Ever since schools began making reopening plans, the issue of fall sports has always been present, and now that schools have finally begun reopening, a debate has ensued about whether or not to play sports this semester. This debate ranges from high schools to university conferences, and both sides of the debate have supporters everywhere. Fall sports are important to some as a way to bring the community together, especially in Union. However, the coronavirus pandemic is still at large, and there are consequences to either course of action.
Everyone wants this pandemic to end (and in due time, the pandemic will end) in order for life to return to normal. The fall semester originally brought hope that this would happen, but because of the worsening pandemic, schools did not reopen as normal. Instead of life returning to normal, everyone is only getting a taste of normalcy. Fall sports would bring back a greater sense of normalcy for communities everywhere. Furthermore, some students live for this time of year. They enjoy the excitement on Fridays as the entire school prepares for a big football game or the band prepares for a contest that Saturday. Even for someone who does not enjoy sports, the energy of the day is still present and can be enjoyed by anyone. This is a vital part of American high school culture, and if sports are not played, students will miss out on this. While this would not be a huge deal for most students, seniors would miss their last games and contests. They would miss their last year of high school sports and activities. No one wants this to happen. In an ideal situation, schools and school sports would return to normal this time of year; however, this year has been anything but ideal.
Matt Hennington
Despite reasons for allowing fall sports, there are still many concerns that everyone must take into account when considering whether to play sports this fall. The main concern is the transmission of COVID-19. Football games typically involve many different people from different places packed into bleachers in a stadium. These fans talk loudly to each other in order to hear and even yell to support their team. While this is fine in an ideal situation, COVID-19 spreads through respiratory droplets, and all of these things would increase the respiratory droplets spread from person to person, which would likely increase the spread of COVID-19 by a lot. Even with social distancing and mask requirements in place, this will still be bound to happen as these requirements either cannot or will not be enforced. Furthermore, student teams traveling to and from away games could spread the virus from community to community much faster than if they did not play sports. Some also argue that sports should not be seen as essential since education is (and should be) the primary purpose of school (this is an entirely different debate that is much too large to write about here, however). Proponents of this position argue that sports should be canceled in the fall and that students should just go to school for their education while maintaining the necessary requirements for preventing the spread of the virus. Despite the negative consequences of allowing sports, one must acknowledge that the risk would be present in any sort of activity. Eventually, people must live their lives. This factor does not mean that the negative consequences of allowing sports can be ignored, however.
After exploring both sides of this debate, the arguments for both sides hopefully seem clear. With all of the disinformation circulating on social media and even the sheer amount of reporting on COVID-19, many people can easily feel overwhelmed. The decision on whether to allow sports or not must take into account both the positive consequences and negative consequences. No one wants to cancel sports. No one wants mask mandates or social distancing requirements. No one wants life to be in the middle of a pandemic. However, everyone is in the middle of a pandemic, and we must sometimes do things that we do not want to do in order to help everyone weather this storm.
Matt Hennington covers the Union community beat. He can be reached via email at mch.2000@hotmail.com.
