Last year school soccer was cancelled due to Covid-19. Soccer begins in the Spring which is coming up here soon, so the question is, will it be cancelled again? This Centennial reporter thinks not.

One Centennial soccer player states, “Yes, we didn’t cancel any sports yet. We did football without the Covid vaccine, and now that we have the vaccine it will be more accessible to play soccer.” 

Now that the vaccine is coming out, the spread of Covid-19 will begin to be controlled. If soccer does end up happening, it will definitely be different. In other school sports players are required to wear masks on the sidelines, but not during games. Soccer requires a lot of running, so similar to basketball, most likely won’t require masks during actual play time.

The reported Covid-19 infection rates are continuing to increase. In Natrona County alone there have been 121 deaths, and 7,555 reported cases as of February 7th.

One student who is planning on playing soccer, reported on the topic of school football, “it was basically four hours without a mask”. He said that the mask guidelines weren’t implemented.  Parents and relatives of children who played other school sports weren’t restricted by any guidelines other than masks. Despite all this, the players interviewed didn’t seem worried in the least. “All the other sports carried on, so it wouldn’t be reasonable to just cancel soccer.” 

Mrs. Lamb believed that soccer should be held this year saying, “I don’t think it would be fair to the soccer, and spring athletes, since the other sports got to play this year.” Some students argued that since soccer involves a lot of running, there will be natural social distancing. Soccer isn’t a very close contact, long distance passing being a major part of the game.

One of the coaches states, “I think it will happen.” Tristyn Buss, a really big school soccer fan who doesn’t actually play school soccer, says, “It would be really sad if school soccer was shut down this year, however it would be devastating if you were an 8th grader and there was no school soccer. Last 7th grade soccer year was cancelled due to Covid, and the only chance that we had for soccer as 8th graders was 6th grade, preventing practice time. This is a plus for people going to high school, because they have less competition for people who practiced at home.”. 

Independent soccer leagues such as Blades are still in practice currently. It wouldn’t make sense if kids who enjoyed soccer had to pay to play soccer, rather than just attend soccer at school. Kerri Moyd, a nurse at our local hospital, is sending both of her two children to play soccer, one to Blades and the other to soccer at school if it ends up existing.

Last year it was a let down to many when soccer was canceled. For 8th graders of last year it was their last chance to play for their school. They spent three years of their life playing at this school, with this team and coaches. The year prior to Covid they were met with several defeats, and were sadly denied a chance to redeem themselves. If 8th grade students of this year were challenged with something similar it would be gravely disappointing to many.

Even with the pandemic continuing, many students wish soccer to persist this year. The coaches are planning on it happening. This year several school sports have come and gone without problem so soccer should be no different. If the proper precautions are taken school soccer will persist this year.