With the fall sports seasons coming to an end, there have been many rumors circulating about the upcoming winter sports. Since we have seen COVID-19 affect the fall sports quite drastically people are wondering, will winter sports be any different?
Among all the questions surrounding winter sports, the most important one by far is will winter sports even happen? And the answer to that is unclear and will remain unclear until we see those sports actually starting practices. As of right now the CIAC does plan on having winter sports but there is no start date for anything.
Governor Lamont spoke about winter sports in his weekly press briefing on November 5.
“Anyone participating in medium-risk indoor sports has to play in a mask” so one thing we know for sure is that sports like basketball, gymnastics, and hockey are going to have all their players and coaches wearing face coverings while playing the sport and while sitting on the bench.”
With everything going on right now in the world nothing is for certain but players from multiple teams at Warde have made it very clear that they are going to make the most out of what they got, the girls basketball team has been participating in a fall league against many other FCIAC teams not only to prepare for the upcoming season but also to give the girls a chance to play a little just in case they don’t get a season.
“I’ve been excited about my senior season for a while and, if it doesn’t end up happening, I know myself and all the other seniors will be very disappointed,” said girls basketball senior captain Teagan Tully.
Not only is everyone worrying about if there is going to be a season or not but they are also concerned about the changes that will be made to their sports if they are to happen. Since most winter sports are indoors and masks will be required some people are worried about if it is even safe or not to be playing with something such as a mask covering your face.
“Many of my teammates have expressed to me that they are a lot less excited about the the season now that they are going to have to wear masks, I’m nervous that we aren’t going to get as big of a turn out to tryouts because people won’t want to wear a mask while playing” says Tully.
The next CIAC meeting is set to take place in the upcoming weeks, until then everyone will just be left to wonder about the future of this year’s winter sports season. But no matter what you can bet that our teams will be ready for whatever comes next.
Update: On November 17, the CIAC announced it had decided to postpone the start of winter sports again until Jan. 19, 2021. Tentatively, that would be the first possible return to winter sports and practices could begin.