With the cancellation of many beloved fall sports, a pushback date was scheduled for athletes to still hopefully play this school year. This delayed season is placed at the end of February and is planned to progress into the spring. On the outside, this change seems logical and gives fall athletes a chance to play the sport they love; however, due to the time placement many spring athletes are now faced with a dilemma. Which sport will I choose? For athletes who play both a fall and spring sport the issue of overlapping was never a problem, but with this delay, they may have to play back-to-back seasons on top of their other responsibilities. Many multi-sport athletes will have difficulty balancing their extracurriculars with this new system of education concerning coronavirus. It is still unknown what the district plans to do concerning the athletic department and the postponement of fall sports, so it is unknown whether or not athletes will have to choose either activity. With this new schedule, the question remains of how the student athletes of RHS will handle this transition.
Consequently, the delay of fall sports will interfere with the prior commitments that students have made regarding their spring athletics. Olivia Olson, a sophomore volleyball player at RHS, states in agreement that “the multi-season athletes will find it difficult to manage their time.” Additionally, Clara Marrota, a sophomore at RHS, offers insight on the issue of “club volleyball season interfering with school volleyball, and because of the pushback I do not know if I can do both at the same time.” Since students were not prepared for this worldwide pandemic to postpone their fall athletics, it will be especially difficult to decide which seasonal sports to participate in.
Not only will this setback interfere with other athletics, but the athletes’ preparation over the summer for their fall tryouts will be of little use by the time this new season comes around. Over this span of time, Izzy Johnson, a girls volleyball athlete, mentions that she “doesn’t want to be rusty for tryouts because they are so much later” and that “she had to find another sport in order to stay in shape for the delayed season.” The athletes’ preparation over the summer for tryouts will now need to be maintained until the end of the winter, and with academics and other commitments this leaves minimal time to practice during the year causing even more stress.
Even though the postponement of certain sports negatively impacts the majority of athletes at RHS, it can furthermore have positive impacts on the students’ everyday lives. Olson offers perspicacity on the fact that “the pushback of our season has allowed me to focus on schoolwork at the beginning of the year and create a good learning foundation.” To offer further insight on this viewpoint, Racine Ly, a sophomore soccer player at RHS, states that “since the season got pushed back it was easier to settle into school more and we had a lot more time to practice and prepare for tryouts.” While other students mentioned that this delay interfered with their ability to prepare for tryouts, Ly and Olson demonstrate a different perspective on the matter. This comes to show how the pushback of fall sports will cause conflict and resolution with the student athletes around the world living in this worldwide pandemic. Thus, the bigger picture regarding the setback of fall athletics remains in the fact that coronavirus is shaping the world we live in today and sports are just a fraction of the effects.
Julia Synn
Staff Writer
Graphic: Sam Cohen & Anika Joshi