By Miles Friedman
LREI sports are just starting up and there are a number of question marks surrounding the athletics program’s response to COVID and the new policies in place. There are lots of changes and uncertainty about how best to manage COVID safety guidelines during practice. Teams are also left wondering if there will be competitive sports other than just practice in the coming months. LREI started sports this year online. Students logged on to Zoom and participated in any number of drills that the LREI coaches have designed specifically for online practices. At the time, this was met with a variety of responses, both positive and negative. Josh Sapira, a senior on the boy’s varsity soccer team, advocated for the online practices: “online practices were nice because it allowed me to see my coaches and teammates who I hadn’t talked to since last year. It gave off the atmosphere of a bus ride with the team going to a game.” This atmosphere Josh is referring to is one of joking around and having fun with your teammates. Starting online practice at the beginning of the year and later moving to in-person practice was done by the school to get that atmosphere back in student’s life.
Though online practices were simple and easy to arrange, in-person practices presented all sorts of new challenges. The school has had to adapt in-person practice in many ways to follow COVID protocols. Some of these protocols include student-athletes wearing masks at all times, trying to avoid touching equipment with hands, and maintaining social distance whenever possible. Some of these rules are harder to follow than others. For example, when running and doing physical activities in a mask it can get hard to breathe. When Peter Fisher, LREI’s Athletic Director was asked about the mask protocol, he said, “the general rule is to keep your mask on but an overriding rule is your health. If you’re not getting enough oxygen you can take off your mask for a second as long as you are at a safe distance from everyone else. Or if a kid breaks his arm I’m going to go over and break the six feet rule.” Peter also mentioned that expectations were lower this year than they had been in years past. General requirements like being able to run two miles in 14 minutes are less enforced for the year. Sam Saslow, an 11th grader on the cross country team, said, “The masks definitely make running a lot harder and add a different aspect to the sport.” Sam later added, “I totally understand why we need to wear masks.” This was the general consensus from student-athletes at LREI. All students felt that the masks were necessary but also added some difficulty to playing. This is why Peter said that coaches were taking it easy during practice.
There were also questions about how safe students felt at practice. Students’ health is at the center of any decisions surrounding in-person practice. Josh Sapira said, “I feel safe when I go to practice. When I go to practice I don’t find myself worrying about Corona because of the precautions the school is taking.” The more cautious the school is, the longer sports can go on and students understand this. Sam Saslow added, “I feel like the school is doing a great job with sports but sometimes I worry a little bit about how crowded it is on the west side highway where we run.” This brings up the issue with logistics beyond what LREI can handle. There are only so many field spaces and there is always the potential risk that these spaces will be crowded. This means that LREI is only taking the necessary precautions even more seriously to run a safe practice.
Another recurring topic that came up when talking about sports during a pandemic was the possibility of having a competitive season. This is a major question right now that doesn’t have any real answers. The mentality the school has right now is to play it by ear and hope for the best in the coming weeks. Peter Fisher managed expectations, explaining, “the only way I see competitive sports having the possibility of going on is if more tests are taken and students are tested almost every day.” Peter is saying this because having more testing for other schools and LREI means that there is less risk involved because there are fewer chances for a positive test after a game. Although many students would still love to have a season, they understand why that could be very hard. Josh Sapira said, “As a senior, I would obviously love to have a final season and finish my soccer career at LREI on a high note but I understand why that could be easier said than done.” Sam Saslow also added, “ I would love to have a season but I just don’t see having a competitive cross country season as realistic because of how much a mask limits you and you can’t have a meet without masks right now.” Having a competitive sports season at LREI would be very difficult considering all the moving parts of dealing with multiple schools in addition to your own. At this moment, it seems as if the chances of having a competitive season at any point this year is slim at best. This is unfortunate for many reasons, but especially for seniors, who have no chance to wrap up their high school sports careers and try to win a championship.