Sports take measures during pandemic
Fall seasons are beginning for teams
The girls’ varsity soccer team holds a strategic meeting during their halftime break Sept. 30. While not playing, the MSHSL has suggested to wear masks in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 this season.
October 10, 2020
According to sophomore Ryan duSaire, the soccer team is taking precautions during events. Every player’s temperature is taken when they arrive and masks must be worn at all times. duSaire believes the precautions the team is taking are satisfactory.
“There’s been one or two people that come into contact. But overall, it’s been pretty safe. And there haven’t been any outbreaks in the team or anything.” duSaire said.
Freshman Finn Baron, a cross country runner, also said how his team altered practices for this year.
“We have divided the team into self-contained pods to limit the spread,” Baron said. “So, they kind of base it off of your skill level, but it’s like small running groups.”
According to Baron, the precaution the team is following has created a lack of interaction between teammates.
“Usually, the team’s all one big, unified group. But this year, you don’t really get to interact with other people, people in different pods than you,” Baron said. “There are four pods… So, there’s not as much interaction with other teammates.”
Baron said he believes it makes sense that cross country is allowed to play, whereas football and volleyball players are at a much higher risk.
“It is fair to let the teams that have a much lower risk of spreading COVID play. The high risk sports like football and volleyball, they’re touching each other.”
According to athletics director Andy Ewald, there can only be 250 spectators at the stadium. For swimming, there are no spectators allowed. Athletes are supposed to let their coaches know if they are exposed or showing any symptoms of COVID-19. Masks are required and the stadium is being cleared out between boys and girls soccer games. Athletes and coaches are expected to follow social distancing guidelines.
If an athlete were to test positive for COVID-19, Ewald said he would refer to the information put out by the Minnesota Department of Health.
“I would refer to the tree and follow whatever the tree says, and reach out to MDH and contact them directly for direction and guidance of how to handle a situation because, much like all of this, every situation is going to be different,” Ewald said.
Ewald said he believes individuals should work together to hold everyone accountable during the pandemic.
“It’s everybody’s responsibility to do what they need to do to keep everybody else safe and healthy. So again, whether that’s wearing masks, whether that’s keeping safe, social distancing, whether it’s ‘I feel like I might be positive to go in and get tested,’” Ewald said. “We have a responsibility greater than just to ourselves.”
Ewald said the school is giving maximum effort to ensure that sports are as safe as possible.
“We’re going to do everything possible, and our coaching staff is going to do everything possible to try and make not only football, but all the sports that we have going on now, and in the future this school year… as safe as we possibly can,” Ewald said.
