Missing out
Quarantined players leads to seasons in question
The players must wear masks when they sit on the bench, but they can take them off when they enter the game. This helps with contact tracing if a player test positive.
The coronavirus has affected almost every student athlete in one way or another. For student athletes at SHS, they have seen many weeks missed due to contact tracing. This means less practice time and even cancelled events.
One team that has been hit harder by COVID-19 than others is the SHS girls basketball team. As of Dec. 7, the Lady Cards have had eight players quarantined, along with three coaches
“Those contact quarantines have decimated our roster and left us with 11 total players at times,” head coach Adam Morelock said.
Come sectionals if there are multiple players missing from the starting lineup, they are going to have to bump players from junior varsity to fill those gaps.
“We have a new player up mentality, so if we are down three or four kids come sectionals, we will do the best we can with the players we have,” Morelock said.
Senior Maddy Newhouse has experienced the effects the Coronavirus can have first hand, she has missed a total of four games already this season, due to missing those games, she has missed multiple opportunities to get scouted.
Along with other problems teams normally face such as injuries and grades, COVID-19 will not provide any room for error, however one good thing that comes from this season will be the bonds made.
“I think we’re going to make the most out of what we can whether we win or lose games,” Newhouse said.
This problem continues to bring up the question of what the upcoming season will look like, with COVID-19 guidelines teams schedules will look very different this year.
“There have been dozens of games cancelled around the state already this season,” Morelock said.
Sports like wrestling are seeing mostly no changes to their schedules due to the fact that if an athlete on the team tests positive for COVID-19, only the people that had direct contact with that athlete must be quarantined.
Teams are simply going to have to work around this national pandemic as best as they can given the circumstances and continue to progress with the players they can. For each team, this year is going to look very different.
“The roster and covid quarantines are constantly changing everything we do,” Morelock said.
Hello! My name is Nathan Smith and I am now a senior at SHS. This is now my third year being on the wonderful staff of The Journal. However, this will...
