NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA — Seven months into the pandemic, society is starting to take the proper steps to adapt to the given situation. Figuring out how to adapt to a pandemic will not be solved in a day; it’s going to take weeks or even months to figure out an effective way to adjust to the new normal. However, North Hollywood sports are now starting to put their foot through the door in actively finding ways to initiate a potential season. As we saw this past week, many sports teams held introductory Zoom meetings to inform them about the teams’ status of the season.

Had 2020 been a normal year, we would be in the middle of football season, girl’s volleyball, girl’s tennis, cross country, and golf.  Despite being in these unprecedented circumstances, these sports have shown resilience to not give up on a potential season. Football, for instance, plans to resume their weight lifting exercises next Monday and that’s not the only activity on their agenda to get their bodies loose. They have been running unofficial 7-on-7 drills at recreational parks to stay sharp. 

While football has not held any official Zoom meetings, girl’s volleyball held an introductory Zoom meeting this past week. It was their first meeting since September 18th, and the message of the meeting would be a common theme for most of the sports: get cleared and get tested. As of right now, the current plan for most sports is for the athletes to get their clearances of being COVID-19 free, to have the opportunity to potentially practice.

Many of the sports have been told this exact information. Boy’s basketball, boys’ soccer, girl’s soccer, boy’s volleyball, girl’s softball, golf, baseball, track & field, and cross country were all told the same to get the athletic paperwork cleared so there could be potential practices in the future. As of now, only two of those sports may begin their official practices as soon as November: softball & girl’s soccer. 

As defending city champions, girl’s soccer has shown that not even a pandemic will stop their mission to run-it-back. Of all the sports at North Hollywood, they are the only ones who have conducted weekly Zoom meetings, and they’re not just ordinary Zoom meetings. On Wednesdays, the girls review analysis videos of various soccer players to hone in on new techniques while on Fridays they engage in virtual team weight lifting exercises. While 2020 has been vastly different, the mission for the girls remains the same: repeat as champions. More determined than ever, the girls are just itching to get back on the field.

Other sports though have not received as much information compared to the others. Teams like tennis have not received any information on their status since August 10th. The current plan for tennis is to have both the girls and boys season during the Spring of 2021, though there are no official dates. Cheer has also had to deal with adversity as they currently do not have a coach, so it has been up to their resilient captain, Senior Audrey Bennett, to string together a season. Another sport that hasn’t received any updates on their status is girl’s basketball. The only piece of info they have at this moment is that nothing is planned until potentially March.

Teams are finding ways to keep their bodies in shape without having “official practices”. Like football, baseball has been running unofficial practices and games to make sure that they are prepared for a potential season. Golf has told their players that it is their responsibility to remain in playing shape. Members of boy’s soccer have also been routinely traveling to parks to run drills. Even with the uncertainty of this entire year, these teams are dead set on being as prepared as possible. As we have seen in the professional leagues, the teams that are most prepared with the given situation will most likely come out on top.

Absolutely nothing is set in stone for sports or in-person learning for this year. All school personnel, whether that’d be the administration, teachers, or coaches, are having to play all plans by ear. Even so, teams have found ways to adapt to the current situation and are now taking their first steps to initiate any form of a season. The status for all the teams is for the players to get cleared and get tested. That’s all the teams can do currently, but there is a sliver of hope that some teams can practice in November. With nothing about 2020 being guaranteed, teams will have to wait for a further word to launch phase 2 of bringing sports back. Until then, teams will have to do what they’ve been doing for eight months: adapt.