The roller coaster continues!

After learning their season was cancelled, practices were cancelled and uniforms were promptly returned. Kids were free to move on to their spring sport who were currently allowed to practice. Basketball ending so abruptly was a tough loss and and emotional for Hallie. And yet, she handled it with grace and moved on. She was excited about tennis. She went to practices. Met the coach. Participated in a preliminary seeding tournament. She had determined she was going to increase her clinic times with her current coach to prep for tryouts. She was all in and ready to work to earn a spot on the tennis team.

And then the state athletic association received a staggering amount of petitions begging for winter sports to be reinstated. It was 5-4 vote to cancel and a re-vote was demanded. I’m not sure who changed their mind, or why they changed their mind but the re-vote produced a 5-4 vote to reinstate winter sports – with additional modifications (to the already long list of modifications) included the requirement to wear masks during play.

I was beyond happy for the re-vote. I’m excited for the seniors who don’t lose out on their final season. I’m happy for the officials who don’t have to lose out on their incomes. I’m happy for these kids that wait all year for the one sport they work all year for. I’m happy they AIA listened to the voice of the schools who didn’t want to cancel (although some schools will not be participating due to their communities and high infection rates). And judging by Hallie’s team’s statistics, many of these teams have already achieved herd immunity based on the number of coaches and athletes who have already had COVID.

Hallie was excited – but the whiplash was hard. The constant changes have been hard for her to adapt to and she had finally found peace with moving on and put her heart into tennis. She had to really evaluate whether she go back to basketball – a decision only she could make. Ultimately, she wanted to experience a team sport. She backed off of tennis again and went full force back into basketball. Its going to be a really short season because of all the delays – and there aren’t many teams that have a freshman team – but she’s playing. She’s happy and I’m happy that they allow two guardians to attend home games so we’ll get to see her a couple of times.

And for anyone who has worked out in a mask knows just how difficult this is. We’re on the hunt for the perfect running mask!