Winter sports resume
Winter sports come back after facing multiple setbacks
Cheerleaders take a trip to the cider mill. “We got to eat donuts, pick apples, go on the hayride and much more,” senior varsity cheerleader Mia Doncic said. “It was really fun bonding with the team outside of cheer.” The trip was a team bonding activity.
Following the extended lockdowns as result of Covid-19, winter sports resume with restrictions in place.
“The extension has hurt many athletes’ confidence that a winter season will happen,” athletic director John Bertich said. “Hopes get high, only to be disappointed at each deadline of the orders.”
Ice hockey, girls’ basketball and dance teams, which started before the statewide pause, continued on with practices. Tryouts for boys’ basketball held from Jan. 20-22 and bowling, mens’ varsity swimming, dance and boys’ wrestling didn’t have cuts.
The rules changed from the original rules for fall sports with contact and personal space being an issue, according to Bertich. The school follows the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines to play in the season. All must wear a mask and practice social distancing.
“It has been relatively normal, though some things have changed. The locker rooms are pretty much closed [and] there are less people on the team,” varsity swimmer junior Rohan Aggarwal said. “We have to wear masks and have our temperature taken before practice, but I don’t mind the precautions for the safety of the team.”
Both the junior varsity and varsity cheerleading teams opted out of competitions. The sports permitted and choosing to play have crowd limitations similar to the rules set in place in the fall, with the limit on the total number of spectators is 50, according to Bertich. Swimming continues normally with the exception of masks being worn and the bowling team cut back on practices to two a week and have smaller meets.
“I understood the importance of [the lockdown], but our season got delayed,” Aggarwal said. “I think the hardest part of it for me was not being able to see my friends.”
With contact and personal space for contact sports being an issue, the return of wrestling set to resume Feb.22. In the meantime, conditioning and drills happened with a six foot distance between the athletes.
“It’s totally different from what I’ve done over the last three years. With social distancing, masks [and] the security camera in the wrestling room, it’s just a bunch of regulations to create a bunch of unnecessary hysteria,” sophomore Tyler Girand said. “We came here to actually do what this sport requires us to do, not to play pretend.”
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