This commentary is by Peter Langella of Moretown, a high school and college educator, and a former college and minor professional ice hockey player and college ice hockey coach.
During a recent Scott administration twice-weekly press conference, the state epidemiologist, Dr. Patsy Kelso, admitted that virus transmission has occurred at high school practices even when “athletes were following required precautions,” despite assurance from other officials that this was not the case.
At these same press conferences, the state health commissioner, Dr. Mark Levine, often talks about needs and wants in the pandemic. Going to the grocery store is a need; eating out in a restaurant is a want. Entering homes to take care of isolated, vulnerable loved ones and neighbors is a need; gathering with friends to watch a middle-aged man throw a ball on TV is a want.
Make no mistake, indoor, interscholastic sports for our high school athletes are a want, not a need. It’s wrong that games have begun while so many are still sacrificing so much to keep our communities safe, and when our state is still so far away from herd immunity through vaccinations (my spouse is a frontline health care worker who treats Covid patients, and let me tell you, if everyone who hasn’t been taking this seriously could see the hurt and exhaustion in their eyes like I see at the dinner table every night, people’s attitudes and actions would change quickly).
Working in a public school has never been more difficult than it is right now. Trying to maintain pandemic mitigation protocols while also trying to create an engaging environment with our students is, well, it’s a lot. And, while in-school virus spread in Vermont has been relatively low compared to the rest of the country, the key word is relatively. The United States has been a mess.
Using our relative good standing compared to national numbers as evidence for loosening restrictions is like saying we don’t need to douse water on our burning house because 47 or 48 of the other houses nearby have already burned down.
And now many school staff are being put in an impossible situation — we are in classrooms with students who are gathering (and breathing on — the masks don’t stay on; take a peek at the pictures) indoors with people from other schools and other communities even though the wider statewide guidelines forbid that.
The Scott administration has decided to make sports like hockey and basketball among its very few exceptions to the indoor gathering rules.
Why?
Why would he and they do this to us? Hockey and basketball games have led to cases all over the country at the pro, college, high school and youth level. Vermont’s largest outbreak of the year started with recreational hockey teams in Montpelier; the quote from Dr. Kelso cited above proves that practices have already led to cases; and, just last month, UVM’s basketball and hockey teams went on pause due to cases within their athletic program. The UVM women’s basketball team then opted out of the rest of the season, which is incredibly commendable, and those young women shouldn’t have had to make that decision for themselves — the state of Vermont, the university, and the athletic department should have protected them.
The No. 1 reason touted by the Scott administration for allowing indoor, interscholastic games is the mental health of the teenagers. I have three main problems with this.
First, it centers the mental health of certain populations over others. There are many more activities that aren’t allowed in-person in schools right now despite being much safer than the aforementioned sports.
Second, high school athletics are not the great equalizer, despite the rhetoric saying they are. Students from historically marginalized racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds and identities don’t have the same access to athletic opportunities as their more privileged counterparts. Students who are agender, transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, or somewhere else on the gender spectrum don’t have the same access to athletic opportunities as their cisgender peers. Students from households most impacted by income inequality and/or generational poverty don’t have the same access to athletic opportunities as their more affluent classmates. This is all easily researchable. Many don’t want to hear this, but athletics actually heighten equity gaps.
Third, as one of my colleagues who has a child with severe mental illness has helped me learn, anyone arguing that teenagers are in a mental health crisis because they can’t play sports games probably doesn’t know what a true mental health crisis looks like. This same colleague’s child can’t currently get the care they need because they don’t qualify for in-person visits due to Covid precautions.
Imagine a world where a child suffering from mental illness can’t visit a provider but CVU-Rice, U-32-Spaulding, St. J-Lyndon, and every other rivalry you can think of, can play on with two, three, four dozen people in a rink or gym.
It’s here. We live in that world now.
The students were already gathering and practicing and exercising. Why wasn’t that enough?
I was a star high school athlete. I was a very good college player who helped lead teams to three national tournaments, including one Final Four. I played minor professional ice hockey, earning money to pass a puck, living out a smaller version of my wildest childhood dreams. I then coached at one of the most selective colleges in the country.
I bring this up because when I advocate for the cancellation of the indoor, interscholastic sports season as an educator, I’m mostly laughed at, scoffed at, or ignored.
I lived this. I know how much this season means to the teenagers. If I were 16 or 17 again, I’d be furious if I didn’t get to play. But you know what? That’s normal. These kids don’t have fully formed brains. Teenagers are predisposed to unnecessary risk-taking, and they need the adults to step in and do what’s right.
This pandemic is not over yet, and we need to do everything possible to end it as quickly and safely as we can.
Indoor, interscholastic sports should not be on that list, no matter how badly anyone wants them to be.
They aren’t worth the risk.
