The COVID-19, novel virus overwhelms the headlines, such as sports shutting down or the Houston Rodeo being shut down prematurely. The virus is raising concerns for students and adults across the nation, especially students who are playing in season sports like senior Avery Witten, varsity softball player, who looks through her team pictures and tries to remember the days she spent playing before the virus cut her senior year short. Junior Danille Jawad, a student in FFA, is very eager to get back to her steers and lambs as well as her reporting for KISD and CFISD FFA, unfortunately the coronavirus has affected these options.
“The coronavirus has affected my senior year in softball by all the sports shutting down for a while and not allowing me to see my teammates until we are cleared to go back to school and sports,” said Witten.
When the coronavirus was named a pandemic by the WHO on Mar. 11, the entire sports nation, including the MLB, NBA and the NFL, was put on hold until the virus is no longer a threat. Like most athletes, Witten wanted to spend her last year showing off more of her skills and spending time with her underclassmen teammates before college arrived.
“I am trying to keep myself socially distanced to protect others who cannot fight off the virus like a healthy teen can,” said Jawad.
One of the many steps to staying safe with the virus spreading so fast is to practice social distancing. Social distancing is one of the many reasons for the Rodeo shutting down before it was finished due to how many people were attending each night. Due to the rodeo closing and the effect it had on hundreds of people like performers and livestock, KISD has opened barns 1-7 for the Houston Rodeo livestock show animals.
“The Texas FFA Association has postponed all events until May 4, meaning lots of events that we were planning on attending were also cancelled or postponed along with our school chapter events,” said Jawad.
With the coronavirus being such a fast-spreading virus, the Harris county and Fort Bend county judge has taken action and shut down many businesses to prevent the spread of the virus. They have also urged people to stay home. Fortunately the students in FFA can still go and see their animals as long as they are alone.
“The virus is keeping us out of school as well as stopping us from continuing our season, off the field and away from, my teammates and I are not allowed to be practicing at this time on school grounds,” said Jawad.
Many sports fields have completely closed down their fields, and companies are allowing students to do their own activities at home to stay active and fit until they reopen. Many colleges have also shut down their campus for the rest of the year, which is affecting many seniors who had planned to go on college visits throughout the rest of the school year.
“I leave for college soon so this was my last year to really spend time with my non-senior teammates,”said Witten. “My team and I are very close this year which makes not playing with them a very hard time.”
Many schools around Texas have shut down completely, meaning they will not reopen the remainder of the school year. Tompkins hopes to open its doors on April 13. There has been no mention of when the school reopens if sports will also continue.
The coronavirus was not seen by many as a threat until it was named a global pandemic. Not only has the virus shut down many restaurants, but it has also prematurely closed our schools making it a tough time for all students and teachers.
