By Melanie Arriaga, Jonathan Lau, Leila Talbot
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and public schools in San Francisco still being taught through distance learning, sports both at Galileo, and throughout the SFUSD, have been delayed until there is further information regarding safety procedures and reopening of schools.
According to AAA athletic commissioner, Mr. Donald Collins, as of now, the CIF (the State athletic governing body) has calendared all sports to play between January and June. The athletic office has created schedules based on this time frame, but sports cannot start at all until the Department of Health and the District gives permission. At present, DPH says that schools have to have in person learning in order to play sports.
“COVID’s impact on high school sports is severe. I think everybody feels out of sorts by COVID. None of us have experienced anything like this. I am sure there are students who are suffering emotionally from distance learning. There is no clear consensus on how best to balance the need for some degree of normalcy versus the need to protect everybody from COVID,” said Mr. Collins, regarding the challenges of trying to start high school sports during the pandemic.
While uncertainty surrounding sports remains high, Galileo Athletic Director, Coach Keough, believes once there is enough certainty, Galileo sports teams will be able to adjust. “Our sports programs were able to adapt when we had season-altering smoke from the horrific fires in Napa and Paradise, and if our winter and spring seasons happen, I believe we will be able to adapt to stay safe during COVID as well,” Coach Keough says.
However Coach Keough also recognizes that teams will face situations they may not come across in the past. He says, “Coaches will have to deal with additional challenges. Coaches will likely have athletes who are not in as good of shape as they usually might be. They may also lose athletes to other sports because of the combining of seasons.”
Overall though, Coach Keough is just excited to see students, faculty, and coaches back at Galileo. He says, “I’m looking forward to the day that we’re all able to come back to school. I’m excited to see all of the Galileo students in person and to see things go back to normal, or at least as normal as we can make it.”
For students interested in joining a sport, there is a Google Classroom for Galileo athletes. The code is: cckjbct. This will provide paperwork and doctor’s physical forms for students interested in joining a team. Individual sport information will also be posted when it becomes available
