Elise Frost

Working on her ball control, sophomore Lexie Lutz practices with her field hockey team while maintaining distance. With COVID-19 regulations impacting every fall sport, field hockey is considered a moderate frequency sport so they must gradually progress into full contact with one another. “I am disappointed because playing field hockey is something I look forward to all year, so it’s a big letdown to have COVID put restrictions on me and my team because it makes it harder to enjoy,” Lutz said.

With the pandemic having canceled the remainder of the past spring sports season along with taking away summer camps from every athlete, the uncertainty that games will be played this fall led the Parkway athletic directors to come to an agreement that there will be no cuts for the fall sports season. 

The decision stems from wanting students to go out and be active during these times instead of getting ready for competitive game play.

“Since we didn’t know if there would be a chance to play games, our focus was to get kids back and reconnected with the school more so than having them prepare for a season,” Activities Director Brian Kessler said. “This year is unique and we felt that letting kids go out and be active is more important than having cuts.”

Although some sports have less cuts than others, the new policy for fall athletics overall was meant to benefit athletes in a time where going out and interacting with others is limited.

“I think [not having cuts] is positive right now because it lowers the stress levels of players who came out,” varsity tennis coach Katelyn Arenos said. “It allows more players to be involved in something outside of the virtual school day, but it will require all of us to be more aware and responsible about wearing our masks and staying socially distant.”

With many new rules and regulations, coaches have to implement different strategies to help an increased number of players improve their skills while also staying safe. 

“The coaches are just focused on making it work,” Kessler said. “They are being creative with the drills and activities that they do just like teachers are with their classroom and right now it’s working. We have a good number of athletes out and we just want to try and get kids back on campus.”