By Emma Sharman
Co-Editor-in-Chief
On Tuesday, February 2, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS)announced that (NFHS) that it is difficult to prove the likelihood of being infected with COVID-19 during athletics. This signified a turning point in the push for youth and high school athletics to return for a spring season, particularly football.
As of Monday, February 8, Cross Country athletes were still the only ones allowed to partake in their sport across Southern California due to the fact that every county in the area is ranked in the purple tier, meaning that there are more than 8% positive test rate over the course of seven days or seven cases per every 100,000 residents for COVID-19 cases, which is an incredibly dangerous level.
However, according to the Press Telegram, “…it seems very likely now that California officials are going to clear the way—as much as they can—for there to be a high school football season this school year, as well as seasons for all of the other sports.”
Just a couple weeks later, on Friday, February 19, it was announced that Governor Gavin Newsom would be lifting the ban on outdoor sports, revealing that high school sports would be permitted to continue starting February 26. The regulations will be allowed to lighten in areas with COVID cases in the purple tier and the red tier.
The new guidelines indicate that “outdoor high-contact sports can be played in counties in the purple and red tiers as long as the counties have a case rate at or below 14 per 100,000.” according to Scorebook Live.
Of course there is always the potential for the state to intervene if there is widespread disregard for COVID regulations or if a drastic increase in cases were to occur.
So what does this mean for Millikan?
As of right now, Millikan football players continue to follow strict mask-wearing, social distancing, and health check-in protocol in order to practice on the field, according to the Student Football Team Manager April Brown. Every player must have their temperature checked and everyone on campus must stay six feet away from each other at all times. Shoulder pads and helmets are chemically sanitized on a consistent basis.
Brown is hopeful for the future of the football season, considering the current declining pattern in California’s COVID-19. In order for the football team to lighten up their current routine, they must pass the upcoming health check in on the 26 of February.
Emma • Mar 31, 2021 at 8:06 am
March 17, 2021
Dear Corydon Editor,
In Issue 6 (February 25, 2021), Emma Sharman wrote an article titled “Ramping up for a Sports Return.” Thank you for taking the time to write this piece, I really had been wondering what was going to happen with sports for highschool since I used to play them but quit due to the pandemic. The information you include in this article is very helpful and I appreciated how short it was considering how informative it is. I must add how I am concerned with the situation that’s being described. I know that the cross country events are being held in counties where the cases are low but if people from other counties are coming and bringing their exposure with them how is that good? I am of course happy for the athletes that were probably so excited to start playing games and having meets again. I know that feeling since I also started soccer practice for my club team and it was so refreshing after all this time. I think that there should be stricter rules even in these low-risk areas and if anything they shouldn’t be having fewer precautions since they are the areas in which so many people are going to meet. A correction that I would like to make is that other sports like high school soccer, track, and cross country are all using the same field to play. I noticed that this was not included and I feel it is important to know since they are being required to play all on the same field which is something that may be controversial. I would like to hear more about how student-athletes and coaches feel about going back and slowly transitioning to playing games. Once again I want to say that I appreciate this article and thank you for putting in the time and effort into writing this.
Sincerely,
Emma Gastelum, Grade 12
Jonathan Lemus • Mar 18, 2021 at 2:14 pm
March 18, 2021
Dear corydon editor,
In Issue 5 (February 25, 2021), Emma Sharman wrote an article titled “Ramping up for a Sports Return”. This article is very significant because it gives us a lot of information about the upcoming sports season. I would like to thank you for providing us with all this info and including good citation. I found it inside schools were still thinking of doing sports, I thought the season for this year would be over. I’m very glad that the regulations are being a little flexible when it comes to sports because it’s giving up hope and faith that me as a senior will have a bit of experience in the school year. This will help a lot of students and encourage them that the school year is not over through a computer and maybe have the chance to go see their school play soccer, football or any other sport that will be available. I have a concern that covid cases might raise and cancel sports again but as you indicated in the article that “The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS)announced that (NFHS) that it is difficult to prove the likelihood of being infected with COVID-19 during athletics.” This gives me a bit of a relief that we will be fine. I would like to thank you again for providing me, the school and students’ parents. This information will be very handy when parents are concerned about the reopening not only in sports but the re openings of schools.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Lemus, Grade 12
Kyla Picconi • Mar 17, 2021 at 11:27 pm
Dear Corydon Editor,
In Issue 6 (February 25, 2021) Emma Sharman wrote an article called “Ramping up for a Sports Return”. In this article Emma explained what the regulations and protocols are for outdoor sports in California. I think this was a good thing to include so other people who have concerns know what the athletes are doing to stay safe and cautious. I know a lot of student athletes are having a hard time with the lockdown especially when sports are their way out and can give them a better life and it also is a way of keeping themselves busy and that is their way of life and they aren’t themselves without their sports.Mental health , their future, and their grades were on the line with sports being cancelled for so long. So the fact that Newsom has given them the chance to play sports again under these regulations is great. Some regulations players have to follow is strict mask wearing, social distancing and health check in protocols to be able to play. The article looks great but I believe Emma made a mistake in the first paragraph where she states “ (NFHS)announced that (NFHS) that” she put that twice. Other than that I think it was a great and informative article.
Sincerely,
Kyla Picconi, Grade 12
Dylan Lemay-Fruchter • Mar 17, 2021 at 11:22 pm
March 17, 2021
Dear Corydon editor, in issue 6 (February 25, 2021), Emma Sharman wrote the article “Ramping up for a sports return”. I thought this article was well written and well explained, and I thought the author did a great job overall. Emma Sharman gave us an update on the state of things going on with Millikan sports. She did a great job explaining the procedures and what the athletes are going to have to do to stay safe, like wearing masks, social distancing, and following other protocols to assure the school can continue taking part in the competitions. She also did a good job explaining how the team is able to play, like talking about Newsom recently lifting the ban on outdoor sports that was previously in place. I like the way the article was written, because it made it very easy to follow and understand what is going on. One thing I think would improve the article is more inside sources, from either the athletes, the coaches, or other members of the staff responsible for keeping the athletes safe from COVID. Overall I had a good time reading this article, and I think it provided valuable insight.
Sincerely,
Dylan Lemay-Fruchter, Grade 12
Kaitlyn Lentz • Mar 17, 2021 at 11:00 pm
March 17, 2021
Dear Corydon Editor,
In Issue 6 (February 25, 2021), Emma Sharman wrote an article titled, “Ramping up for a Sports Return”. This article was very informative with the details for sports coming back to our school. Thank you for writing this as many students were not sure if they would have any sports for this school year. The writer also had a source citing which tiers allow sports and at what capacity. When this all started and many sports did not get a season in the spring of last year, it made me wonder what students would do if they needed a senior season for college and universities. Luckily with this article, we are all more informed on what sports can continue and how they will maintain each players’ safety. Something I would also include in future articles that explain how more sports are affected by Covid, other than just the football team and coaches. Although football is one of the more popular sports at Millikan, it may have been even more helpful to include other sports. Although the article was not long, I think it was very informative for every student and parents who had questions. I hope we can continue to give each athlete a season in the last few months of the school year.
Sincerely,
Kaitlyn Lentz, Grade 12
Sam Sussman • Mar 17, 2021 at 8:52 pm
Samuel Sussman
March 17, 2021
Dear Corydon Editor,
In issue 6 (February 25, 2021), Emma Sharman wrote an article titled “Ramping up for a Sports Return”. I wanted to say thank you for this article and it’s so nice to have the outdoor sports come back when there was a lot of skepticism about sports coming back. Emma did a great job at explaining what the color of the tiers had to be in order for sports to come back and I like how detailed all the information is. She explains the statistics which says, “outdoor high-contact sports can be played in counties in the purple and red tiers as long as the counties have a case rate at or below 14 per 100,000.” That’s very detailed and descriptive which is also valid information. I think it’s so great that sports are coming back after almost a year of it being very vague which I’m in basketball right now and I can only imagine how everybody feels because sports are very popular. It’s such a big relief that some sports are coming back because being cooped up for almost a year does a lot of mental things to your brain. My question about the sports is when one person tests positive for covid, do all the sports shut down or do they have some kind testing or quarantine plan? Besides that question, thank you for writing this article and I hope everything with sports goes according to plan.
Sincerely,
Samuel Sussman, Grade 12
Diana Rodriguez • Mar 17, 2021 at 8:48 pm
March 17 2021
Deary Corydon Editor,
In issue 6 (February 25 2021), Emma Sharman wrote an article titled “Ramping up for a sports return”. First off I wanted to say thanks for writing the article and also thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this. In this article, Emma Sharman did an excellent job in bringing everyone up to date on what is going on with the sports team at our school. She explains how the procedures the football team must follow in order for everyone to feel safe and secure. She connects what is going on outside of school to how that affects our school, for example mentioning Governor Gavin Newsom and how he had lifted the ban on outdoor sports. I love the way it was worded, it was simple and straight to the point. It gave me great comfort knowing that the world is slowly returning and it’s happening in our school with the sports team. I enjoyed reading this because it was interesting but I would’ve loved to hear at least from one person on the football team and hear how excited or nervous they are or maybe what they are doing to prepare for future games.
Sincerely,
Diana Rodriguez Grade 12
Connor Reece • Mar 17, 2021 at 5:19 pm
March 17, 2021
Dear Corydon Editor,
In issue 6 (February 25, 2021), Emma Sharman wrote the article “Ramping up for a Sports Return”. Since we got the news that we would not be coming back to school I was saddened by the fact that I wouldn’t get the chance to go to another football game. I felt bad for the many of my friends that were on the team not being able to play the season. It’s good to know that they will get a chance to play the season as long as the COVID numbers stay at a low. Emma Sharman explains the tiers and number of cases that the students need to keep under to stay playing very well. It can be dangerous to potentially have a COVID outbreak on the team which could lead to more cases here in Long Beach. It is good to know that Millikan is having the players be socially distanced, wearing masks, and taking temperatures. Doing what they can to limit the cases so that the players can play the sport they love. Overall Emma does a good job explaining the situation in terms of outside Millikan and what is going on within Millikan. I can not wait for the football team to be able to get back on the field!
Sincerely,
Connor Reece, Grade 12
Savanna Alba • Mar 17, 2021 at 12:33 pm
March 17, 2021
Dear Corydon Editor,
In Issue 6 (February 25, 2021), Emma Sharman wrote the article “Ramping up for a Sports Return.” In this article you explained very well, the circumstances the athletic program is in. Many people, including me, really were searching for answers on when sports would start back up and how things would be run. As being a part of the soccer program at Millikan, I found the part where you explained the different tiers and which one we had to be in to actually be able to play, very informative. I know that not only me, but others are very excited to get back into their sport, especially us seniors being that it is our last year. I was very worried at one point that we wouldn’t get a chance to play again especially on the beautiful new field we now have. A suggestion I feel like would be helpful to give is to mention what other sports are now able to play since not everyone is very well informed at this point. But I really did enjoy this article because it helped me see where our school is in taking the next steps. Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.
Sincerely,
Savanna Alba, Grade 12
Emma Garrett • Mar 17, 2021 at 12:25 pm
March 17, 2021
Dear Corydon Editor,
In issue 6 (February 25, 2021), Emma Sharman wrote the article “Ramping up for a Sports Return” regarding the new covid guidelines and athletics. I think the article gave the reader a lot of useful information regarding the new covid guidelines for sports. Sharman gave many statistics and revealed that if LA county is in the red and purple tier, outdoor high-contact sports can be played. As we move forward with the new guidelines I hope other sports at Millikan also have seasons. I have seen many different sports teams at Millikan these past few weeks, like soccer and baseball practicing. I wonder if indoor sports like basketball will be able to play this season with the new covid guidelines. I am very happy to see sports starting up again since we have had a very long wait. I think interviews with different athletes that play different sports would be very interesting, since all athletes have had different experiences with covid and sports. I like how Sharman structured this article and how she interviewed the student football manager April Brown, this gave us inside information of a sports team at Millikan. I enjoyed reading this piece on the return of a very different sports season.
Sincerely,
Emma Garrett, Grade 12
Maddy Smith • Mar 17, 2021 at 12:21 pm
March 17, 2021
Dear Corydon Editor,
In Issue 6 (February 25, 2021), Emma Sharman wrote an article titled “Ramping up for a Sports Return.” This article provides a lot of helpful information for those curious about the return of sports. Sharman includes many statistics provided to describe the amount of COVID cases we are allowed to have in order to continue with outdoor sports. While this is a very informative and useful article, I did notice some confusing areas. For example, in the first paragraph, Emma Sharman wrote “On Tuesday, February 2, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS)announced that (NFHS) that it is difficult to prove the likelihood of being infected with COVID-19 during athletics.” I think there might have been an error where she puts (NFHS) twice on accident which makes the sentence a little confusing. Other than that, it is a well written article that serves to inform students and athletes what the plan is for returning to school sports. I believe that it is a very important topic to discuss and I praise Sharman for doing the research and providing us with an understanding of what the future looks like during this pandemic. Since the pandemic has limited so many activities, it is nice to have some hope of things going back to normal.
Sincerely,
Maddy Smith, Grade 12
Cameron Snyder • Mar 17, 2021 at 12:19 pm
March 17, 2021
Dear Corydon Editor.
In Issue 6 (February 25, 2021), Emma Sharman wrote an article titled “ramping up for a sports return.” In this article Emma did a very good job of capturing the regulations and protocols that football players have to go through in order to practice and play their sport. In the article she did a good job explaining the criteria the football team had to follow regarding the Covid tiers. She explains well that the tiers are the guiding factor letting the team continue on with practice and their season. One thing I would like to see on the Corydon more is the acknowledgement of other sports and how they are affected by these Covid guidelines and protocols. There are some minor mistakes in the beginning of this article. The first sentence is grammatically off because you say,”… NFHS announced that (NFHS) that…” I think if you take out the second NFHS in parenthesis and the second that the sentence will be an easier read and flow better. Other then that mistake I think the article was a very informative and positive look into the future for the Millikan sports programs being able to compete and play for their respected sports.
Sincerely,
Cameron Snyder, Grade 12
Bailey Peterson • Mar 17, 2021 at 12:13 pm
March 17, 2021
Dear Corydon Editor,
In Issue 6 (February 25, 2021), Emma Sharman wrote an article titled “Ramping up for a Sports Return”. I wanted to say thank you for writing this article to clear up some concerns and questions about sports returning to play. It is great news that athletes will be able to have some sort of normalcy this year after all of the uncertainty the Covid outbreak has brought. I think it’s great that some athletes have gotten approved to start practicing and having games. As an athlete myself, I know the struggle of not having your sport as an outlet for stress and I really think it starts to affect one’s mental health, so this is definitely a step in the right direction.
One concern I have is that Covid cases may start to rise, however, from my own experience, schools and staff have been much more cautious with the amount of spectators at my games, which is reassuring. It is pretty crazy how fast things changed for athletes. I was almost certain I wouldn’t get to have a senior season for water polo, but now, I have been able to have a shortened one which I’m really happy about. I think that the district is handling this process well and I know the community is excited to be involved in watching sports again. You did a great job clearing up all of the rumors I had heard and I appreciate the thought you put into this article.
Sincerely,
Bailey Peterson, Grade 12
Patrick Gallagher • Mar 17, 2021 at 12:08 pm
March 17, 2021
Dear Corydon Editor,
In issue 6 (February 25, 2021), Emma Sharman wrote the article “Ramping up for a Sports Return”, I would like to thank you for covering this subject in particular because it is very important to a lot of people that they get to play out their senior season for whatever sports they play. It is very exciting news to hear that everyone can resume their season and be able to play. Personally I am on the football team and we have many restrictions to continue to follow with regard that we are still in a pandemic. We have a weekly Covid test to make sure that everyone on the team is healthy and safe for every week of practice. Everything that April Brown mentioned is true we have strict masks regulations and we have to stay separated at all times. The managers of the team do a good job with helping us throughout practice to ensure that everything is run smoothly and as safely as possible. Everyone on the team is very thrilled that we get to have a season especially the seniors because this is our last chance to play for our school and make a name for ourselves. Hopefully we will have a good season because we have a lot of talent on the field this year and overall we want to make our school proud.
Sincerely,
Patrick Gallagher, Grade 12
Katelyn Smith • Mar 17, 2021 at 8:38 am
March 17, 2021
Dear Editor,
In Issue 6 on February 25 2021, Emma Sharman wrote an article called “Ramping up for a Sports Return.” I really appreciate Emma’s remarks on this topic as it helps to keep us updated with what’s going on with our sports during this interesting time. I liked how she backed up all her statements with facts and evidence to support the claims and arguments she was making. For example when she stated that cross country athletes are the only ones so far allowed to participate in races, she backed it up with evidence regarding how this is because we are in the purple tier. This means “that there are more than 8% positive test rates over the course of seven days or seven cases per every 100,000 residents for COVID-19 cases, which is an incredibly dangerous level.” Since we are still on the more dangerous side of the scale regarding covid positivity rates; this makes it to where few and very limited sports are allowed to play so far. Including these statistics is very informative for Millikan students to know in order to stay updated on the covid rates in our area as well as what this means for the future of their sports.
Additionally, I really liked how Emma discussed that because Governor Gavin Newsom is lifting the ban on outdoor sports, it will then also require athletes to take extra precautions and safety protocols. She mentions how the football all has to get their temperature checked, stay 6 feet apart, and sanitize their equipment regularly. This information is helpful for Millikan students because it shows them what protocols they’d have to follow in order to stay safe while playing their support. The only thing I would suggest adding to this article is what other sports will be able to play next since we only heard of cross country and football. Overall a very well written and informative article, good job!
Sincerely,
Kate Smith, grade 12
ivy • Mar 17, 2021 at 8:33 am
March 17, 2021
Dear Cordyen Editor,
In issue 6 on February 25, 2021, Emma Sharmen wrote an article called” Ramping up the return of sports” which describes who and when football is coming back. This a good article and I enjoy reading about the news that is happening at our school since we are no longer there and it is harder to get information. This is a cool way to allow us to get insight into what is happening in these hectic times. But, the writer only talked about football I would love to hear what other sports are doing like volleyball, baseball, or softball. Also, I know that golf is also allowed to have games and practice so that could be added to the article. I would also love to see the effects that this would have on the students and their mental life. Would this allow the student to know to have an outlet to release their tension and allow them to get more physical activity? What does the practice look like, is the whole team there at one time are they able to tackle each other. Another thing you can bring up is this safe for students to come have there been studies with the national football league with what percent of players getting covid. Do the student have an opinion on not coming back to sport if so do they need to take another class. What does this mean with going back to school how does this affect their schedule if we have different realize times?
Sincerely
Ivy Kealoha, grade 12
Maryellen Gonzalez • Mar 17, 2021 at 8:30 am
Dear Emma Sharman Editor,
In issue 6 (February 25, 2021), Emma Sharman wrote an article titled “Ramping up for a Sport Return¨. I am very impressed with how you used the resources like government officials and people who work with the sports team. I believe the students should get to be able to play and also social distance for their and others health. I believe you should elaborate more on the purple and red tier because not many pay attention to very important information like that and it´ll just go over their head. Just a brief explanation would be good. When you mentioned April Brown the team manager and stated that she checks the temperature and the sportswear is sanitized consistently is very good information for people who are very cautious about the virus. Can people attend the games? Why did cross country people still participate in sports activities when they were not supposed to because there were more than 8% positive test rates over the course of 7 days? I really hope people comply with the government and stay 6ft away from people and keep masks on so we can go back to normal because not complying would just ruin it for everybody. I really liked this article very well written.
Sincerely,
Taylor Ochoa • Mar 17, 2021 at 8:20 am
March 17, 2021
Dear Corydon Editor,
In issue 6 (February 25, 2021), Emma Sharman wrote the article “Ramping up for a Sports Return,” for athletics. Hello Corydon editor, thank you for taking the time to read my letter for the Corydon newspaper. I’d like to say that this article was very effective in giving a lot of info regarding the upcoming sports season. The part I found especially informative was the section that made it very clear what the different tiers were that counties were in and what tiers we would have to achieve in order to be able to practice sports. Ever since sports closed down last year, I’ve been concerned about how the students in athletics have been doing, so it’s nice to hear that things will be reopening relatively soon if we keep our case rates in check, that way student athletes can get back to practicing and competing. One thing that I would like to mention and potentially correct, is that I’ve been hearing that tennis has been able to practice, probably since they are a non-contact sport so it is more manageable. Something that I’d like to hear about in a follow up article is how student athletes have attempted to stay fit and stay motivated even when they can’t practice as effectively or as often.
Sincerely,
Taylor Ochoa, Grade 12