Sports in a Pandemic
Sports in a Pandemic
With masks on and precautions in place, ECS athletics continue to compete.
photo/Debbie Golley
You can’t stop sport.
In the midst of the pandemic — with the shutdowns, and restrictions, and general uncertainty — Nike released an ad that showcased the thing that brings us together. Sports. Splashing images of both professional and amateur athletes, from LA Laker LeBron James to an unknown woman skateboarding, the ad’s powerful messaging reminded us that as bleak as it looks … you can’t stop sport.
Even with the overall societal shutdown, sports found a way. The National Hockey League and National Basketball Association thought on the fly and created bubbles, where the players traveled to a location and played all of their games there. While there weren’t any in-person spectators, fans were still treated to a sense of normalcy with their favorite teams continuing to play. (Writer’s note: The NHL took 24 teams to the playoffs and the Buffalo Sabres still weren’t one. I don’t want to talk about it.)
As the pandemic’s impact dragged through the summer, schools and universities scrambled to find a way to get students back. At that time, sports didn’t take priority; however, New York State set a date to begin scholastic sports if the situation allowed it. With cases throughout the county and state stabilized through the first month of the school year, certain sports got the green light.
Ellicottville Central School’s boys and girls soccer have been playing through the fall, while some students go to Allegany-Limestone Central for swimming and others Franklinville Central to run X-Country. Dave McCann, the ECS Athletic Director, has been busy scheduling and making sure things continue to run smoothly.
“The kids are doing great, as are the coaches and parents,” he said. “Everyone understands what’s at stake if we don’t stay vigilant. The kids want to play and we’re really proud of how they’ve responded to some adversity.”
The soccer teams are split into six: boys and girls varsity, JV and modified. Typically, varsity and modified ride the same bus to away games and play games at different times. But with the school bus passenger restrictions — 22 to a bus — each team has had to ride different busses. Scheduling games and officials has been difficult, but McCann and his fellow ADs have proved up to the challenge.
“We’re working with a shortened schedule as it is,” McCann said, referencing the late September start. “We’re also working with less daylight as we get into the fall. It’s been an interesting year scheduling-wise (laughs).”
While state championships have been cancelled, the varsity teams still have the ability to make it to the sectional game. The boys team, led by Matt Finn, are 2-2-1. The girls, coached by Tammy Eddy, are 5-0. (Both records current at the time of this writing.)
“They won’t use neutral fields this year, so the top seed will host a sectional game,” McCann said. “Unfortunately, it’s tough with limited spectators. We allow each student two spectator passes and it’s typically family members. It’s been really difficult for me to look our players in the eye and tell them their fellow students can’t come cheer them on — that’s a huge part of the community aspect of these sports. But our players have been so good about it and they understand — they want to keep playing so they’re willing to make the sacrifice. I’m super proud of them for that.”
Other schools run it a little differently, but at ECS all players are required to wear masks while they’re playing. Teams in the league fill out an acknowledgement form before their players get off the bus that they’ve all been screened and are not feeling any symptoms. The bleachers at games have been taped off to encourage social distancing, and players sit one to a seat on busses.
All in all, changes were made to allow students to safely play sports. Football has been moved to the spring, so some players jumped ship and are playing for Matt Finn’s varsity team. The players understand that to continue to play, they’ve got to adhere to the rules and stay vigilant — which all of them have. As of right now, winter sports — in particular, basketball — is up in the air. More information on that will come from the State Department of Health in the near future.
“Everyone — from the community to the players — has been awesome about this,” McCann said. “If we stay vigilant, we can keep playing. Because we want the kids to play and we’re doing everything we can to make sure that happens.”
