By Emma Cerasoli. Published June 7, 2021.
There are clearly a lot of restrictions and guidelines in place due to Covid, especially in school sports. Some include the obvious: wearing masks, social distancing, not sharing as much equipment, etc. However, many athletes have been affected by protocols in a less visible way: closed locker rooms and no team buses.
BHS, like all other schools that need to follow state guidelines, have had to take many precautions, but two specifically have made sports particularly difficult for students. Those precautions are the closing of locker rooms and not having team buses; athletes have no choice other than to provide themselves with rides this year and search for places to change.
“I have always been comfortable with my friends or their parents driving me because I trust them enough for them to not be exposing me to COVID,” Hannah Broaudy, BHS track runner, said over email.
Though Hannah and some students feel comfortable with carpooling, we are still in a pandemic which is a very valid reason that may leave many athletes or parents uncomfortable with the idea as cars are a very confined space.
“If you can’t make it, you can’t make it,” Mr. Hart, Burlington High School athletic director, said.
In normal years, there would be buses that would take all athletes to games and they would not have to worry about rides. As for this year with the many restrictions in place, students are left to find rides for themselves with no back-up plan. This factor can make it difficult for those who cannot attain rides and are also not comfortable with carpooling.
Another large aspect that poorly affected athletes was the need of finding a place to change for games/practices.
“For us, you had to weigh out that if a locker room was the be-all-end-all of our season, then we weren’t playing,” Mr. Hart said. “And we wanted to do pretty much anything to be able to play which is why we did it.”
State rules and laws said that you cannot use small meeting areas, including locker rooms, which led BHS to be unable to keep their locker rooms open for athletes to change or leave their bags in. If they were to open them, it could have impacted the entire sports season and BHS did not think a locker room was worth a whole season.
“Finding places to change has been pretty difficult at times as the locker rooms have not been open; me and my teammates would usually find an unlocked bathroom and change in there,” Jillian Gillis, BHS lacrosse player, said.
Athletes have been left to find places to change for their games or practices on their own which has caused some struggles, but most people were able to work it out some way or another to still get to their practices/games on time.
These protocols have strongly impacted athletes this year to where they feel as though they did not have the best experience that they could have when playing their sport(s).
“I’ve been through all kinds of restrictions which made actually playing the sport, which shouldn’t be insanely stressful, even more stressful because you constantly have to worry about what you can and can not do,” Hannah Brouady said over email.
Many athletes are left to handle the stress over what they are able and are not able to do as many restrictions are not clear. This stress has left them with many worries and has led what should just be fun, to a much more complicated experience.
By Marina Callahan, staff writer. Photo Courtesy of Caroline Curtin. Published March 26, 2021.
When you think of fall sports you think of a cool fall breeze, the leaves on the trees changing, and Friday night football. So when you would think of fall sports you would picture them in the fall, but not this year. Fall 2 sports are taking place now until right before April vacation, April 18. Of course in this crazy year this does not surprise anyone.
The sports happening right now are Volleyball, Football, girls and boys Indoor Track, Cheerleading, and girls Swimming. All teams have shortened game schedules, but spectators for all teams have been increased to two per player. For seniors, this is meaningful because their parents can watch them play one last time. However, there are still modifications that are affecting how these athletes can play.
Volleyball, again, is usually played in the fall or even the summer, so for the athletes to be playing with snow on the ground is a huge change for them.
“It changed a lot since the season moved completely, usually I’m used to playing in the summer and in the beginning of the school year,” Caroline Curtin, BHS volleyball senior captain, said.
With precautions put into place like being in cohorts during practice, only being able to do a drill for nine minutes at a time, and having to sanitize after each drill, it is hard to have efficient practices along with following all the guidelines.
“Practices have been going great, even though we have limited time per drill everything is very high energy and efficient,” Senior Ryan McGillivray, three-3 year member of the Varsity football team said.
For the BHS athletes, they are prepared play. To them, it does not matter when their sports happen; they just want to play.
By Marina Callahan; Photo by Sabri Tuzcu on Unsplash
Frosty air, the end of the holiday season, everyone knows what this means: winter sports. What could be better than watching basketball, hockey, and gymnastics? Well, usually people would be enjoying other sports such as wrestling, indoor track, and swimming. However, these sports, which are normally played now, have either gotten pushed to the “Fall 2” season or cancelled entirely.
Middlesex league teams are about three weeks into the season, and numerous teams have gotten shutdown. Most people would think this would be due to a rise in cases through the spread in sports, but this has not been the case for most. Superintendents have sent some school systems to be fully remote for school. This would lead to sports not being allowed to compete.
Reading and Wilmington are two examples of this. Wilmington schools have been switching between hybrid and remote learning almost weekly, and Reading has been remote the entire year. Both of these towns have held rallies to get sports to return, while continuing to be in the remote learning phase.
“I did not attend the rally, but I do think it was very successful because it informed many people of what was going on,” said Jackie Malley, a junior captain of the Reading varsity girls basketball team.
She also mentioned that she was very proud that her community stands behind her team, and all high school athletics.
The purpose of the rallies has been to gain the attention of each desired superintendent of each town. The Reading rally had about 150 people in attendance to advocate for the athletes, as well as the athletes themselves
The sports that are happening this fall are girls basketball, boys basketball, girls hockey, boys hockey, girls gymnastics, and boys gymnastics. All schools in the Middlesex League are participating in sports, as of right now. The schools consist of Arlington, Belmont, Burlington, Lexington, Melrose, Reading, Stoneham, Wakefield, Watertown, Wilmington, Winchester, and Woburn.
This season is going to consist of 10 games, no playoffs, and new modifications. However, the 10 games are not even all one hundred percent guaranteed. If any team gets shut down due to COVID cases, depending on the situation, they could be quarantined for two weeks, unless the players and coaches stay home if they have symptoms or are considered close contacts.
“After getting shut down I was definitely worried the games would not get rescheduled” said senior captain Kylie DuCharme of the Wilmington girls varsity basketball team.
So far if a game has been cancelled, due to a shutdown, they have been rescheduled to be played at a later point in the season. This has given athletes hope to get in a full schedule of the 10 games that they were told about in the beginning of the season.
The down side to the timing of the make-up games , is that teams are not having a lot of time to prepare inbetween games.
“Only having a few days to prepare for the games, and then only having one or two days in between games isn’t a lot of time to get a game plan in compared to other years” said DuCharme.
Though this year is hard, and has been a huge struggle for all teams around the nation, everyone seems to be figuring out how they can accomplish a successful season.
Written by Marina Callahan; photo courtesy of Sean Theurer. Published October 20, 2020.
A month into our world, what was once a thriving and robust athletic community has been diminished to a mere remnant of its former self. This has not stopped our administration, fall coaches, and captains to continue to make sure that student athletes have something to hold onto this year.
This season girls and boys cross country, girls and boys soccer, field hockey, and golf have gotten the opportunity to start their seasons, with some major restrictions that have been put into place.
“The biggest challenge so far has been preparing for games,” senior Sean Theurer, two-time captain of the boys soccer team, said.
The new guidelines state that the team can only practice three times a week, which is a major decrease in preparation time than a normal season where teams would be practicing five to six days a week.
Sean also stated that wearing the masks has been another major adjustment.
“After awhile playing, and during conditioning drills when we’re all out of breath it's hard to breathe sometimes,” he said.
To help with the adjustment to the mask wearing, mask breaks have been put into place, along with a rule that if you are 10+ yards away from someone you can take your mask down to take a few breaths.
This unordinary season has not just been an adjustment for the student athletes, but also for all coaches. Coach Jackling, head coach of the boys varsity soccer team, has had to make game plans, practices, and prepare his team around the new regulations and guidelines so that his team is ready for their games every week.
“We’ve always had to grind games out. It’s been a learning curve for me. Guys fall back on what they know and we need to change that,” Coach Jacking said.
With seniors hopes being high since their freshman years of what their final seasons of their high school careers would look like, it is definitely a big upset.
“Seniors have been great. They got a perspective from last spring, at least we get to play one, keeping that in mind and valuing that,” he said.
With all of this controversy and change, the boys soccer team got their first victory 1-0 against Stoneham on Monday, October 12.
The athletic director had come up with multiple plans before school started so that sports would be able to take place. One of them was selected which consists of four total seasons: Fall 1, Winter, Fall 2, and Spring. This plan allows all student athletes who have been looking forward to their seasons to hopefully get the chance to play.
Fall sports have been running smoothly, with no reported cases so far, will this translate into the winter season?
“Winter has the same chance that fall has. Athletes make the difference between if we play or if we don’t. People are watching what they do,” athletic director Shaun Hart said.
Referees are being especially strict with enforcing the new rules. It is so important for the athletes to take this seriously because what they do in their own seasons affect what will happen during the upcoming ones.
Written by Patrick Casey. Published October 20, 2020.
The Burlington High School golf team got back in action a couple weeks ago. With the coronavirus running through the streets of America there was a serious question on whether school athletics would return or how it would affect the teams.
“It affected the schedule a little bit,” Chris Sullivan said. “And now we have to wear masks around the course but if we spread out we can take the masks off...For the most part ‘it’s wear your mask.’”
Chris also added that he doesn’t mind wearing it if he can have a season.
The on-course play hasn’t changed really; they just have to wear masks walking to and from the course.
“It's definitely been different playing with masks but I’m happy we have a season,” Zack Faitel said. “It doesn’t affect me at all. We can take the mask down when we shoot so it’s not that bad.”
The season is off in running for the golf team and that is a pretty good start as high school athletics across Massachusetts and the country try to get their sports back during the pandemic.
Written by Patrick Casey
There is a major difference between playing sports in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. They are different protocols based on how states are handling the virus, which impacts players’ experiences
For example, hockey is very different in the two states. In Massachusetts they were requiring players to wear masks on the ice whereas New Hampshire has no masks. They also were not allowing players to check in Massachusetts, which is allowed in New hampshire.
“It's definitely weird trying to balance the different rules and protocols but it doesn't affect the play too badly,” Mike Johnsen, a hockey player who would go back and forth between Massachusetts and New Hampshire, said. “I think I would prefer the way New Hampshire runs just my opinion but I get it.”
One thing to note is that New Hampshire and Massachusetts shut their rinks down until November 7th. Massachusetts did open them back up but is not allowing out of state players to play. New Hampshire did the same thing. The new guidelines require players to wear a mask at all times and there will be no locker rooms available so players must get dressed outside.
Written by Marina Callahan
With winter sports right around the corner, the fear of not having a season is lingering in the minds of student athletes and coaches. The anticipation of the unknown is eating away at everyone involved. The results of fall sports have been iffy with some bumps in the road. Schools who have entered “the red zone” have had to cancel their games and practices for two weeks at a time, due to new COVID cases.
Richard Sheehan, varsity girls hockey head coach and BHS assistant principal, should be heading into his second season with high hopes for a promising season. Last season the team was two games away from winning the Middlesex League, which would have been a complete turn around from the season prior.
“I wouldn’t say my hopes are high because Massachusetts hockey got suspended for a two-week time period. If youth went well, I would’ve had higher hopes for high school,” said Coach Sheehan.
With rumors of new restrictions going around, the uncertainty is sitting in athletes’ minds and making them wonder: do we still want to play even if it is drastically different? Rumors for high school hockey have been: players must wear masks on the bench, no masks during play, six feet apart from opposing wings on faceoffs, etc.
“Yes I would still play, there are already a lot of restrictions in club which haven’t taken too much away from the game,” said Sydney Shinopulos, two-time girls hockey captain.
On November 5, the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) came out with a statement declaring that the higher risk sports would be able to play this season.
“The EEA states that higher-risk sports can participate in competitions, including games, this winter. With proper modifications, basketball and hockey will be able to be played this winter. Sports that have sustained contact including wrestling will not be able to compete,” said Matt Feld.
This statement applies to all of Massachusetts. Now it is up to each individual league to progress with new guidelines and restrictions for hockey and basketball to proceed forward. Unfortunately, not all sports will be able to be played, due to too much contact and the continued spread of COVID-19.
Written by Marina Callahan
Frosty air, the end of the holiday season, everyone knows what this means: winter sports. What could be better than watching basketball, hockey, and gymnastics? Well, usually people would be enjoying other sports such as wrestling, indoor track, and swimming. However, these sports, which are normally played now, have either gotten pushed to the “Fall 2” season or cancelled entirely.
Middlesex league teams are about three weeks into the season, and numerous teams have gotten shutdown. Most people would think this would be due to a rise in cases through the spread in sports, but this has not been the case for most. Superintendents have sent some school systems to be fully remote for school. This would lead to sports not being allowed to compete.
Reading and Wilmington are two examples of this. Wilmington schools have been switching between hybrid and remote learning almost weekly, and Reading has been remote the entire year. Both of these towns have held rallies to get sports to return, while continuing to be in the remote learning phase.
“I did not attend the rally, but I do think it was very successful because it informed many people of what was going on,” said Jackie Malley, a junior captain of the Reading varsity girls basketball team.
She also mentioned that she was very proud that her community stands behind her team, and all high school athletics.
The purpose of the rallies has been to gain the attention of each desired superintendent of each town. The Reading rally had about 150 people in attendance to advocate for the athletes, as well as the athletes themselves
The sports that are happening this fall are girls basketball, boys basketball, girls hockey, boys hockey, girls gymnastics, and boys gymnastics. This season is going to consist of 10 games, no playoffs, and new modifications. All schools in the Middlesex League are participating in sports, as of right now. The schools consist of Arlington, Belmont, Burlington, Lexington, Melrose, Reading, Stoneham, Wakefield, Watertown, Wilmington, Winchester, and Woburn.
This season is going to consist of 10 games, no playoffs, and new modifications. However, tThe 10 games are not even all one hundred percent guaranteed. If any team gets shut down due to COVID cases, depending on the situation, they could be quarantined for two weeks, unless the players and coaches stay home if they have symptoms or are considered close contacts.
“After getting shut down I was definitely worried the games would not get rescheduled” said senior captain Kylie DuCharme of the Wilmington girls varsity basketball team.
So far if a game has been cancelled, due to a shutdown, they have been rescheduled to be played at a later point in the season. This has given athletes hope to get in a full schedule of the 10 games that they were told about in the beginning of the season.
The down side to the timing of the make-up games these games getting made up, is that teams are not having a lot of time to prepare in between games.
“Only having a few days to prepare for the games, and then only having one or two days in between games isn’t a lot of time to get a game plan in compared to other years” said DuCharme.
Though this year is hard, and has been a huge struggle for all teams around the nation, everyone seems to be figuring out how they can accomplish a successful season.