Spring sports have made their return to the Dana Hall fields after last year’s season was cancelled due to the outbreak of Covid-19. All teams are having both home and away games against other schools within the Eastern Independent League (EIL). Although teams are back in full swing, COVID precautionary guidelines are still in place, and lots of practice must be done to make up for the loss of team skills and strength after the lack of last year’s season. 

Spring season tryouts were held during the first week of March, when Dana Hall was still divided into cohorts. Teams had both cohorts on the field at the same time, but they were divided. Drills were held with the same small groups in order to prepare for contact tracing. 

Preseason, the few days of practices before the season starts, allowed for the cohorts to mix due to Dana Hall’s decision to combine cohorts for the remainder of the school year. Combining cohorts “allowed for the team to really come together and build chemistry on and off the field,” said lacrosse captain Mia D’angelo ’21.

This year’s sports season started with 2 to 3 weeks of practices before games begin. This leeway time allowed for teams to get back up and running after losing their season last year. Ms. Janet Sullivan, Associate Director of Athletics and Varsity Lacrosse Coach, said that the loss of last year’s season was a huge blow to “skill training and transition work, so we need to spend time getting everyone back up to speed.” Although last year’s loss paused team growth, the weeks leading up to the games were beneficial to all teams.

Due to the pandemic, many precautions are in place to keep campus safe while still playing sports and competing against other schools. Sullivan explained that “both home and away teams need to be tested before games” in order to keep the contact as low risk as possible. Other precautionary rules include wearing masks at all times, not using other people’s equipment, some sports doing quarters instead of halves during games, and keeping people six feet apart while they are on the bench.

Every varsity sport is playing between 8 and 10 games this season both home and away. The last of the games will be played on May 22. Junior Varsity teams have a few games, varying by sport. 

Photo source: Adam Richins Photography.