By Julia Sparco
Elm Staff Writer
Currently, almost all Washington College sports teams are practicing and training. Not all teams have official game schedules, but the majority of teams are in negotiations with other colleges to compete.
“Our student-athletes have done a great job of following all of the COVID-19 pandemic rules that have been established by the College and we feel that we have implemented a safe plan to return to play,” WC’s Director of Athletics, Thaddeus Moore said. “We hope to announce individual team schedules over the next couple of weeks.”
New rules include mask requirements, mandatory quarantining, social distance rules, temperatures being taken, and the usage of the Emocha app that tracks symptoms of COVID-19.
WC student athletes will also be tested once a week while practicing this semester.
“We’re excited to return and intrigued about the mask requirement and what that will be like,” senior women’s volleyball player Laura Cochrane
Teams that are just starting to practice this semester have started off slow with basic training and strategy work.
“The first two weeks of the semester we’ve been doing group workouts and practices consisting of “guard workouts” or “post workouts,” which went well,” WC women’s basketball senior captain Gemma Mochi said. “The plan is to have five practices a week with the ultimate plan to prepare for our games scheduled at the end of March — I know our whole team is looking forward to it.”
“Being able to practice with the whole team again has really motivated myself and many others on the team,” senior women’s swimmer Allison Gallagher said. “This definitely still isn’t a normal season and hasn’t been without obstacles, but we are grateful for being able to do what we can.”
Outdoor sports have had more opportunities to practice in larger groups last semester into this one, like lacrosse, soccer, and baseball. The majority of outdoor sports players also resided in Chestertown, which made practicing easier.
Indoor sports, like basketball and volleyball, have not had as many opportunities due to campus buildings being closed last semester and lack of teammates living in Chestertown.
“Practice has been going well, it’s been great to be able to start practicing again.” senior WC men’s baseball player Mike Smith said. “We’re all hopeful that we will be able to have a season.”
“When we have them, practices are going well and everyone is doing their best to socially distance and mask up,” senior men’s lacrosse player Burke McFillin said. “We are optimistic for this season and we are very fortunate to play.”
The WC trap and skeet team has had the most trouble finding other teams to play as WC is one of the only colleges that have an official team of trap and skeet.
“Whether we can host or attend competitions is still being determined because most of the teams we compete against are student run and out-of-state, so they are still waiting on permission from their own schools,” junior women’s trap and skeet player Sammy Dilorento said.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Centennial Conference are expected to put out a statement by the beginning of March for spring sports on what their season will look like.
Fall and winter sports have been approved for up to five games to be played, while spring sports have a better chance of having a full season.