With the return of sports, many student-athletes are finally able to participate in competitions again. However, playing sports in-person during the pandemic is a very different experience compared to previous years for many student-athletes.
According to boys varsity basketball player Andrew Nguyen, the biggest change is having to follow strict COVID-19 protocols. Nguyen and his fellow teammates are still struggling to get used to the extra precautions they have to take before and after their games, he said.
“Forty-eight hours before every game, every single person on the team has to get a PCR COVID test to be allowed to play,” Nguyen said in a Zoom interview. “This means that we end up getting tested two to three times a week. Also, our coaches require us to fill out a daily health screening form everyday at practice… Wearing masks during practice and games is the hardest thing to get used to, since the mask usually ends up covered in sweat, and that makes it hard to breathe through, especially when competing.”
Even though the basketball team gets tested two to three times a week, two of the players’ results have either been lost or come in too late, Nguyen said. As a result of their tests being lost, two basketball players have almost been forced to miss games, Nguyen added. Luckily, however, the players were able to get reapproved to play by quickly driving to a different testing site, like Walgreens, and getting retested, Nguyen said.
For boys junior varsity soccer player Nikolas Primicias, the biggest challenge this year was having such a short season, he said. The last-minute schedule changes due to opponent players contracting the virus was very difficult to keep track of, he added.
“Usually, we get a couple [of] weeks to practice and perfect our game plan and skills during the preseason before the first game of the season even starts,” Primicias said in a Zoom interview. “But this year, we barely even had a week to prepare for our first game of the season. This made it hard trying to build chemistry within the team since we had so little time to get to know each other. Last year, I felt like the team played better because we were more comfortable with each other, but this year was sort of like having a bunch of soccer players being thrown into the fire right away.”
Although playing sports during the pandemic is nowhere near the level of normalcy that student-athletes desire, the school giving students the ability to even participate in sports again is a huge accomplishment, boys tennis player Corey Chen said. According to Chen, student-athletes are generally happy that they get a chance to play despite the new changes.
“This year is not nearly as competitive as previous years since we do not have Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs like we usually do,” Chen said in a Zoom interview. “I know that many other people, including myself, really want to be able to have the same level of competitiveness, but I think it’s good to look on the bright side.”