Despite the challenges of COVID-19, Westminster has still been able to move forward with in-school athletics with significant modifications and even some resistance. Right now, we have wrestling, basketball, and swimming active as sports which are ongoing like normal, and we had several sports clinics consisting of football, softball, and volleyball for those who wanted to try participating in the sport that was canceled.  However, some precautions must be taken as we are still in the middle of a pandemic. With the exception of swimming, all of these sports require their athletes to wear masks as well as maintain a good amount of distance away from each other. 

Sports are a big part of the school life here at Westminster, and people tried pretty hard to get them reintroduced during this time. “The Athletics Department worked very hard to get sports back into Westminster,” says Katie Trainor, Assistant Athletics Director. “The goal is to eventually reintroduce all sports at Westminster.” Games are also a big part of the sports culture of Westminster, but we have no confirmation whether they’ll still continue or not. Most kids who play sports look forward to competitions against other schools. “I really enjoy games at Westminster because they are really fun to play in as well as watch my teammates play,” says 8th grader Brody Persons. However, we don’t know for sure if we will be able to play in them as they haven’t been confirmed yet by the Athletics Department. “We got practices back on but we aren’t really sure if we can have games yet. We just have to wait and see,” said Trainor.

At Westminster, we have multiple ongoing sports and more to come in the future. However, we have multiple safety restrictions that are going on for these sports, and some people are wondering if they should be canceled due to COVID-19. “I personally think that reopening sports is not going to be safe for kids in our community as it’ll expose them to a lot of substances.” says a parent. “Reintroducing sports back into any school honestly sounds like a terrible idea to me as a lot of kids could end up suffering from it,” adds Wenjia Wang, mom of three Westminster students.

Nonetheless, a random survey of 30 middle school students reveals that more than 75% liked playing sports, and most people are excited to finally be able to play their sport during this time.