We all understand the consequences of the pandemic and the day-to-day effects on our school experience, but how have sports been affected?  Braving the dangers, our athletics carry on.

While students practice social distancing and wearing masks, athletics continue to the chagrin of conventional measures to slow the spread of a virus that has claimed over 200 thousand lives in the United States so far.  However some measures have been taken.  Football players, for instance, practice social distancing in between drills and wear masks.  Nevertheless, it is still a contact sport and with this new challenge, lapses are bound to crop up.  In particular, the cancellation of JV football after a Greenville county athlete was exposed to the virus.

Other sports may not have the same impediments.  I think of baseball when I think of sports with a substantial distance between players.  Tennis and cross-country was fine as well, but the problem is sports heavy on contact like football, basketball, or soccer.  These sports are also main benefactors of scholarships and educational opportunities.

This has been a source of contention on the high school, college, and professional level.  President Trump fought hard to have Big Ten football started back up, and the NBA bubble in Orlando, Florida has become a symbol for the absurdity of COVID-19 and the year 2020 as a whole.  However, the higher the level goes the more funding and easier it is to enforce precautions.  This is not the same for high school, but high school sports are arguably more important for the athletes than any other level.

No matter your opinion, this year is strange for not just regular students, but athletes especially.  The virus should be taken seriously, and Greenville county has, but for students like Jaleel Skinner who recently received an offer from the University of Michigan, a football powerhouse, this season is critical for his development into a college or professional athlete down the line.