Sports during a pandemic

As we all know this entire year has been one where we’ve had to make changes and see people get creative due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve especially been seeing how the pandemic has been affecting sports. For the professional sports it’s meant stadiums of very few if any fans. High school sports has been vastly different.
In the last few weeks I’ve been getting photos at boys and girls cross country, girls tennis and girls soccer. At each fans and parents have been allowed, although there has been socially distancing and most people have been wearing masks. At the cross country meets people lined the routes that the runners were taking with most keeping their distance. One difference is that the meet at Cedar Lake Farm Regional Park probably didn’t have as many spectators as other races in the past might have. The same was true of the girls soccer game as they kept the number of fans at Trojan Stadium to 250 people.
As a photographer the experience was in some ways unlike anything else. Like everyone else at the girls soccer game I was kept to the general viewing area. The only people allowed on the field were the athletes, coaches, managers, referees and medical staff. It wasn’t the furthest I’ve had to try and shoot a game from. Like other past games I went to where the action was.
I’ve had several friends on social media, many before Labor Day, drumming the “stay home” message. I understand that, but I also understand that people need interaction with others. We need to be with others, even if it’s a few friends or a group to just chat with. Sports have been one of those outlets for many of us. It’s a time to watch a game, get involved in it or, during slow moments, catch up with friends. How we handle things in the winter will be another subject altogether.