KAITLYN PEREZ REVEALS THE TRUTH ABOUT BEING A STUDENT-ATHLETE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC By: Summer Sanderson

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Sophomore Kaitlyn Perez kicked off her second high school field hockey season with a few setbacks.


  In an online interview on October 2nd, Perez, a student-athlete from Jefferson Township High School, reveals what it is really like to play a sport during the COVID-19 pandemic. Perez highlights the struggles and the differences compared to a pre-social distancing season.


There is not enough time for student athletes to get their homework done while also doing a sport. “The more work we have, the less effort we put into it,” Perez said. This can often leave students with lower grades than they are used to because they are rushing to get in all their work before the due date. Being a student-athlete only makes it harder because practices that are scheduled after school take away from their time to complete their work.


  “There are a lot less opportunities for us to do team-bonding activities,” Perez says when asked about how the pandemic affects the team as a whole. Social distancing regulations make it much harder for teams to have the team-bonding activities that they would typically have during a normal season. There are many opportunities that are missed out on because they are not allowed or pose too big a threat to the health of the players and coaches.


The teams don’t play as many games. Due to COVID-19, the fall sports are only allowed to play conference games, which are games that count towards their rank in their conference. This and the fact that not all schools are participating, decreases the amount of games they get to play throughout the season.


When asked about how the online classes affect how students learn, Perez said, “We need in-person classes to actually be able to learn things for certain classes.” It is much harder for students to do their work because it is harder for them to learn in a mainly online setting. This can cause students to have to stay up late because they are working on their assignments, or causes them to give little to no effort on their work. It is all about submitting their assignments before 11:59 pm.


The Jefferson field hockey team is still pushing through the pandemic, being one of the only programs in Jefferson that hasn’t had to take a COVID related break. Many of the teams at Jefferson and other schools have had to shut down programs such as football or soccer due to a COVID scare or, at some schools, even full-blown cases.


Even though COVID-19 has created some setbacks, it is great that Jefferson has been able to continue all of their athletic programs and are working on getting everyone back to the in-person school setting.


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