Storm aftermath: sports edition

On the morning of September 11, 2017 Hurricane Irma struck Florida as a category four with winds speed around 150 mph, then weakening to a tropical storm as it began to hit Georgia and Alabama. This has an impact on the school’s athletic programs and fields.

There have already been measures processed to fix the after effects. “The coaches are giving the kids this week to condition and prepare, since the games were cancelled. They didn’t want the kids playing games as soon as they got back. Along with games being moved to the upcoming weekend and next week, there were no practices along with no school. Next week we’ll be back at a full participation,” Justice said. Although, missing a couple of days, Justice told the coaches not to make practice mandatory this week. Also, affecting the practices was the environment that was destroyed by the hurricane.

There was minimal damage to anything physical. “Unfortunately, we lost both score boards for baseball and softball, a couple of trees out on the athletic fields and we lost a wind screen from the football fields. We attained quite a bit of damage, nothing too serious. The most vital problem that needs to be fixed is to get the fields back in shape, so they can practice and to play games out there.” Justice said. He says they can play without the scoreboards, but it’s going to take some time to get those things back up.

Although Hurricane Irma did impact the fields and practices, it did not break the spirit of the coaches and athletes. With all the games already rescheduled for the upcoming week, fall sports will be sure to get back up their field in no time.

Due to being indoors most of the time and the restock of a lot of food and some power being out, the right diets for athletes and sufficient water was not always an option.

This back track, although rough, proved to only lift the spirit in athletes. “Monday and Tuesday were a little rough, it was hot, you could tell they weren’t hydrated and they weren’t eating the way they’re supposed to. They made a huge turn around Wednesday and Thursday, we had two of the best practices we’ve ever had all season, it was fun, it was competitive, and it was physical.” Coach Chew said.

The change in spirit from both the players and coach resulted in an improved practice.

This storm was destructive and strong, but it did not break the motivation of all players and coaches alike. The changes did not influence the amount of hard work that would be put into the upcoming games, so there is still much to look forward to.