By Allison Diaz and Erin Peters
Staff Writers
The most important time of the year for the majority of athletes is the beginning of the high school season. This year changed it all as COVID-19 hit the world and ruined the season for high school sports. However, coaches and athletes did not let that stop them from playing. The season was pushed back and the time was cut, but they still managed to have a season. The fall season began on February 16 of this year and since then, the girl’s volleyball team has played in a total of 10 games, winning three of them.
“The record does not affect our team, it’s how we play the game. If everyone is hustling, giving it their all and we still lose, nobody would be upset about that because we know we gave 100%,” says varsity volleyball athlete Abigail Weirich.
Although COVID-19 cases have been decreasing, safety measures are still in place. During their games and practices, the volleyball athletes must maintain social distancing and are obligated to wear their face masks to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
In addition to these new measures, the pandemic has significantly changed the structure of this volleyball season. There were fewer practices to get ready for the games, but the athletes managed to push through.
“These few practices that we have had make it feel like the season went by in a blink of an eye,” JV athlete Marissa Cossa explains. “I wish we had more time to practice before each game so we could adjust and do even better.”
Abigail also expresses how she felt about the short volleyball season, saying, “It was a little stressful with the shorter season because we had to put everything together in a short period of time. It was also hard to create a good bond with the team due to how fast the games were coming.”
Although athletes are saddened that they were only able to play volleyball for a short period of time, they are grateful it even happened and can hope for next year’s season to be better. Unfortunately, for some athletes, the 2021 winter Volleyball season will be their last year being eligible for High School sports.
“At first I was super upset just as much as other senior athletes must have been,” Abigail adds, “but I couldn’t be happier about the fact that I’m playing anyway, even though it’s a short season. There are certain things we can no longer do anymore that change the Hammond tradition for volleyball but I choose not to look in the past and on the look in the present; I’m still happy with how the season is going so far.”
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