As Covid-19 plagues the world, students from across the nation are experiencing the negative effects from the virus. Many activities have been cancelled, but one of the biggest upsets this pandemic has caused was the loss of the spring sports season.
“I’m disappointed we couldn’t play for our senior season like normal,” Gabe Jackson, senior, said, “especially because I had college coaches coming to see me play and now they can’t, but cutting the season was the right thing to do.”
Athletes however were not going to let the virus destroy their season and decided to take matters into their own hands by creating a petition.
“The petition was to be sent to the IHSA organization signed by thousands of students in Illinois to allow athletes’ spring season to be extended into summer,” Kyren Rudolph, senior, said.
Recently IHSA released devastating news to student athletes regarding the remainder of their spring sports season.
“Given the logistics, we simply felt we could not conduct state tournaments that meet the expectations of our member schools this spring,” Craig Anderson, executive director of the IHSA said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune. “As disappointing as it may be for students, it is the right decision for their health and safety, as well as for the health and safety of the general public, as we cope with this unprecedented pandemic.”
Multiple different ideas and suggestions have been made by students on what should be done to remedy the situation so athletes still can compete in some way during the 2020 season.
“I think that the season should be extended into the summer when this is all over and condensed into a 15-game season for volleyball,” Jackson said.
The 2020 season was the last year for many to be a part of a high school team. Because the season was cut short, this led to many students being angry and upset. Although all student athletes are experiencing the grief of the cancelation, the ones who are bearing this pain the most are the seniors.
“My last season was a way to leave an imprint on the program. I was looking forward to being a role model for the underclassman and possibly being a team captain,” Rudolph said.
For an athlete, high school season is one of the few things they can look forward to during the school year.
I was really looking forward to beating my personal best and continually growing as a runner this year, but during this time we just need to keep training and stay healthy during this pandemic,” Carlos Chavez, senior, said.
In the current nature of the pandemic, coaches try to keep athletes motivated and help them stay positive during this sorrowful time.
“This was going to be an exciting season but unfortunately it ended the way it did,”Mitizina Keane, softball coach, said. “As a coach I would say set goals for yourself, get creative and build connections even though you are stuck at home, and keep working on skills you would like to perfect.”
Although this pandemic has closed facilities such as gyms, athletes are not letting this stop them from their training. According to Giovanni Beltran, junior, coaches are sending monthly calendars and communicating with athletes to keep them on track with their conditioning.
“Even though our season was cancelled I’m still running on my own time,” Beltran said, “no matter the situation nothing can stop me from getting better. If you keep training, you’ll be proud of the results and that goes for all sports.”