Athletes and coaches adapt as they return to play

By Zavier Campsey

COVID-19 -- everyone knows it, but how is it affecting sports at the high school level? Most would have assumed that there would be no season at all, but Governor DeWine has allowed fall sports in their entirety, and the likelihood of winter sports is looking good as well. Just ending the fall sports’ season, few non-athletes know exactly how the season was conducted.

When asked if they were surprised to have a season, Junior Braxton Springer, a long time member of the Athens Football Program stated, “Honestly, I was surprised when I heard we could play again… because of us being a close and compact college town.”

Though there were surprises with the season being green-lighted, it didn’t come without its restrictions. Cross Country had limitations, explained by Coach Reed as, “We have to bring our own water bottles, can’t use public bathrooms, must have temperature checks, wear masks before and after running, and cancel all team dinners.” Football season was also drastically changed as they had no access to their locker room or the weight room, a huge aspect of the sport. Both Coach Reed and Springer agreed that the biggest struggle was remembering to keep your distance whenever possible, but otherwise, the changes were not unreasonable to adapt to.

Numbers dwindled in sports all around, as sources from both sports said that their numbers dwindled to about two-thirds of their normal sizes. Though numbers dwindled, when asked if the sport was any different to him, Springer said, “I still enjoy playing the sport just as much as I did when I was a kid. I feel anyone who participates in sports can say that it’s just something that feels natural to them.”

From a different view, Coach Reed shares the same sentiments about Covid’s impact on his time coaching. He says that “Social distancing creates so many more headaches than usual, but I am enjoying the season more than usual because we have a dedicated group of student-athletes”.

Through the changes, it seems that they have been able to control the spread of COVID-19 as Coach Reed was able to happily report that there have been zero cases on the Cross Country team. Football also only suffered two cases throughout pre-season and regular season combined despite being such a high contact sport. This shows the effectiveness of the precautions. Both athletes and coaches seem to hold the same sentiment about the changes, feeling that they were just grateful to have a season at all, restrictions, or no.