The Effect of COVID-19 on Sports

Andrew Donis

The outbreak of the coronavirus has had quite the effect on all aspects of life. At BC High we are fortunate enough to continue our learning through online classes, but many schools, businesses, and sports leagues have been flat out cancelled. All of the professional sports leagues have suspended their operations. Plenty of athletes have contracted COVID-19, including one of the NBA’s superstar forwards Kevin Durant. The New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton tested positive earlier today. In addition to the professional leagues being temporarily shut down, the MIAA cancelled the rest of the winter sports season and recently delayed the spring sports season until April 27th at the earliest. My hometown of Arlington was set to play Pope Francis in the Super Eight State Championship on Sunday, March 15th, but the game was cancelled due to the virus’s quick spread throughout Massachusetts. The teams were named co-champions, but Arlington wasn’t content with that title because they had been on a roll in the playoffs. They were going into the weekend expecting to play for a chance to be a state champion, but that opportunity was taken from them. “After receiving the news during practice, watching all the seniors sob was just heartbreaking because it made me realize how hard they had all worked, not just the last four years, but their whole lives just to reach this point. And to have their dreams be taken was just unfair,” said sophomore Matthew Alesse, a member of the Arlington varsity hockey team. BC High was scheduled to have tryouts this week for spring sports, but now they will hopefully be starting about a month from now. The cancellation of school has interrupted many athletes’ training plans, as they had been getting into shape for the season but are now forced to stay at home and will likely lose lots of the progress that they have made. While waiting for his season to come, Matthew Shoneye ‘21 said that “Every day that we don’t have track, I’ll be crying into my pillow.”  The season is set to start in late April, but with such a fluid situation there is little certainty that sports will happen by then or even at all in the foreseeable future.