Author Spotlight
Jilli Foley
On Thursday, March 12 almost a fifth of East students scattered campus heading to their after-school practices. With a pandemic situation occurring in the country and rumors spreading about school cancelation after spring break, athletes began to face the possibility that their season could be put on hold for a week or two. But three days into spring break, their seasons were cancelled indefinitely.
This years athletes in spring sports teams are all heartbroken and upset about the news cancelling all school activities till the end of the year. Though it might of been the right choice due to the circumstances, some feel it was too fast and wish they had more time to consider other options.
Due to the pandemic, no groups 10 or above are allowed to have scheduled procedures and outings. Which means, cancellation of all school activities.
Cancelling school didn’t just cancel long-awaited events like prom and graduation. For many, it cancelled their spring sports seasons — and, along with it, almost a year of preseason work.
As for seniors, this spring season was the final hoorah for their highschool experience. They were going to finally be the team leaders, ready to work towards success in their last season.
“I’m gonna miss that feeling of being with my teammates and cheering each other on,” senior and varsity track 4×4 runner, Miles Patterson said. “It’s just that feeling of hard work and dedication with a team everyday that I will miss in these next months.”
With only three spots on the girls varsity soccer team this year, and their 16-2-1 season last year, the girls’ goal was to make it to state this year after losing in quarterfinals last year. With their record, they were looking forward for this comeback season and to be with each other again.
Two-year captain Josephine McCray feels cancelling spring sports was the appropriate decision to make under the circumstances, but wishes players could’ve had time to prepare for this shocking scenario.
“I’ve never been on a team with this kind of chemistry, so it’s gonna be a hard thing to lose,” McCray said.
Some teams, like varsity girls’ soccer, have gotten together digitally on Zoom calls to check in with their teammates and do small get-together workouts after the cancellation of their season. But that doesn’t change the fact they won’t ever step on a field together again or hear the umpires yell “play ball.”
“I loved seeing the team again on Zoom,” McCray said. “But it will definitely not be the same feeling as seeing them on the field playing with each other.”
For track and soccer, coaches from all schools in the 6A league have come together and started preparing a possible tournament and event from the seniors in the month of June. The goal of the tournament would be to have a friendly competition and let the seniors play in their school’s jerseys one last time.
“I will never get that chance of playing with my best friends again.” senior Izzy Zukaitis said. “It would be our one and last opportunity to work with each other before all of us leave.”
For other sports like baseball, softball and swim, coaches sent out an email of apology to the players, saying it’s an unfair ending to their season.
“I’m just staying optimistic and hope for the best for everyone,” junior baseball player Will Brant said. “It’s all for a greater purpose and I just hope it’ll go by quickly.”
Despite understanding the severity of the current situation, some feel the call was made too early to cancel the rest of the school year and season. They feel anything could change over time, so cancelling the whole season and school for some seemed way too overboard.
“It’s frustrating they cancelled so suddenly and for the whole season,” Patterson said. “State is two months away … anything could change by then, and I wished they looked more into that outlook then just pressing the end-all-be-all button.”
More and more ideas like team parties and get togethers have been discussed in regard to giving the seniors a more fitting end to their high school sport careers than just turning in their jerseys and moving on to college. From this situation, more love and memories will be remembered from past seasons and more remembrance towards this years seniors in future years.
“Next year will be the year I look back and work the most for my seniors who didn’t get the chance to step on that field and be leaders,” Brant said.
Leave a Reply