The lights, the atmosphere, the cheers, all incredible aspects of high school sports all wrapped up into one. For the longest time, every school year students, parents, and teachers were excited to go out to the field on a Friday night to see their very own sports teams go out and go after their competition. Yet, sadly, this year the scene will be a tad different. Sports were not supposed to be taking place until the end of the calendar year. However, breaking information that was just released could be putting a smile on athletes’ and fans’ faces all around the state.

  As previously stated, despite all the bad in the world at the moment, there is some good to outshine it. On September 12th, the FHSAA (Florida High School Athletic Association), made a public announcement that all sports would begin training sessions and conditioning at the end of this month. This means a possibility of high school games could start as early as October, and the sport that everyone is waiting to hear about, good old football. Sophomore Zack Castro, who played football his freshman year, expressed, “Honestly, football is such a fun sport and it also keeps us in shape, so I am excited that pre-season is coming back and that games could be coming back soon. Overall, it makes light out of a sticky situation.” As a result, however, as football and other fall sports get pushed back, winter sports also get pushed back too, which could hinder scheduling for athletes during these months. 

  As much as it’s a blow to start the season late, there are some beneficial qualities to winter sports getting pushed back. Senior and varsity soccer captain Matthew Gordon stated, “I’m happy that sports are starting back up again in general. I was worried there would be no sports at all, which I’d hate to happen since it’s my senior year. I don’t mind our soccer season being pushed back since it still means we have a season and they make sure they take the precautionary measures in order to keep us safe and healthy as well. It also gives us more preparation time and hopefully gives us a chance to do something special, yet safely.” Gordon seems to speak for all athletes when saying they should be grateful for the opportunity to even have a sports season. 

   Athletes here at Charter truly hope to make the most out of the preseason time allotted and have a big year in terms of sports. 

  Sports are one of the many important things that allows teens to be teens. Student-athletes are really ecstatic about the recent news. Without sports, would life really feel normal? That question won’t have to be answered any time soon because sports are truly back in action.