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(04/08/21 9:59am)
Competitive athletics might have just returned to Middlebury College, but Middlebury Union High School (MHS) has organized Covid-friendly competition since this fall. It’s been a successful operation headed by Sean Farrell, the athletic director at MHS.
Outside of a ubiquitous mask mandate, most sports have been conducted as normal, besides a few changes implemented outside of the lines.
“A boy’s lacrosse game is going to look the same as a lacrosse game did a year, or two years ago,” Farrell told The Campus. “The only difference is they will be wearing a mask.”
Off the field, MHS has taken several Covid-19 precautions to keep athletes and families safe. During water breaks, for example, players are required to be at least six feet apart. Furthermore, health checks are conducted before every practice and game, and all windows must be open on buses, even during the winter season.
When it comes to football and dance, though, the restrictions extend beyond the sidelines. Instead of tackle football — which is predicated on constant person-to-person contact — Farrell has implemented a seven-versus-seven, non-contact version of the game. Players are unpadded, although they still wear a helmet, creating an entirely different game.
Dance is another sport that’s been drastically altered, since typical meets host large numbers indoors. Thus, given the 150 person gathering limit in place, hosting normal dance competitions becomes inconceivable.
“We created a virtual format where each school would videotape themselves in their own gym, send it to us, and we’d create a film,” Farrell explained. “We’d send it to judges, and we did that all the way through the State Championships.”
The school also saw a dip in winter sports participation because indoor sports, such as basketball and gymnastics, presented safety concerns that deterred some students from participating.
Another obstacle MHS faces this spring is how to host track meets in light of capacity limitations. Although the school has found a solution for the dance team, videotaping a race isn’t quite the same as recording a dance recital. As the inner workings are hammered out, the team is in a holding pattern, waiting on concrete guidance.
This past year hasn’t been easy, but Farrell has helped guide MHS to a successful athletic operation amid the pandemic. Next up on the docket is spring sports, a season that will include schedules for each team.
“All spring sports will happen,” Farrell said. “Throughout this whole process, only wrestling and indoor track were cancelled. Other than that, all sports happened.”
(04/01/21 9:57am)
Student organizations have worked throughout the year to adapt programming to Covid-19 health protocols, but travel restrictions and limited in-person activity have made it difficult for many clubs to fulfill their core missions. Organizations like the Middlebury Mountain Club (MMC), Dolci and the Ceramics Club are now having to think outside the box — or outside the mug.
Travel restrictions are the primary obstacle for outdoor groups like the MMC. Since students are unable to travel outside of Addison County, the MMC is getting creative with local trips. In the fall, the club took frequent canoe trips in the waters around Middlebury and led hikes on the Trail Around Middlebury, according to Molly Arndt ’23, president of the MMC.
Ardnt noted that transportation is another big issue this semester. Since MMC is unable to use the school’s vehicles, it has been difficult to organize trips even within the county. The result is smaller hikes, which do not elicit the same interest as pre-Covid trips.
The MMC has also struggled to get guides certified in wilderness first-aid because the instructors who usually run trainings are not allowed on campus.
“Mountain Club usually offers a few wilderness first aid courses in the year as well as a wilderness first responder course over Feb break, and we haven’t been able to do those this year,” Ardnt said. “A certification in first aid is required in order to be a guide, so a lot of our guides, myself included, don’t have the qualifications.”
This year, the MMC is only requiring that one of two guides on every trip have the certification.
Other organizations, like the student-run restaurant Dolci, are facing similar challenges with pandemic programming. In past years, Dolci has run occasional five- to six-course meals for students, but they have not been able to run any this year due to Covid-19 restrictions, according to Grace Kellogg ’22, incoming president of Dolci. Though Middlebury students are missing out on the student-run restaurant experience this year, Dolci has found a way to support local businesses that are facing grim economic realities during the pandemic.
“The positive side is that we’ve been able to pivot into alternate methods of engaging students with food and supporting local farmers and businesses. Our main event in the fall was focused on distributing bags of fresh produce and food items from local businesses to students,” Kellogg said.
A virtual Student Activities Fair complicated the process of integrating new members. Most student organizations recruit new students at the fair, where booths set up on McCullough Lawn or inside Wilson Hall allow new students to see before them the full range of clubs and organizations. At this year’s fair, conducted through individual Zoom rooms for each club and org, many new students had never heard of more specialized groups like Dolci.
“The current freshmen have never experienced and may never have even heard of Dolci, so it will definitely require some focused energy to reach out to those students next year,” Kellogg said.
Hobby and interest groups, like the Ceramics Club, have also found challenges with limited in-person activity. The maximum capacity in the wheel-throwing studio is six people, according to Lexie Massa ’21, president of the Ceramics Club. However, due to pandemic-induced stress, the Ceramics Club has seen increased popularity. Given the limited number of in-person activities available this semester, the Ceramics Club sign-up sheet fills up quickly.
“It’s honestly a really great space for people to come and do an activity that they probably wouldn’t have time to do or wouldn’t have thought to do,” said Massa.