Due to Covid-19 youth sports have been canceled for nearly a year. Club and high school sports have come to a complete stop. But, recently California has loosened the rules for youth sports and is allowing them to return to play.

Originally when sports were scheduled to start up in early November high school students were given the choice to either play club or high school. Now that some rules have changed, high schoolers are allowed to do both.

“I am very excited to start playing games again whether it be for my club team or the high school team, although it is very stressful because there is so uncertainty surrounding sports at the moment,” said Natalie O’Sullivan (’22), Varsity Girls Soccer Player.

Throughout the year of 2020, club sports have been practicing with masks and staying socially distant. The restrictions throughout the year have been changing drastically. Through the year the state has been going little by little to make sure youth sports are coming back to an environment where return to play is granted.

“The current plan for high school soccer is to only play 5-6 games. Players should be able to do both club and highschool soccer. I plan to only train 1x initially. Once games start I would not have any training. I think most high school coaches understand that we do not want to over-stress players,” said Dave Shaw, AV Girls Soccer Varsity Coach.

Athletes would love nothing more than this opportunity to return to play after a stressful year due to the pandemic. I believe that it is a great idea to have athletes play high school sports and club sports. I agree with the fact that it maybe a double exposure for Covid-19 It’s been a long time since youth athletes have been able to play and practice with their teams safely, and it as well ets them more playing time to improve themselves. 

Now that coaches and staff have been alerted about returning to play, they have been doing their very best considering that both club and high school [sports] can be played.  Coaches are making sure that we are returning safely to play and to not stress the player if they are doing double sports. 

“I’m a little worried just because I don’t know what other precautions people are taking and who they are seeing so that’s always scary but at the same time I’m super excited for sports and I know they’re trying their best to make it safe and I can personally just be extra careful myself,” said Isabella Maurico (‘21), Varsity Girls Basketball Player.

In just a few weeks high school and club will start playing games again. But the most important thing is to not spread the Covid-19 virus. Coaches and staff have to take into question that playing high school and club maybe a bit of a risk. But since it is allowed the school and coaches will be doing their very best to make practicing and playing games as safe as possible. I’m glad that athletes are able to show their skills once again and not only in one environment but two since they can do both high school and club. This is a great opportunity for athletes to return to their sports safely.