Governor Larry Hogan on Sept. 24 gave the green light to go ahead on high school fall sports as soon as Oct. 7, but Montgomery County is continuing to hold off. This decision is angering parents, especially because other states have started playing fall sports.
The Board of Education said the county wasn’t ready to make the move yet. During a virtual BOE meeting, Dr. Jeffery K. Sullivan, director of systemwide athletics for MCPS, said that he didn’t feel safe with schools starting sports back up because community spread is still moderate.

Although there is no way to completely stop the spread of the coronavirus, the spread can be minimized. Dr. David Marshall from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta said that fall sports are definitely possible. He said stay home if you have any symptoms, practice social distancing as much as possible, wear a mask as much as possible, and practice good hygiene; then, you basically eliminate the risk of getting the virus.

MCPS has not released a date to start sports, but have said that they’re thinking about moving the fall season to the spring when the students go back to school. This would be bad for student athletes who are trying to play in college because their senior season is important for recruiting, and if they move it to the spring it will be too late for recruiting.

Junior Jake Lotenberg wants to play football in college and wants MCPS to have the season now because he knows how important senior seasons are for recruiting. “A lot of seniors have worked really hard to have a chance to play in college but now their chance is gone. I think MCPS should try as hard as possible to have a season just to give these kids a chance,” Lotenberg said.

Players are not happy with the decision so on Sep. 29 players and parents rallied at the county executive building in Rockville. The group was heard chanting “Start fall sports,” and “Let us play.” Many of them were football players counting on scholarships but have nothing to show recruiters because they aren’t playing and are barely practicing.

Freshman Chris Casteli who went to the rally thinks MCPS should let the students play. “There were a lot of people at the rally and I think MCPS should listen to the public’s voice and let the players play,” Casteli said.