Despite the complete lack of high school sports lately, there has been a slight recent uptick in national sports action.

 April 23 saw the first night of the NFL Draft which was held virtually for the first time ever. This featured all the players sitting and watching at home with general managers sending in picks from their virtual war rooms, and the commissioner announcing them from his basement. Also recently featured on ESPN was the first two episodes of the 10-part docuseries, “The Last Dance,” which chronicles behind the scenes the success of the 1990s Bulls franchise. Despite this relative excitement in the national sports world, high school sports is still dealing with the impact of their seasons being taken away.

Senior pitcher and first baseman Will Hoch learned about OSSAA’s decision to cancel spring sports on social media. 

“I heard about it one morning scrolling through Twitter,” Hoch said. “I was crushed, but in the grand scheme of things it was probably the right thing to do.”

The baseball players also had high hopes for the season.

“We were looking pretty good, and I knew we had the talent to make a deep run,” Hoch said. “We were starting to click early in the year, and I think this was going to be our best team out of my four years here by far.”

At the collegiate level, recruiting programs are still scrambling for junior looks in spring sports. The lack of an opportunity to showcase to schools has left a confusing void in offers. 

“We had a few guys that were looking for offers and looks,” Hoch said. “It really takes tons of chances away not only because they didn’t get to play and therefore not get seen, but since the NCAA granted all spring athletes another year of eligibility, it makes things really crowded at those schools and more difficult for kids to get a spot anywhere on the map.”

Tennis also saw its season get taken away this year. Junior Ryan Schwartz plays one doubles with Tristen Nguyen. 

“My hopes were to place at tournaments and to make it to state,” Ryan said. 

As the epidemic continues to hang in the balance, so too does the sports world.