This year has been hard for all aspects of the world, but particularly in sports. A few weeks ago on Wednesday, Governor Tim Walz announced that due to the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases, social gatherings, gyms, and indoor service at restaurants will be put on pause for the next four weeks. Unfortunately, this means that high school sports cannot happen.
Although 2020 has been known for changing at the snap of the finger, the devastating news hit some athletes hard.
“Even though we were quarantined, we were still expecting to at least have one more team meeting and banquet before we said our goodbyes to our 2020-2021 PA football team,” stated Mark McCarthy ‘22. “I am looking forward to next year and hoping that things will be back to normal so we can have a full season.”
The winter teams did not expect this to happen so early in their season and were shocked as well as sad that they will not get to play again until next year.
Not only, has this been hard on the student-athletes but also the coordinators and the coaches. This year has sent them for a loop with everything changing all the time.
“I am typically one calendar year ahead with planning and scheduling,” explained Athletic Director Mr. Daren Messmore. “This year has been a challenge with the changing of dates, length of seasons, and the new protocols.”
The winter teams have been told by their coordinators and their coaches to “control what they can control.” This is good advice when it comes to sports right now, they cannot control what happens during their season but they can control how they prepare for it. It will also not only help them get through the time apart from their team but to beat their competition when the time finally arrives.
This was also followed by the fall cross country team when they had a few bumps in the season with half the team having to quarantine in the middle of the season and the different schedules than years past.
“The cross country team and I are most looking forward to getting back to our normal schedules and are hoping that there will not be so many restrictions put in place for the season next year,” exclaimed Mrs. Amy Hohenecker, head coach of the cross country team.
“2020 has been about being resilient and adaptable. We will continue to keep moving forward and make the best out of each situation that we are blessed to be a part of,” glowed Messmore.