By Arayana Ladson

There have been major impacts on the winter sports season at high schools due to Covid-19 restrictions. Mt. Hebron is one of the hundreds of schools that have had their seasons rushed, pushed back, or postponed. Complications such as these have made for a rocky start to the season. 

Due to Prince George’s Sports Complex being temporarily closed for Covid-19 vaccinations and tests, there are no indoor facilities to compete at. With these circumstances, Howard County was left with no indoor facility to compete at, so Howard County schools have been competing outside since Jan. 19th.

When asked about this situation Jaydn Hughes, a junior on the varsity track team, stated, “Running in the freezing cold is horrible, it affects times and I feel as though it just doesn’t build the motivation to actually practice or compete. Although I have not given up, our season was very rushed and not that effective.”

Apart from this, students have been given the opportunity to “shut down” for this 2022 indoor season and train for the outdoor season, but students worry that this will lower their motivation. Preston Henry, a junior on the boys varsity track team, shared his thoughts about hearing the new information.

“Being told that you can easily quit a season puts into athletes’ heads that our sport is not worthy, that there is really no plan for our meets and how we will work around Covid restrictions,” said Henry.

Despite all of these conflicts and miscommunications in the air about this season, Mt. Hebron’s track team still stands strong. 

Head Coach, Teyantre Carter, was adamant about the upside stating, “although our meets are outdoors and the season has been very rocky I still manage to push my kids and encourage them to keep going. Just because a season may not be permanent does not mean you start slacking with workouts and your motivation.” 

Aaron Abedin, a junior on the boys varsity track team, added on to what Coach Carter stated. “My motivation has stayed the same throughout all of the Covid-19 sports seasons, Coach Carter has taught me to always do more than little because you never know what could be planned in the future, her words are currently helping me PR in every meet I compete in.”

Despite all of the hardship,  endless motivation and teamwork amongst athletes, coaches and staff have promoted positive mindsets for everyone involved in the winter track season.