It’s March again; you know what that means. It has been exactly a year since Covid-19 hit and schools shut down. Sadly, school sports during the year of 2020 were cut short, leaving many student athletes brokenhearted. Luckily, school sports this year have been able to go on with certain precautions! However, that leaves us with limited field space because of the large amount of teams practicing. 

During a typical year, each school sport has a specific season that it is designated to. In the fall, there is cross-country, football, volleyball, cheerleading, men’s soccer, golf, and tennis. In the winter, there is  indoor track, basketball, swim and dive, and wrestling. And lastly, in the spring, there is baseball, softball, lacrosse, and women’s soccer. That’s a whole lot of sports. Some of those sports consist of multiple different teams, which practically doubles the amount. Due to the effects of Covid-19 on school athletics, many fall sports did not get to have a season. Because of this, Wake County has decided to combine fall and spring sports into one big season in the spring. Most of the sports that have been moved to the spring are outdoor sports, and this creates a high demand for field space. 

Teams are desperate to find practice time and space, so many have tried to rent out local fields like Apex Nature Park and Hunter Street Park. Another factor that makes it tough to practice is the rainy North Carolina weather. If it rains for just an hour, grass fields can get completely soaked and become unusable for at least a couple of days. This makes it even more difficult to find space. Luckily, some teams have been able to use the gym at Apex High or Apex Middle. 

Although there are some obstacles, high school sports are making their comeback and athletic directors all around are doing their best to accommodate every sport’s needs. Who knew that we’d end up in this situation in the first place?