With the recent rise of COVID-19 cases across the district, winter sports have begun to take the hit. With games and practice subjected to cancellations and rescheduling due to a breakout number of cases, the athletic calendar has had to make quick changes. 

For girls basketball, a positive test means a quarantine, and you’ll miss out on practices and games until you test negative. If enough team members test positive, it has a direct impact on the performance at the next game. 

“We had multiple positive tests,” senior Stevi Cochran said. “I was one of them, even though I’m hurt. Like everyone that got COVID, I was out. So, it’s impactful on our team.” 

Since the CDC has updated their quarantine guidelines, Olathe Schools has done the same, updating the quarantine period and how often you have to get tested. Winter sports have to follow certain rules to keep practices and games safe. 

“So a girl on our team, she actually tested positive,” Cochran said. “And so the procedure was:… you have to get tested every single day of the week. So we had like two girls that were vaccinated. They had to get tested every day to come back. They were all negative.” 

With the recent spike, new rules were put in place, like wearing masks at practices, that have an effect on the teams. 

“We had to start wearing masks at practice, which I think is really hard for the girls because when I played last year, we had to wear masks and it was very difficult to play,” Cochran said.” When we go to Lawrence, I think we have to play with [masks] when we play our game.” 

Girls basketball, along with boys basketball, boys and girls wrestling, and bowling has all had their collective share of cancellations and rescheduling. Contact sports such as basketball and wrestling have taken a harder hit though, as the risk is much higher to catch COVID at a practice or game.