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Davis Journal

Woods Cross enters spring season with much preparation

Apr 05, 2021 02:27PM ● By Matthew John

For Woods Cross High School, springtime usually marks the start of a new chapter for their sports program. A time for new beginnings. A time to merely get their feet wet. When COVID-19 was declared a national emergency on the fateful day of March 11, 2020, that was no longer the case.

"It was very disappointing," said Athletics Director David Wilson. "Tennis played a match. Baseball had played a game. Softball had played one or two games. Soccer had played a game. Track was actually in the middle of a meet when the news came down that they were shutting everything down, which included all of the extracurricular activities."

What made it worse was that once the pandemic first commenced, the lack of information surrounding the virus gave a sense of optimism that perhaps the season could be salvaged. Optimism that was inevitably snuffed out.

“(There was) still a lot of hope that they would be able to get some sort of a season,” Wilson said. “After a couple of weeks, the reality kind of settled in... There just wasn’t that light at the end of the tunnel.”

Since then, it’s been a slow journey for Woods Cross’ sports program. Their fall and winter sports were a go a few months back, but it was not an easy ride. Luckily, they prepared themselves by using every resource at their disposal.

“It was all based on what knowledge we gained,” Wilson said. “In conjunction with the health department, it was the high school activities association. They sent us stuff all the time. They communicated really well with us on what was happening.”

Much like the rest of Utah, many precautions had to be (and still are) taken in order for their teams to play out their seasons.

“We’ve been able to do a ‘test to play,’” Wilson said. “Every two weeks, anybody that’s involved in extracurricular anything – dance, drill, drum, band, cheer – it's anybody that's involved in anything extra outside a school day has the test... If you’re negative you’re good. If you’re positive, you have to quarantine. That’s actually been helpful to be able to play.”

So now, here comes spring season. From the looks of things, the 2021 spring sports should get the season its predecessor unfortunately never did. Ever since the roller coaster commenced, there’s been a major learning curve.

“We’ve learned a ton (surrounding) how to adapt and adjust and be flexible,” Wilson said. “It’s been hard academically and the social emotional stuff has just been off the charts. It's an all-inclusive type of experience that we’ve had and we’ve learned a lot on how to handle it.”

Having been over a year since the global pandemic, returning to normalcy is coming back albeit only piece by piece. Even though Wilson anticipates that it’ll take a lot more time before everything is truly back to normal, he is happy with how well things have progressed.

“I think we’re in a good place now, but as far as all the restrictions and lightening those, I don’t think we’ll see that full effect until next year,” Wilson said. “I think we’re in a good place moving to next year.”