By Grace Mundy
In a recent Granada Hills Charter (GHC) newsletter, the school shared that they are planning to begin reopening, starting with offering conditioning for athletes. GHC plans to implement appropriate Covid-19 precautions and ensure that these are beneficial and safe activities for all involved.
Athletes will have the opportunity to come back on campus and participate in conditioning for their respective sports. Teams can have up to two workouts a week, each lasting no more than four hours. The groups on campus will also be broken down into smaller cohorts of a maximum of 25 people. These precautions will ensure that students can socially distance and will not have to gather in too large of groups.
To ensure no one spreads Covid-19, students and staff will receive tests for the virus weekly. They will also have to complete health screenings online before arriving on campus. When students do arrive, they will have temperature checks, as a fever is a symptom of Covid-19. Students will not have contact, and masks and social distancing will be enforced.
Teams will be able to complete exercises that will help them with their specific sport, while also being able to experience a sense of teamwork, as they will be together in person.
“I believe this will give students an opportunity to stay physically active – outdoors and safely. This is something that has been missing for the last year and I think this helps promote the mental, physical and emotional well-being of those participating,” Athletic Director Cristina Garcia said.
At the end of February, Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, announced that the new youth sports guidelines would also allow for games as well as practices, provided schools and districts follow safety protocols.
Tryouts for sports teams started this week.
With vaccines rolling out, and more and more groups, including teachers, qualifying to be vaccinated, we are beginning to see decreases in COVID-19 cases. For many, this offers hope that the pandemic will end soon, and that school may eventually be back to normal.
“I think and I hope that school will eventually return to normal. We also might have a ‘new normal.’ I guess we will have to wait and see what that looks like,” junior Natalie Shtangrud said.
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