Imagine it’s your senior year, Your time to shine. Collegiate scouts are expecting to see your breakthrough in your sport and become the newest member of their collegiate roster. When, all of the sudden, your dreams are shattered due to COVID-19. Students must choose if they want to risk their health to play the game they love. Some even have to pick between their favorite sport and one they’re better at. Imagine grinding through your childhood with dreams of getting a college scholarship just to be faced with a pandemic and have your dreams shattered. It’s a sad reality seniors have been faced with. All high school seasons have been thrown together and have become one giant mess. While playing two sports is not impossible, It just isn’t the same. Students will miss part of one season, just to get a full season of another. It’s heartbreaking for all athletes.

At the beginning of the year, student-athletes should have been given a chance to vote on if they want to play at their regular start dates or not. It should be up to the student-athletes if they want to do sports with or without political and health guidelines. Regardless of what other people think is best for them. Kids just want to play the sports that they love and have fun.  Allowing them to be able to have the successful life-changing senior year they deserve. What happens shouldn’t be decided for them by outside individuals. Students shouldn’t be forced to decide to wear a mask all day and be stuck in a bubble or sit at home and listen to 4+ hours of zoom calls. Students have been forced to give up on their dreams, this year it’s truly devastating for all youth. The amount of kids from the Sacramento area that are traveling to Utah and Arizona to play is absurd. It shows that Student-Athletes are desperate to play the games they love. What’s happening to our friends and families is not fair, and frankly shouldn’t be allowed. Students should not be faced with the decision on what sport to play or be forced to shell out tons of money to play AAU ball, just to play more than one sport. 

All said the youth high school sports associations should allow teens to have a word. This is ruining our opportunities to be upstanding adults, and be able to control our collegiate and professional sports careers.