As the school year started, so did sports seasons and they’ll continue into the winter sports seasons. FHN senior Aaron Okello and junior Gabe Kasper, both on the football team, are used to the routine of high school ball, but adjusting to all COVID-19 brought to the sport wasn’t always easy.

Training is something that all the football players do during and even prior to a season. With COVID-19, it has been a little challenging trying to find ways to do so.

“Of course you can go for a walk and stuff like that but definitely trying to get into a weight room is more difficult,” Kasper said. “Having to wear a mask which of course is safe and having to wipe down everything.”

There  were small changes to what players had to  do during practices and on and off the field. Okello didn’t think these adjustments changed much about the football experience. 

“They are really not that different,” Okello said. “The only thing that is different is that we wear masks when we are near each other and not doing physical activities.”

Though team training has to be approached differently, some players were able to embrace time away to better themselves personally. 

“When we first started quarantine I started thinking about health,” Kasper said. “When I knew I was going to get quarantined, I stocked up on things that were good for me. I would work out and run. I just took the opportunity I had and worked on myself.”

Okello felt similarly and even shared that in ways, it made him better. 

“It has forced me to have self-accountability and work on my own. It forced me to hold myself accountable to get myself better,” Okello said. 

Although this season may be a little different from last year, there are still new things that are happening that are new and exciting.

“New competition,” Kapsper said. “This year we changed districts, we have gone against some new teams that we haven’t played in years.” 

Anything can happen to anyone at any time. Students may have to leave at any giving time because of contact tracing making it tough to plan for facing the new competition. 

“A challenge is the possibility of being quarantined at any given time,” Okello said. “I could be at practice one day and might have to get quarantined the next day. It makes it hard because for a couple of games we had a few of our players get sent home.”