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One of the many challenges that came with virtual schooling was the disappearance of sports. With the exceptions of a few virtual practices and team meetings, high school sports in Philadelphia have not been practiced or played in person nor competitively since before the world went into lockdown. That, however, is slowly starting to change. As restrictions in Philadelphia are starting to lessen, sports are returning to be practiced and played in-person albeit with many new restrictions. “There are so many limitations...The amount of people we can have in the room at one time, the new rules on how to stay 6 feet apart and being COVID friendly within our new system,” says Coach Jones, who coaches the boys and girls volleyball teams at Masterman.
Mr. O’Neill, who coaches many sports including golf and softball agrees, adding that “I think at this point everyone is used to the restrictions with masks and protocols so the toughest thing is the logistics”.
Ayla McMoore, a current freshman, describes her experience, “we had to fill out so many forms. We had to fill out a consent form to be inside Lloyd Hall, we had to fill out a bunch of physicals, we had to fill out a bunch of COVID papers. It was a process.” The concerns over logistics extend to even simple things such as where practice should be held. For indoor sports teams such as volleyball, the Masterman gym is not a viable option. “Right now we are planning on using Lloyd Hall if we get approved to use that space as our practice facility as well as home games. But, if we can, we will try to utilize outside space as much as possible. We will try to find a park that we can at least work through a practice together.” Many teams will likely try to spend as much time outside as possible. McMoore described how her first volleyball practice “was outside because it was a really nice day. [We practiced] at the Azalea garden by Lloyd Hall, and we just kinda practiced together as a team” says McMoore. Other sports, such as girl’s soccer, have also returned, taking special care to follow all COVID safety protocols. “We met for like an hour and a half all masked, always, very distanced. When we did scrimmages we had contact but we were all masked…the coach is masked and you have to take your temperature before every practice and if you feel bad at all you don’t come... It’s a lot of trust, you have to put trust in the people you are playing with, you have to trust that they are going to follow the rules, trust that the other team is going to follow the rules. So it's kind of a leap of faith, but once you take it it's been great” says Ella Berman.
In addition to the physical limitation caused by COVID restrictions, low morale affects athletes. “The hardest thing about being virtual is keeping everybody engaged...because of the culture that we’ve set at school it's hard to get them [the team] to be engaging and talking. They're also used to cameras off and on mute so just to get their personalities back [is important]. This can be hard to do even during in-person practices when everyone must be masked and socially distanced. You don't get to do the big team camaraderie at the end where you cheer together” says Jones. From a player’s perspective, the togetherness of a sports team is still there even while socially distant. “My expectations were low, I was like no ones gonna know each other, it's gonna be awkward because we have to stay far apart but I think that the companionship is there and that’s awesome” says Berman.
It is important to remember that sports are coming back before school has returned in-person. This creates an additional challenge for players and their families as they must get to and from practice from where they live in various parts of the city rather than from school. “I expected school to start first and
Photo courtesy of Hannah Lux
then sports would go...I live in the Northeast so an hour in traffic sometimes is an hour and a half. And I would have to commute so I would have to leave at least by seventh period to get to practices or games and then coming back would be insane. I would spend three hours driving and that is just not practical” says Eleena John, 9-4.
Although the travel time is difficult for most students, some actually enjoy it as it allows them to regain a sense of normalcy. According to McMoore “The commute is a little bit harder but I also really like it because it allows me to go out.” Deciding not to play in-person sports in their current state is not a decision that players made lightly. John, for instance stated “Even though I am not playing the game, I’m really really upset about the decision I made but I can’t do anything about it. It's out of my hands.” Many students find themselves in similar situations, unable to participate in sports, which are a fun, and important, part of high school. While there are still enough players for many Masterman teams (although other schools have had to cancel their seasons due to lack of available players), the students that are able to play are feeling the effects of their missing teammates. “I will say it has affected our numbers, but at least we’re playing,” says Berman, one of the girls on the soccer team, which will have to play without substitutions likely for the rest of the season. According to McMoore, “I’m so glad that we have sports coming back. I think it's slowly going back to normal. Hopefully we'll be back by next year.” Despite additional challenges, many players are ecstatic about it both because of the opportunity to play and because the signs that life is slowly returning to what it used to be.
Photo courtesy of Hannah Lux
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