Covid-19 eliminated activities such as the winter sports seasons The basketball and swim and dive teams were especially victimized by the pandemic. As hard as this year was for the coaches, it’s even more jarring for the students because full sports seasons are being taken away from an already short high school experience. 

Coach Erick Graves of the boys’ varsity basketball team thought the loss of playing time affected the chemistry-building process between new and veteran players. “Our juniors, sophomores and freshmen all missed seeing and learning first hand how to lead and how to support one another on and off the floor,” Graves said. 

The pandemic affected the seniors as well.  “We had seven seniors returning who had put in a lot of work and were set up to have a strong season.  This group of seniors are not only good ball players but even better individuals and leaders,” Graves said.  

He also regrets not seeing their development during the offseason. “All of this makes looking forward to next season that much more exciting,” Graves said. 

Coach Kevin Fisher of the swim and dive team had been expecting huge improvements from his swimmers this year. “Last season we had a very young team and we had been looking forward to this season because we expected to see huge improvements in our team,” Fisher said. 

Their biggest loss was the social interaction between the athletes in between meets. “Most of the activities we planned for our winter engagement season revolved on having the kids enjoy fun virtual activities over Zoom, just so they could interact as a group,” Fisher said. 

He also was glad they could practice with their own swim teams outside of school. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to do so with Wootton swimming and diving, but we did offer some dryland workouts during our Winter engagement season so the students could participate in some workouts together,” Fisher said. 

Coach Maggie Dyer of the girls’ varsity basketball team was dismayed by the time away from her players during the hiatus. “Covid affected our season tremendously this year, as it did all other teams. I was very disappointed and sad to not be able to have a regular season.  I missed my players tremendously”,  Dyer said. 

They were still able to practice in a virtual season, which was better than no season in her opinion. “During this time, we competed against other schools in shooting games and chose our captains, which are Lauren Geier and Iman Idressa,” Dyer said. 

Those two seniors also played in two senior engagement showcase games on May 24  at BCC and May 26 at R.M..  “They will also be recognized on Wednesday, May 26th for senior night and I am hoping their teammates can attend the game,” Dyer said. 

Winter coaches are hoping the next school year will be back to normal so we can enjoy our sports once again.