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Photo by Nila Cooper

The gymnastics team starts training again.

Winter sports clubs and school sports were cancelled back in November because of Covid-19, and students who play on the varsity basketball team have been trying to get through practice via distance learning while at home in hopes to one day go back in person. This has caused kids to engage in more long hours on a computer.

Starting second quarter, Stillwater school shifted from offering a hybrid schedule to only offering online or distance learning. During this transition, the school announced that winter sports such as basketball would also be cancelled as well. Basketball is a very popular sport at Stillwater Area High School, therefore, students were extremely bummed out to hear the news.

After what will have been a month-and-half, Minnesota high school winter sports can begin practicing on Jan. 4, according to Gov. Tim Walz’s new order. But for games the Minnesota State High School League director Erich Martens said the League doesn’t have a date for the start of competitions “at this time.”

Everyone eagerly wants to bring back sports. “These activities are riskier than individual exercise, as they typically occur in groups. But organized sports also provide developmental opportunities for youth and mental and physical health benefits for Minnesotans of all ages, so we should start to bring back these activities if we can do so safely,” Walz wrote.

Sports were paused in November, which had affected the volleyball team as well as the football team, but didn’t effect the Stillwater Girls Swim Team given they were able to enjoy their entire shortened season. Covid has also delayed the start of the basketball season. Basketball is a very popular sport in high school along with football. Students were not allowed to watch football games and were hoping to be able to attend basketball games.

The varsity basketball team is required to do team lifts over Zoom. They do a skills practice one day a week. Varsity basketball captain senior Sam Shikenjanski runs captains practice five days a week

“We’ve been doing all that stuff to get ready, but otherwise there’s not much we can really do,” Shikenjanski said.

Along with regular school hours, now students are on computers even more because it’s the only way for them to participate in their sport, which can be very stressful and this have been prove to be tough on a lot of kids. 

“They just want to play,” Warroad girls’ hockey coach Dave Marvin said.

Stillwater Area High School students have trained and taken time to condition and put in the hard work in an effort to prepare for their season to begin on January 4th. Now that the day has arrived, they will begin and take proper precautions in order to continue to grow throughout their sport.