This season, the season that never should have been, is finally here. Walking down the Witter stairs ties the moment together. As the bright lights of gametime shine in your face, the adrenaline kicks in, and you are ready to take the field.
Almost one year ago, sports at PHS were shut down due to COVID-19. Now, sports are finally back in action. Football (yellow tier), as well as purple tier track and field/cross country, and red tier swim, tennis, golf, baseball, softball, and women’s lacrosse are all beginning their delayed 2020-21 seasons, athletic director Bradley Smet said. In addition, the rest of the orange tier sports such as men’s lacrosse, water polo, soccer, and cheer are all set to return in mid-April.
“It’s been a long road. We’re on almost twelve months without any competition,” Smet said. “I am excited that sports are finally here.”
The first competition of the school year took place on Saturday, Feb. 27 at Dublin High School for the track and field/cross country teams. In March, tennis will begin to have competitions, followed closely by football and women’s lacrosse.
“[The return of lacrosse] is certainly surprising,” women’s lacrosse coach Carlton Chan said. “Nonetheless, we are very happy that it is returning, especially for the seniors.”
Last year, seniors of the class of 2020 who participated in spring sports never got a true farewell because their season was cut short due to the raging pandemic. This year brings hope to current seniors that there will be in fact a sports season, senior football captain Brian Cain said.
“Having that team atmosphere is something that we really missed during distance learning,” Cain said. “I feel like I took having a team for granted as a junior and am now so grateful to be heading back on the field.”
For certain teams the season is already underway. During their first week of competition, Piedmont’s cross country teams placed in first (womens JV), 5th (womens varsity), 4th (mens frosh), 5th (mens JV), and 3rd (mens varsity) on Saturday, Feb. 27, at Dublin High School .
“Being able to run as hard as I can, is really nice,” junior captain Ellie Black said. “It was just so fun to be in a competitive environment with the atmosphere of racing against another team.”
On Mar. 9, Piedmont’s women’s lacrosse team had their first game. After a long and hard fought game, they came out with a 13-12 win against rival Acalanes.
“We are a really fresh team, but we came together and played as a unit,” senior captain Caroline Devine said. “I am super proud of the way we played and it felt amazing to be back out on the field almost a year since our last game.”
On Mar. 11, PHS’s women’s tennis team participated in their first event of the year. They defeated Berkley High School with a total score of 5-2.
“Berkley was a tough team; in the past years we have always had close matches,” co-captain and junior Bridgette McEfee said. “Everyone was really excited to be playing together as a team and to have a great start to the season.”
Following the first week of sports, football made their turn as well. The football team scrimmaged Miramonte at home marking their first competition with full pads.
“[The scrimmage] went really well,” senior captain Brian Cain said. “We were able to rotate a bunch of new guys in and being back on the field against a real opponent was an awesome challenge.”
Men’s tennis and baseball also had games during the opening week of sports. Men’s tennis played Alameda High School and won 7-0. Baseball lost 2-1 to Albany..
Although sports are returning, it is important to remember that COVID-19 is still very real and a concern for many players, athletes, and others. To keep this in mind, at home games at PHS will allow one spectator per player, Smet said.
Furthermore, only one team will practice on the field at a time within their given time frame of one hour and fifty minutes.
“I feel safe in practice,” Black said. “We warm up on Witter field so we spread out as much as we can. I also think one of the biggest things for helping keep everyone as safe as possible is the screener since it eliminates anyone with possible symptoms.”
Starting after spring break, the second half of PHS’s sports will return. Soccer, water polo, and mens lacrosse will all start their season on April 19.