SPORTS College season sees COVID-19 delays; SHS alumni manage freshmen year
FOOTBALL
Team works on growth
Alyssa Williams
Jocelyne Allen
staff writer
staff writer While the varsity football team has not won a game yet, the team pushes the losses aside to make sure they are learning and growing from those experiences. “I am looking forward to our team growing and mentally maturing to the point where success is a product of doing the little things the right way,” coach Kyle Mullins said...
Photo by: Rachael Mount
Focused: Freshmen Jadon Muncy runs at his first home meet at Hardy Lake on Sept. 8.
CROSS-COUNTRY Deegan Cornelius staff writer
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XC savors last meets
The cross-country team is running down the final stretch of the season with the Mid-Southern Conference meet coming up. “This season I was expecting that we would have to convince... Want more? Scan the code, read the rest of the story and see photos at theboosteronline.com
CHEERLEADING Photo by: Lily Walsh
Eye on the prize: Freshmen Isabella Campbell (7) keeps the ball away from her opponent.
GIRLS SOCCER
Team makes memories Isabela Diaz co-editor-in-chief Soccer season is still kicking it and so are your Warriorettes. Though COVID-19 has definitely taken its toll on many sports, soccer has been one of the lucky few to continue on playing without interruption... Want more? Scan the code, read the rest of the story and see photos at theboosteronline.com
Cheer goes virtual Hailee Bowen staff writer The football cheerleading team had to learn some new tricks this year, but not in the way of stunting but in the way of using technology and meeting virtually through the tryout process and practices. “Personally, I had mixed emotions on tryouts. I’ve always liked the adrenaline of an ‘one and done’ scenario, [but] with virtual tryouts, I was able to attempt as many times as I pleased... Want more? Scan the code, read the rest of the story and see photos at theboosteronline.com
Not only does COVID-19 affect how high school student-athletes perform on the field, but the pandemic continues to affect the graduating Class of 2020, who entered college this fall for their first season as college athletes. Class of 2020 graduate Andrew Slaton, who now attends Anderson University to play football, watched last year as his spring sports season disappeared due to COVID-19. Five months later, he experienced the same loss this fall after Anderson University, like many other colleges, postponed his first college football season to the spring. “Even though it sucks right now, I look at it as an advantage because I have months to prepare and workout with the college strength coach,” Slaton said.
Despite not starting the year as planned, Slaton remains positive. He said he was happy about being allowed to practice and build up his strength, so that in the spring, he will be much stronger and better prepared for this year’s football season. Another 2020 graduate, Jaylah Mays, attends Lincoln Memorial University while playing on the women’s basketball team. At LMU, Mays said basketball has not been postponed and continues on schedule. “As of right now, my season is still on. I’m really looking forward to competing at a higher level of competition as well as continuing to improve whilst playing the game I have always dedicated myself to,” Mays said. “I’m very thankful God blessed me with this opportunity.”
Team quarantines result in schedule problems Catherine Rose staff writer Athletic event cancellations during a regular season can cause problems for coaches and athletic directors, but this year, with a global pandemic, cancellations — because a team quarantines — has created a difficult situation for everyone involved. ”The state restrictions have really just made the planning and preparing a lot harder and has created twice the amount of work for a lot of people, but as far as the actually playing of the sport and scheduling, there hasn’t been a lot of issues,” Athletic Director Jamie Lowry said. For example, if a team quarantines and cancels the game, athletic teams would have to wait until a game can be scheduled. When having to reschedule a game, athletic directors and coaches look for other schools that their opponent cancels for the same reason. When having to play a different school than originally scheduled, the change could cause even more issues if
only the available school to play is located three hours away or is three times SHS’ enrollment. “Austin got canceled due to the Coronavirus and so did Silver Creek. All we have to do to make them up is to try to reschedule them, and since both of those are two teams that are our county rival and in our conference, we just found another day to reschedule them,” said Alex Johnson, girls volleyball assistant coach. Despite the changes in scheduling, the volleyball team has managed to keep a positive attitude toward the delays in game play due to teams having to quarantine. “We’re fine. It was honestly upsetting to cancel the Austin game at first, but we’ve rescheduled the games that got canceled,” said Ella Siekman, a sophomore volleyball player. “So, we’re all pretty excited about that. It was nice to have more time to practice to be better prepared for the games that are coming up.”
Sept. 2020, Issue 1
Sports
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