What has been a turbulent and disruptive week for sports at Sedona Red Rock Jr./Sr. High School is a striking déjà vu, harkening back to the earlier days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when an onslaught of cancellations and postponements made for questions and concerns across the school’s community.
The past week has been a stark reminder that despite the many mask-less faces and full crowds at events, the pandemic is far from over.
On Wednesday, Sept. 29, just hours before the Scorpions’ boys soccer team was scheduled to host North Valley Christian on the second end of a back-to-back series, the Sedona Red Rock News received word that the match had been canceled with no reason given.
The public later learned that the Sedona-Oak Creek School District had sent a letter informing parents that school would be online-only for the remainder of the week due to “COVID clusters” hitting the district.
The letter said all club and sports practices and games would be canceled for the week. This led to several cancellations, including two boys soccer matches, a volleyball match and a girls soccer match. Two soccer games, one boys and one girls, were additionally canceled Monday and Tuesday due to weather.
“Postponements have become almost routine I suppose,” said boys soccer head coach Sam Blom, whose team has now had four total games canceled or postponed this season. “I continue to be optimistic about our season despite the interruptions in our schedule. Every practice consists of conversations regarding postponed games and when these will be rescheduled. These guys really want to play other teams.”
The disruption in the sports seasons have come as untimely, according to those in the athletic department. Sedona volleyball head coach John Parks has already seen the mid-season pause affect the on-court play of his team after they have lost three of their last four matches.
“The last couple of weeks have been rough because of illness and not being able to practice,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of girls out for various reasons the last couple of weeks. And last week, with everything being shut down Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, some of the girls haven’t practiced in two or three weeks.”
Parks said he’s seen communication issues arise with the team on the court, simply because of the lack of continuity over the past few weeks. Blom is concerned that a return to the pitch for his soccer team could also mean there will be some rust to knock off after nearly two weeks without a game.
“[It is] difficult to predict how the team will play,” he said. The Scorpions had scored 16 goals without conceding any in their last two matches. “We’ve had mostly quality practices and they have been well attended, but there is nothing like an actual match versus an opponent.”
Quarantines and illness have been a new challenge athletes and coaches have had to deal with over the past two seasons. Multiple coaches across multiple schools have told the NEWS that players have been held out of games due to COVID-related instances involving contact tracing and positive testing. As an added obstacle for teams to deal with, many coaches stress to their teams the importance of staying COVID-safe and practicing many of the principles society has had to teach itself since last March.
“Currently, I have three players in quarantine until next week,” Blom said. “I would rather not have them be around others at school or alongside their teammates, which hopefully helps ensure that we complete the season. We discuss COVID frequently. I remind them not to share drinks or food.”
Blom, along with other coaches, are of course more concerned about the health and safety aspect of the pandemic than simple wins and losses as a result. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t sheer disappointment with a shortened season — especially for the 2022 senior class. But just because the games go away doesn’t mean their love for their sports does, too.
“The nine seniors are disappointed and so is the entire team. Six seniors have been on my team since they were freshmen,” Blom said. “Despite the schedule interruptions, for the most part, our players continue to exhibit passion for this game at practice.”
