Impact Of Sports During Covid

As most sport seasons, practices and games have been cancelled in our area due to the coronavirus pandemic.Many athletes, including high school and college students, may be experiencing a sense of loss and resentment. High school kids are impacted in a multitude of ways, they are undergoing hormonal changes and use sports as a way to help reduce stress and control anxiety and depression. Also, sports are a way to earn college scholarships so there can be increased pressure.

I believe all sports impact children as none are going on currently in an organized fashion. Contact sports with kids such as football, wrestling and even basketball may see their sports return later as they cannot socially distance themselves while playing and practicing. I interviewed one of our high school’s basketball coaches/teacher and asked her what she would do to change the sports safety regulations due to covid. She said “ If i could change anything , I would limit amount of people who can attend ,student would have to get tested weekly, wearing masks would also be mandatory.

I can definitely see sports changing, but how they change is hard to predict. We can look at other countries and see how they are beginning to roll sports back out. Most likely games will be played without fans on a professional level to start. In order to create safer environments for everyone, new safety procedures should be in place for practices and games. Parents, athletes, coaches and officials need to work together to help keep everyone healthy and safe by following them! When people do not follow these precautions, it can put the whole team at risk.

I spoke with Mrs.Wallace, a basketball coach for eastside high school said covid has affected sports and players in a bad way. “no gym , practice outside never helped . it was an adjustment getting back inside.” she said which is fairy understandable. she also stated how she thinks the pandemic more hindered players with the extra freetime instead of helping them , “i believe the pandemic hindered players by not being able to practice and interact with each other”

I also got the chance to sit down with one of my fellow basketball players and ask her some questions. For instance I asked her how she believe covid has affected her sportsmanship, she said “i think it only has affected me from playing in games , i still try to practice as much as possible.” In my eyes coming from a former basketball player that makes alot of sense. She also went on to talk about how she doesnt miss sports as much and this is giving her time to explore her other skills.