Are We Back to Normal?
Gavin Hanke a junior turns the corner while running one of the cross country’s few home meets.
As the fall sports season comes to an end for a majority of the activities at ALHS, we find ourselves looking back at this season and the seasons before. With COVID-19, a lot of things changed last year for a “new normal,” but as cases go down and a majority of the population gets vaccinated, we are moving back to what we see as the previous normal with still a few new restrictions. This year, athletes while outside and distanced did not have to wear masks. Every sport started on time with full participation, and masks were mandatory on buses. This fall season was a taste of what we see as mostly normal, and most athletes here at ALHS would attest to that.
“We play as a family,” said football player William Toft. “This year’s season was a lot better obviously because last year we had to wear masks while playing football which just had to happen but this year was a lot different because we didn’t have to social distance and didn’t have to wear masks while playing. It was just a lot better.”
“This year’s season was a lot more normal,” said volleyball player Lara Westrum. “We basically got to do everything like normal except we had to wear masks at practice.”
“I really liked this season,” said tennis player Ava Bremer. “Last season was also a good season but it made it harder with all the accommodations we had due to COVID.”
“This year’s swim season we got more in person meets and it was better racing because you got to race people not in your town,” said varsity swimmer Hatty Adams. “This year was pretty normal except for having to wear masks on the pool deck.”
“This year we can actually get together a lot more which was really good,” said varsity cross country runner Luke Wangsness. “We really miss spaghetti suppers and are sad we didn’t get to have them this year.”
“This year’s season is a lot of the same with a few differences,” said varsity girls cross country runner Jaira Maligaya. “The competitions are a lot bigger than last year but we don’t get to have the spaghetti suppers.”
“I think that we are all getting more comfortable with each other,” said girls’ JV soccer player Julie Ortiz. “It’s a little difficult [being an athlete during COVID] it’s hard to hear sometimes when you’re talking to your girls on the bus and it’s just the fact that you can’t be close to them was a little hard because they’re your teammates.”
“It [COVID-19] limited everything we could do,” said varsity boys’ soccer player John Amarosa. “But this year we won more games and had a lot more fun and it was great playing with all the seniors.”
Although the school sports program was grateful for anything they could have last year, the athletes are very excited and grateful that sports and activities are going back to normal. They all have their things they miss, from the girls’ soccer team missing the time to talk on the bus to the cross country team not getting to have their spaghetti suppers, but at the end of the season they are all grateful for what they got to have this year and last.
