by Reese Sieger
We are all obviously aware of the nationwide pandemic that is happening during this time. The outbreak of the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, has affected our daily lives in many different ways. One way that we are being affected is the fact that we can’t play sports. At the beginning of this pandemic, absolutely no sports were allowed and our high school spring season was cut short. But now, seven months later, sports are slowly beginning to be allowed. Many professional sports are now back with limited audiences, and even some club sports are practicing while taking multiple precautions. However, one activity that’s not coming back any time soon is high school sports. Unfortunately, this affects many people, since roughly 55.5% of all high school students are student-athletes. So how is COVID-19 affecting athletes? To answer this question, I decided to interview a few of our very own Point Loma athletes to ask them a couple of questions during these trying times.
What do you think about the fact that we cannot currently participate in high school sports and the thought that we might not be going back to them anytime soon?
Many people are quite upset that high school sports are canceled. They’re upset for many reasons, like they don’t get to see their friends, they don’t get to challenge themselves, but mostly, they don’t get to play the sport they love. When asked about the topic, J.V. women’s lacrosse player Kate Hancock said, “It’s upsetting that we can’t play right now, sports are a good way to be able to connect with people and be involved in school activities.” Fortunately, though, there are many things that you can be doing to stay active so that you’ll be ready when our sports season’s do return.
What have you been doing to keep that sense of normalcy in your life?
High school sports may be canceled, but many student-athletes are still continuing to work out on their own to be prepared if their season starts back up. They also stay in shape because it helps them keep a sense of normalcy as before this outbreak, they were used to practicing every day. I asked quite a few people what they were doing to keep a sense of normalcy, many people said working out on their own and even setting up social distancing practices with some of their buddies. For example, one of the men’s varsity soccer goalkeepers, Zane Sieger, says “The players on our high school team have been setting up practices for us to see each other and train, but we always make sure to take precautions and keep our distance.” Unfortunately, people may have to continue training on their own for quite some time because it doesn’t look like high school sports are coming back anytime soon.
When do you think we will return to be able to play contact sports in high school?
Nobody can predict the future, but it’s fun to try. We’ve been told that high school sports won’t return until the in-person high school does, but no one has any idea when that will be. I asked some school athletes when they think we’ll return to contact sports. Surprisingly, even though CIF has announced that we will go back by December, most students do not think this is true. Of all the students I asked, most of them said that they don’t think we will go back to playing high school sports this school year. Former Point Loma High School athletic director Alex Hannavash, better known as Coach V, says, “CIF has announced that we will go back for two seasons in December and we are all hoping that this is true.” However, varsity cross country and track runner Abby Bennett says, “I think that we probably won’t be able to play high school sports this year because the precautions needed to be taken during this pandemic are very strict. If we do end up going back to playing sports, it probably won’t be until March or even April.” Finger’s crossed that Coach V is right and that we’ll be back to playing high school sports by the winter season but we’ll have to wait to find out.
This pandemic has been pretty devastating for student-athletes as high school sports have been suspended. While it doesn’t look like high school sports are coming back anytime soon, many athletes are still working out and training on their own so that they will be prepared for when their sport does return. Until then, there are many professional sports that have started back up. Football, soccer, baseball, and basketball are just some of the professional sports you can watch on TV every day. Student-athletes just have to keep watching professional sports, including football, soccer, baseball, and basketball, and training safely while we count down the days to our return to the field.