SPOKANE, Wash. — The pandemic has left devastating impacts on students’ learning experience and their school activities, especially athletics.
After two years of being cooped up with COVID-19 restrictions, students are flocking to their favorite sports like football.
“It feels normal,” said Alexander Shaw, a senior who plays football at North Central High School. “It feels like my freshman year.”
Ever since Shaw was five years old, playing football was his life and his escape from stress at school. After the pandemic hit, the game changed, and so did football.
The pandemic has had devastating impacts on students' learning experience and their school activities, especially athletics. After two years of being used to covid restrictions at school, kids are flocking to their favorite sports this year. @peterwjchoi
— Peter W. Choi ìµìì¢ KXLY (@peterwjchoi) September 20, 2022
“A lot of the challenges were communication and teamwork,” Shaw said. “It was a lot harder to play as a whole group because you can be with one or two people at a time.”
His teammate also faced similar challenges.
“Sometimes school can be stressful with homework and everything,” said Trey Workman, a junior at North Central High School. “Coming to football after practices really helps a lot with mental health.”
With no masking, no testing, and no social distancing, the North Central Football team saw large numbers of students signing up this year.
“Numbers were always around 30 to 40 players,” said Aaron Woods, head football coach at North Central High School. “This year the big challenge for us was making sure we have enough athletes to fill all three teams. Fortunately for us, we had a very large turnout. We got close to 100 kids.”
Spokane Public Schools says the number of kids turning out for sports this fall is more than in pre-pandemic years. Fifty-eight more students from the Spokane Public Schools district registered for volleyball this fall, and 71 more kids participated in football.
With more fans being back in games, students say they are excited to play the ‘normal’ season again.
“It feels like a family again,” Shaw said. “You didn’t feel that two years ago, even a year ago. Now, you can really notice it.”
RELATED: Spokane Public Schools sets up clinic in Logan Elementary School to improve health care access
COPYRIGHT 2022 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the e-mail address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.