By Matthew Curtis
As with many unknowns at the start of the school year, possibly one of the most confusing and unclear situations was what would fall sports look like, or would it even be there.
By the first day of school, there was still no official word on the season. Within the first week, a direct postponement/cancellation by the Chest-Mont Sports League in correlation with recommendations put into place by the Chester County Health Department. However, after a few weeks of pushback by many student athletes and parents across the league, a shortened fall season was put into effect almost immediately.
During the Spring season, many teams were not permitted to practice some still held optional practices and workouts. A few teams were fortunate enough to even play scrimmages with other schools. These scrimmages were not under Chest-Mont rules as there was no games officially allowed during this time.
GV athletes wanted to play and so they began creating petitions and voicing their concerns by attending the school board meetings. On the night of the scheduled vote to decide whether Great Valley would participate in a Fall Sports season the Great Valley “Goon Squad” organized a protest to support the playing of school sports. The result: Fall sports were on. The decision led to some immediate madness with scheduling and practices. (Once the decision was made, coaches and players were thrust into immediate scheduling and practices, which at times was quite chaotic.)
The GV golf team is a prime example of the speed at which they needed to ready themselves to play. Their season would only last four days, since the As soon as it was announced the sport Championships would be held on the fifth day. The golf team did a great job preparing in such short notice and was able to have a good performance at the Chest-mont Championships.
Despite all the unknowns, many athletes and teams prepared the summer and into fall to be in shape if they were to play competitively. For example, Great Valley’s Football team, held voluntary workouts four days a week and weekly zoom calls.
“Our attitude and focus were to stay present one day at a time and control what we could. With so much uncertainty, we really just tried to put forth our best effort and be prepared for a season to happen,” said Coach Martin when asked about how his team stayed prepared.
One huge part of the success this fall has been the overall attendance of the voluntary practices and workouts. Many of the fall coaches described their optional practices as very well and largely attended.
Of course, with the agreement to play fall sports came a cause for caution and new guidelines for athletes. The Athletic Director Michael Semar and staff created a system that has made it extremely safe for athletes to be able to compete. These guidelines such as temperature checks and symptom checks have allowed for sports to continue with little to no hiccups. Many of the players and coaches are extremely satisfied with these guidelines as well as the way the season has turned out.
The Fall Sports season is highlighted by some of GVs most successful teams! Here is a brief recap:
