"Fall 2" Season Begins

by Katherine Sumner

The so-called “Fall 2” season is about to begin at Niskayuna. Sports that were removed from the original fall season due to their “high-risk” status, including football and volleyball, will be able to start practices as soon as March 7th. These sports were postponed until now because of the high amount of interpersonal contact required to play them, which greatly increases the risk of possible COVID-19 transmission. Since the school district is more familiar with handling COVID safety than they were in the fall, and since rates are now at acceptable levels, the new season has officially been cleared to begin.

Although both football and volleyball have been cleared to begin, it’s certain that their seasons will look a lot different than they have in past years. As usual, safety protocols for COVID will be in place, meaning that masks will be worn at all times - including during games and practices. Both football and volleyball teams will be attempting to social distance as much as possible when on the sidelines, even though it isn’t possible during games, and there will be no spectators for games of either sport.

Additionally, the school district will continually be looking at the numbers to ensure that sports will be able to continue. According to Niskayuna’s official “Preparedness Plan” for resuming high-risk sports, the 7-day rolling average percent positivity in Schenectady County must be at or below 4.0%, and the percent of hospital beds available in the region must be above 15%. If any of these numbers drop below or rise above acceptable levels, activities will be restricted to socially distant group training or to individual training, and seasons will return to being on pause until further notice.

Winter sports that had originally been postponed, such as basketball, wrestling, ice hockey, and competitive cheerleading, are now also approved to begin their seasons. Precautions will be taken for all of these sports as well - for example, wrestling mats will be thoroughly cleaned in between every match, cheerleaders will be required to wear masks at all times, hockey players will keep an appropriate six-foot social distance on the benches and in the penalty boxes, and basketballs will be sanitized during time-outs and in between quarters. Although they may seem inconvenient at times, these safety measures are being taken in order to ensure the safety of competitors, coaches, officials, and all other students and faculty at competing schools. Regardless, athletes in all sports beginning right now are grateful that they get to have a season, even under circumstances like these, and they are excited to begin practicing and playing.

Athletes, coaches, and fans alike are hopeful that this season will be a safe, successful, and COVID-free one - but for that to happen, everyone involved needs to ensure that they’re taking precautions outside of games and practices too. If an athlete wants their season to continue, they should be wearing a mask and social distancing at all times as well as significantly limiting the amount of people they see outside of a school or work environment. Support our Warriors by staying safe!