How Covid-19 is affecting NHS sports 

This year sports are looking extremely different here at NHS. There are lots of different safety precautions being taken on the field and the benches so student athletes can try to enjoy a safe season. 

While some sports are cancelled this year or their seasons may look different such as field hockey, softball, etc. , they are still going on with their season, safely of course. One of these sports that had a pretty successful season this year, according to NHS athlete Lauren Galvin, was field hockey. 

She stated that some of the safety precautions she and the whole team had to take were sanitizing their hands when everyone came off the field, wearing a mask at all times, and maintaining a safe 6 feet distance from one another. 

Galvin said, “Even though there were safety precautions, I still enjoyed this season because I was able to see my friends and meet some new people.”

Even though this was Lauren's first time playing field hockey, she had heard from others that this season specifically was different from the other ones because the players had to socially distance themselves from one another which prevented them from doing some of the activities or drills they would usually do at practice. For example, instead of just picking up the balls if they rolled out of bounce or something, the players had to kick it instead so they wouldn’t keep touching the same ball.  

Another sport that also just finished a successful season was softball. Fall leagues just finished for this season and it went pretty well.

Madison Collins, a freshman from NHS played during the fall league and said she enjoyed it very much.

Softball's fall league also followed lots of safety precautions, some of them were keeping hand sanitizer in each player's bag at all times, wearing a mask when up to bat, and each player was responsible for bringing their own bat so they would not have to share with one another. 

Even though Madison has been playing softball since kindergarten, the pandemic was definitely a change of events for her and the team. 

“The pandemic definitely changed the dynamics of the game, but we never lost our spirit,” she said. 

Even though field hockey, softball and pretty much every other sports season looks different this year it is important to follow all safety precautions so that way we can have a fun season and hopefully be back to normal soon. Collins, meanwhile, is holding out hope for the spring.

“I am extremely excited that we were able to play this year. Softball is a sport that makes me happy, next year I am looking forward to learning and improving more. I can’t wait to see what’s to come in the future” she said.