middle school.
Mr. Balabuch also touched on the positives that have come from sports this year. “Players have been able to work on specific skill sets and develop particular traits that coaches gave to them while still having a chance to play limited competition,” he said.
Students and teachers agreed that both negatives and positives came about from changes in sports due to COVID-19 this year.
