GRACE LUMPKINS Staff Writer
There is for sure a theme this year and that is all the changes that are having to be made. Another upcoming change includes students leaving campus for the holidays on November 20th. This is right in the middle of winter sports seasons which causes some conflicts and sacrifice.
The sports teams asked to stay on campus this year during break include basketball, track and field, cheer and dance. To most, the holidays are a very special time with loved ones so there are mixed emotions from these athletes. However, they are fortunate to even be getting to compete this year as most other schools do not. Not seeing loved ones during the holidays is just the price they have to pay to be able to play the sport they love during this COVID-19 pandemic. Abigail Schmidt, senior from Newton, is excited for the opportunity to play this year.
“I am so pumped for the opportunity to have a season this year,” Schmidt said. “Coming into this year, there was so much uncertainty surrounding athletics and I have tried to be so conscious of every single opportunity, practice, and game that we are getting to experience.”
The girls basketball team will have conference games on Tuesdays and Fridays, which will eventually change to Wednesdays and Saturdays because of COVID scheduling. For Thanksgiving, the team has only 24 hours off since they play both Tuesday the 24th and the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
They will be staying on campus after thanksgiving and continuing to practice and play games up until the week of finals. They are scheduled to come back on December 28th to start practice again and get ready for the conference games that will start up after Christmas break.
“It may not seem like very much time off but we are so glad to be able to actually have the season and be able to practice,” Schmidt said.
Cheer is another sport that is being affected by the changed winter break schedule. They will have to stay on campus during the week of Thanksgiving. They will practice everyday twice a day that week except Wednesday and Thursday. They will be practicing for their competition after Thanksgiving but get to go home, if possible, on December 20th, after their competition. Jayde Blain, senior from Cawker City, Kansas, has mixed feelings about the new schedule.
“I like that our comps are starting earlier this year (we usually don't start until the end of January), but the first semester has been more stressful with people missing for quarantine,” Blain said. “It's hard for me not going home at Thanksgiving because I'm very family oriented, but I don't want to abandon my team or miss out on my last season.”
Another team sacrificing their time spent with loved ones over the holidays is Track and Field. They are encouraged to stay on campus over the holidays to train and not spread COVID-19.
Kemroy Cupid, senior from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, is looking forward to the upcoming season and the opportunity.
“Since we were able to get a meet in December, we started emphasizing more on speed and explosiveness to get ready for competition,” Cupid said. “We are blessed to have the opportunity to go to WSU to train at their indoor track a few days a week, which helps eliminate injury since we will not have to run in the cold.”
Even though it is not ideal to be missing family time during the holidays, it is a blessing that these teams are able to compete at all.
