With just 10 days until the start of high school sports, it looks like individual districts will decide how to handle athletics this fall season.
That has players and their parents concerned about if scholastic sports will happen, and if they do, what they will look like.
At a hockey tournament on Friday in Glens Falls, high school senior Zach Hilleboe of the Adirondack River Men scored the game-winning goal.
The tournament at Cool Insuring Arena had to be cancelled last year due to COVID-19.
“Just to keep him busy in a really healthy way, you can’t match that with anything else, so being back in sports and having this is just so tremendous,” Dawn Delisle, a South Glens Falls parent, said.
Delisle’s son, Hudson, will be a freshman at South Glens Falls schools. He’s willing to mask up if it means their season is a “go.”
“I really just hope that we can have sports and athletics in all schools, as safe as we can,” Dawn Delisle said.
Section II Executive Director Ed Dopp says sports will go on here as scheduled with a full slate and no restrictions. That includes football, cheerleading, volleyball, field hockey and soccer, though some individual schools could decide to implement certain restrictions.
Donning the blue and gold has been a dream for incoming Queensbury freshman Jack Dickerson, since he started playing hockey at 8 years old.
“As a child, I wanted to play on the Spartans, so I've been looking forward to it a lot,” he said.
But fearing the district would once again cancel hockey season, he’s not taking any chances. Instead, he’s joining a team that’s not affiliated with the district.
“I was kind of OK with the masks, but to get rid of hockey all together through Queensbury school, that was pretty unheard of and unnecessary, because every kid just ended up playing for other teams,” said parent Ben Dickerson.
When it comes to student-athletes wearing masks despite vaccination status, some parents just don’t see the point. On the other hand, there’s parents like Paul Cianfrocco of South Glens Falls.
“We keep up on everything, and if he has to wear a mask, he has to wear a mask," Cianfrocco said. "If it’s going to be virtual half the time, it’s going to be virtual half the time. You know, we follow it. We try not to make it turn into a negative. We try to keep it as positive as possible.”
He trusts school leaders will make decisions to keep the athletes safe, and says his job as a parent is to help his son, Carlos, make the most of those decisions.
“You know, it was out of our control, so that’s what we teach them," Cianfrocco said. "Somethings in life you can’t control, so you do the best you can.”
Schools have more time to make decisions about high school hockey, but football season is right around the corner.