Even with remnants of snow still remaining on the Hackley campus, spring sports kicked off Tuesday, March 9th. That said, interscholastic competition is still on hold, confirming the cancellation of a full year of interscholastic play amongst the Ivy Preparatory School League.

Director of Athletics, Jason Edwards, sent out a letter to Hackley students saying that “The Hackley Athletics Department and coaching staff remain committed to providing our students with a safe, team-based experience” ensuring that teams will still practice this spring.

“The current plan for the two weeks before spring break is for students to engage in fitness and skill activities. After the break, assuming we have low covid rates, teams will have intrasquad scrimmages with each other like we did in the fall,” Edwards said.

Regarding the chance of a change to the state of interscholastic play, Mr. Edwards said he was unable to answer that question until Hackley returns from spring break.

Softball and baseball will both follow similar practice formats, which will involve outdoor practices on the fields with lots of focus on fielding and hitting practice. Each player will be assigned a bat, helmet, and glove that they will use for the year and all balls used in practice will be Lysol sprayed after to ensure everyone’s safety.

“I’m pretty sure we’re gonna do scrimmages against each other and basically just get a lot of time to work on individual skills and positions,” junior Destiny Stephen said.

Boys tennis will follow similar guidelines to baseball and softball, which include the Lysol spraying of tennis balls and equipment after practice. Students are required to wear masks when on the same side of the court as another player, but if they are alone on their side and properly distanced, they can remove their masks during practice.

Golf, a sport that by nature allows for social distancing, is set to look surprisingly different this upcoming season. The golf team will start the season unable to go to the range for practice as well as not being allowed to go and play practice rounds, making it very difficult for the team to get the necessary practice to improve on their game.

“We are hoping that soon we will be able to go to the range and do team practice rounds as those are great and really fun times with the team all together,” junior Jared Rosenberg said. The two weeks of practice before spring break will consist of practice using plastic golf balls on Akin Common.

The sport that is likely to be the most affected is lacrosse, as it is the only spring sport that is contact. The boys and girls lacrosse teams will not be able to wear pads or engage in contact for the first two weeks of the season. After that, the hope is that they will be able to wear pads and scrimmage, but it is still unknown at this time due to the uncertainty of the state of the coronavirus post-spring break.

The spring sport least affected by the pandemic is track and field. All Upper School track and field will practice together from 3::00 p.m., three times a week. The only major differences that the team will face will be the implementation of social distancing, wearing masks, and making sure to sanitize all equipment after practice. Other than that, track and field practices will function the same as a typical spring season.

The spring season will not look the same as past years, but will still give Hackley students the opportunity to have a team experience, as well as improve on their skills for interscholastic play in 2022.