When students at Northwood aren’t busy completing assignments, many are practicing their favorite sports. Sports at Northwood include football, basketball, soccer, tennis, volleyball, baseball, softball, swim, track and field, cross country, lacrosse and wrestling. Sports are an important activity for students because they offer health benefits, teamwork skills and a distraction from everyday stressors.
However, this year might look a little different for sports at Northwood. Since the majority of sports offered at Northwood are high contact sports, the risk for infection and spread of Covid-19 is a major concern for Northwood staff, students and the community.
Of the sports that have been deemed safe enough to resume at Northwood, new precautions have been put in place to keep staff and students safe while practicing. The sports that have started practices at Northwood so far are cross country and volleyball.
Cross Country was one of the first sports to begin practices this Fall. They have practices Monday through Friday from 3:30 to 5pm.
“Cross Country this year has been different for obvious reasons, but as a team we still are motivated to work hard and have fun,” says Northwood senior and member of the Northwood Cross Country team Malachi Levy. “It has been interesting getting used to wearing masks and staying spread out, but with that being said I do feel safe at practice because we are outside and don’t ever really bunch up together.”
Volleyball has had one week of practices so far with the girls split into two groups. They will continue to hold practices twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. Each practice at Northwood has new safety guidelines.
“They definitely look a lot different. We’re being careful and trying to stay socially distanced as much as we can when we’re playing,” said Northwood junior and member of the Northwood Girls’ Volleyball team Annika Kearsley. “We’re still doing most of the same drills and things we’ve done in previous years. I totally feel safe practicing. Safety precautions have been put in place to make sure we stay safe, and the coaches are being pretty strict about them.”
Feeling safe is a very important aspect of continuing the weekly practices, as well as adding Covid-19 prevention measures.
“I [feel] very safe; everyone had their temperature checked before walking into the gym and everyone wore a mask in and out of the gym including while conditioning outside,” said Northwood junior and member of the Northwood Girls’ Volleyball team Olivia Thill. “All of the balls are also disinfected before and after we touched them.”
Although the swim and lacrosse team have not started practicing yet, Co-Athletic Director Cameron Vernon has emailed out an interest form for students who want to be active in either of those sports. Practices for swimming will be held at a swimming pool in Chapel Hill. It is still unclear what practices for lacrosse will be like this year or when they will begin.
“Right now we do not have any guidance on lacrosse practice from the NCHSAA [North Carolina High School Athletic Association],” said Coach Vernon.
While practices aren’t the same this year, students will still be able to enjoy their sports and improve their skills if they feel safe doing so. Some students have expressed that they feel safe and want to continue practicing for what many hope to be the upcoming season for their beloved sports, yet other students have chosen to sit their season out to be on the safer side.
-Loren King
Photo by Ella Sullivan
