By: Vincent Aldridge
…There will, and have been some limitations. Obviously there won’t be full capacity quite yet, but at the moment they are allowing up to six people per athlete, depending on the venue.
Redwood Principal, Mr. Shin says that people are working the gate who will check people off for each individual athlete. He admits that sometimes kids won’t have enough people visit, so they will let people take those spots. The whole reason for the change is because Tulare County has entered the orange tier in COVID cases, which is two away from purple, being the most cases.
Photo Credit: Aidan Hatch, ’22/Redwood Gigantea
Shin made it very clear that “[Their] goal is not to turn anyone away, and if [they] could find a way to help [spectators] see the contest by using somebody else, [they] will do that.”
Shin says that the main issue for them at the moment is “maintaining the social distancing, and the mask wearing, when [spectators] are at those events.”
Mr. Vieira, the Varsity girls’ soccer coach says that these new guidelines are “great for parents, because they get to watch their kids play.”
He also believes that the “girls kind of feed off the energy of the crowd sometimes. When it’s a close game, sometimes having the fans in there can help us get a little bit of an energy boost, so that’s good.”
Varsity soccer player, Madison Fortney, ’23 says that some concerns she has about the limitations are that she doesn’t know who she would invite. She says that she has “a pretty big family… I’ll have to pick and choose my family members.”
Photo Credit: Abby Miller, ’22/ Redwood Gigantea
Fortney’s also concerned about the players inviting more people than allowed, which could get the team in trouble. She says she plans on inviting most of her immediate family. She also has many sisters, so she would once again, have to pick who could go and who couldn’t.
Mrs. Vieira, who has been assisting Coach Vieira says, “it’s good to see other fans in the stadium again… I feel like it’s a relatively safe activity.” She made it clear that she feels this way as long as people are wearing masks and distancing, which is standard procedure at this point. She also says that it’s good for the Seniors, because they get to see their parents watching them play one last season for their high school year.
Principal Shin believes that, “this is a big win for our school and our district to be able to allow spectators, because nobody wants to compete without their parents or fans or friends coming and watching them.”
Shin also mentioned the fact that “football this year played in empty stadiums or empty auditoriums and nobody’s there… the game felt different for athletes in high school when they’re playing in front of no crowds, so having a crowd there… it’s just a win, it’s a positive thing for us.”
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