This year, as COVID-19 and social distancing came to St. Robert, unfortunately, the normal sports offered to students were cancelled this school year. Due to this decision, there was no Padre basketball tournament or Seton volleyball tournament. This was very disappointing to many student athletes at St Robert. However, because of this inconvenience, many students are participating in club sports outside of school. For example, an eighth grader, Jane, plays volleyball for 360 Volleyball Academy. This is just one example of the many students who decided to play other sports. 

Many of the students who are playing with club teams this year, had done club sports in the past as well, but while these leagues are still in session, many changes are present due to the pandemic. At 360 Volleyball Academy, where Jane plays, she says the tournaments are much different. She says, “Usually there are tons of people at each tournament and lots of tournament options. This year many venues dropped out so there aren’t as many options for traveling or playing in games regularly. There is also a limit for spectators that players can bring, so there aren’t as many crowds as usual.” Along with the differences Jane experiences at volleyball, Eric – another 8th grader – plays for the Whitefish Bay Jr. Blue Dukes basketball team. He has noticed many differences with basketball as well; he says, “There are no tip offs, now it is a coin flip to see who starts with the ball. Also some teams decided not to play this year so there are less teams to play against.” These differences are to keep the athletes as safe as possible with the least amount of physical contact as they can. These adjustments have made some aspects of the sport unusual for the players, but they’re done to make sure everyone’s okay

Eric and Jane play indoor sports, but some outdoor sports have been able to continue with small differences as well. For example, lacrosse player Alexandra, says,  “the difference is for sure the team bonding, and safety protocols. Now it is very hard to bond and do activities with my team, and it is more difficult to get close with them. The safety protocol makes it so that we can’t really interact with the older teams in our club. This is very hard on a social aspect.” Due to changes like these, COVID-19 is hard for athletes on a social level because of struggling with team bonding, like Alex explained. Another outdoor sports player, Grace in 8th grade, plays soccer for Bavarian soccer club. She says that wearing a mask is the main difference in her sport, but also having to play with the worries of getting the virus. It makes sense that this could be stressful for players and is an understandable worry to have. 

There are many more students that play sports outside of school and this is just a select few. There are many benefits to having these such as staying fit and being able to do the sport they love. Students staying fit is very important to St. Robert school and sports are a good way to come by this! St. Robert is also doing an 8 week intramural basketball program so students in their cohorts can still play the sport they love without having to play outside of school! This is very exciting to St. Robert school, for the sports this fall had to be cancelled due to COVID 19. St Robert hopes that every student participating will have a great time even with the restrictions.