Article by Jack Williams
Sports at Davie High look different this year due to COVID-19. With mask mandates and safety protocols in place, all teams are doing their best to keep athletes and coaches safe. Currently, Spring sports such as baseball, lacrosse, and soccer are taking place. The postponed season for the football team will have its first game in late February. Most sports practices look more or less the same, with less frequent practices, masks being worn, and separated teams to ensure social distancing.
Teams with Varsity and JV groups, such as Lacrosse, Soccer, and Drumline, have been able to easily split up practices to maintain social distancing. Drumline, for example, has been staying safe by wearing masks at all times and conducting practice for JV and Varsity on separate days of the week. The Drumline meets with the rest of the Marching Band as a whole on Thursdays. The Marching Band will only be playing at 3 home games this year, to ensure everyone’s safety.
The Softball team has also been doing their best to stay safe during COVID-19. The temperatures of the players are being recorded in a spreadsheet daily, and the players are adhering properly to all safety procedures. Coach Morgan Wyatt of the Varsity Softball team at Davie High detailed that each student is being heavily advised to follow these safety measures both on and off campus Sports teams will also be seeing a decrease in games during their respective seasons. Coach Wyatt stated, “The number of games for the season and per week have been cut down by the NCHSAA and the season will look a little different than in the past, but we are prepared for that!” The softball season officially begins on March 1st.
Picture by Madelynn Keller
How Many Spectators Will be Allowed?
Another change to sports this year is the limited amount of spectators allowed at games. Most coaches are handing out a certain amount of tickets to each athlete. These tickets will be given to parents for admission, with a cap of 25 spectators for indoor games and around 100 for outdoor events. No away-team spectators will be allowed to come to games taking place at Davie High. Spectators are required to follow mask mandates and social distancing procedures during games.
Picture by Madelynn Keller
Student-Athletes’ Opinions
Most athletes have gotten used to the process of following safety procedures at practices. James Rhile on the lacrosse team had this to say about wearing masks: “Everyone still wears one and it’s not that uncomfortable.” The lacrosse team is split into JV and Varsity teams, both of which have recently begun to practice and will be seeing games soon.
An anonymous student-athlete said that “We split the team into groups (JV and Varsity)… and we have to wear masks the entire time. But people don’t always follow these rules.” Not everyone continues to follow the mask mandates once out of the public eye.
Picture by Madelynn Keller
Some teams have unfortunately had to quarantine players to protect the athletes and keep everyone less at risk for contracting COVID-19. The frequencies of spectators, players participating, and practices during the week have all been decreased in agreement with safety procedures. Every sports team at Davie High is doing their best to make sure that student-athletes are as safe as possible during the spring sports season, following the end of the official winter sports season.
Picture by Madelynn Keller
Article is decently written but failed to highlight the lack of people properly wearing masks. They went over marching band too much which is in me and my friends (also in marching band) not a sport so it’s very easy to follow protocol in that. I also don’t understand why they got a quote from James Rile when he has been playing lacrosse for like 2 days because he didn’t come out at the beginning of the year