Sports in Covid: An Inside Look at King Athletics

There are school sports games this weekend.

That is a crazy sentence to think about in the context of a global pandemic, but we made it here. In this article, we’ll take a look back at King Athletics during the pandemic to find out how we made our way from a complete shutdown to a thriving season of Fall Athletics, despite the hurdles caused by COVID-19.

Looking back to March, before the lockdown, sports were completely cancelled to keep people safe. Although there were some virtual workouts coordinated by Coach Joyner and Coach Crochetiere, in-person sports were entirely cancelled. However, as lockdown restrictions eased, athletic restrictions did too. The first practices took place in July, with small group workouts approved for up to six athletes and one coach, with twelve feet of distance between people. Due to the contactless nature of these workouts, athletes were able to take off their masks. We also had the opportunity to rekindle our childhood connection with hula-hoops, which the Coaches used to mark spacing to keep everyone socially distanced.

As athletes entered preseason, restrictions eased, and more on campus practices were held, with players able to participate in non-contact drills along with workouts. Practice size also expanded to allow larger groups to come to campus. Although most teams were still split in half, preseason sports practices were a welcome return to a semblance of normalcy for both athletes and coaches.

As classes began in September, practice group sizes continued to gradually increase, aided along by the widespread adherence to both athletic and academic COVID-19 protocols.

Moving forward to today, athletics are running almost exactly as they were before the pandemic. Teams are cleared to practice without masks during ‘strenuous physical activity’ and each sport will be having ‘friendlies’ soon, which is a term the Athletic department is using to describe friendly scrimmages between King and other neighboring private schools, including Hamden Hall, St. Luke’s, and Greenwich Country Day. Currently these scrimmages are all scheduled to take place on Saturdays, and although spectators are not allowed right now, all games will be livestreamed, so make sure to watch out this Saturday!

Seeing as the Fall season, aside from the possibility of Covid-19 related issues, is pretty much set in stone, it only makes sense to look ahead to Winter and Spring. Considering the fact that the basketball court is currently divided into middle school classrooms, it doesn’t look great for Winter sports, but Mr. Decker stated in an interview that King is planning on holding “every sport we offer.”

Last but not least, we need to support our peers on Saturday. Unfortunately, in-person spectating is limited due to Covid-19 restrictions right now, but we can watch the streams. The home game schedule is as follows with live stream links to all games coming out soon. Make sure to show some Viking Pride!

JV Volleyball vs. GFA 12:00 North Campus Grass Field

Varsity Field Hockey vs. GFA 12:15 Middle Campus Turf Field

Varsity Volleyball vs. GFA 2:00 North Campus Grass Field

Varsity Boys Soccer vs. GFA 2:30 Middle Campus Turf Field

Varsity Football vs. Hamden Hall 3:30 South Campus Turf Field