Athletes should fight to play sports
A
thletes and teams fight to keep their seasons alive amid COVID-19-19 fears at the high school. Despite procedures and the following of COVID-19 regulations, WHIT MILLER sports are in danger of being cancelled for this season. Many believe they should stay as long as safety and guidelines are still in effect. The threat of COVID-19-19 interrupting seasons looms large but that does not mean athletes, coaches, and schools should give up. Teams as well as the school should work to keep sports going as long as proper safety regulations and COVID-19 protocols are followed. Sports are very important to our identity, and we should keep them going as long as possible, especially if the state and other schools continue to play. We have a very storied and successful athletic program and as long as we are allowed
to play sports, we must continue to play Some people believe that sports should not have even begun their seasons due to the risks and fears of competing during a pandemic. Now they want to simply cancel sports or games when a single threat of the virus comes. For example, a volleyball game was canceled because one person had the virus in our school who wasn’t even related to the volleyball team. This plays into their argument that athletes and schools in general are not being careful enough and that the risk outweighs the reward especially if this is the case. As long as proper precautions are in place and people follow COVID-19 guidelines, sports and games are completely safe. In the high school, we have had only a few confirmed positive tests, and the response by the school was swift. The differences in our school from social distancing to using wipes to clean desks, to wearing masks is consistent with the policies of the athletic program all in an effort to keep kids safe. In efforts to remain safe and free of the
coronavirus, students have quarantined themselves and switched to remote learning if they are involved in a fall sport. Through this, they can ensure that they will not fall victim to contact tracing or even coronavirus as a result of being in school. Student-athletes successfully participated in online school while still being able to participate in sports which was very important to the continuation of fall sports. This strategy of remaining at home if you are on a team may hold the key to keeping sports in play all year while still remaining safe. If students do there part and follow protocols, sports are safe and need to be played. If the student-athletes go online and further reduce the risk of contracting the coronavirus, the prospect of playing sports becomes even safer. Sports are an intricate and very important aspect of our identity as Blue Aces and because of that, we need to fight for them. As long as guidelines are followed and COVID-19 is kept at bay, sports need to go on.
Athlete Opinion: Why do you play high school sports?
“It’s a commitment that will pay off in memories.” -Garrett Sharps, Football
“I play for the con“Running in high nections I get with school not only not only my teammeans being a teammates but girls from mate and an athlete. other schools as well, To me running in plus it truly feels like high school means a family away from being the best verhome. sion of myself.” -Carly Mayer, -Daniel Pappas, Volleyball Cross Country
“I think playing sports is important throughout high school to stay fit and active, it also gives me a sense of unity and to understand what working as a team is all about.” -Caroline Otter, Swimming
“Playing sports means more than the world, it means everything. It’s an unbelievable time and something I could never give up.” -Gavin Wells, Football
Photos provided by athletes
14 BLUEPRINTS NOVEMBER 2020
