Many health experts and officials across the nation warned that the possibility of a second wave of the coronavirus could surface in the late fall and winter.
As it turned out, the predictions were right.
Indiana high school sports survived the first round against COVID-19 pandemic, completing the fall sports season, but with the cases climbing the past three months, the winter sports season is in dire straits.
"I’m hoping for the best, and we’re really lucky to have played already 12 games because so many teams have not been able to play," East junior girls basketball player Koryn Greiwe said. "We’re always worried about our season, but right now, we’re very lucky to be playing."
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The coronavirus has made its presence felt among the local teams in December.
The Columbus North and East boys basketball teams and the North girls basketball team have all been quarantined due to contact tracing from one of their opponents testing positive for the virus. The players couldn’t meet and practice together during the quarantine period, setting the teams on a detour.
"I think we’re all affected by it in many ways. Some of us are having to do stuff on our own," North senior boys basketball player Blake Barker said. "I’ve done some home workouts, and then I’ve also been able to shoot outside for about a week when I was able to, but this week, it’s been very cold. Other than that, it’s been pretty tough."
North senior girls basketball player Alexa McKinley said the team has conducted virtual meetings together and held conditioning sessions in the meetings. McKinley and senior teammate Madison White would lead the workouts that would include pushups, and ab and cardio exercises.
"It’s been really hard because especially with it being cold outside, too, because you can’t really shoot outside," McKinley said. "We’ve been doing online Zoom calls and done conditioning, which has been helpful being with the team."
North senior swimmer Christopher Lee was dealt a scare earlier this month when he couldn’t compete in the annual North-East meet due to showing symptoms of COVID-19 the day before. Luckily for Lee, his test results came back negative, and he rejoined his team the following week.
Lee said he is confident that it won’t affect his training much for the rest of the season.
He also had to quarantine during the summer with his club team. During that time, the team set up Zoom call workouts. Lee said that turned all right.
"I was feeling kind of bad that I couldn’t practice at all," Lee said. "I feel like it’s a setback, but I feel like I could bounce back from it."
Of all the indoor sports, swimming is probably the safest winter sport that could continue because transmission in chlorinated pool water is very slim to none, according to health experts.
A study conducted by the New Jersey Swim Safety Alliance, which has tracked transmission statistics from 60 different facilities in that state since early July, shows that zero COVID-19 infections have stemmed directly from those venues despite more than 327,000 cumulative visitors during that time.
While swimming might be the safest to continue, it also has the most to lose. If one of the swim teams has to shut down for two weeks due to a positive case or contact tracing from another team they’ve faced, it would be a huge setback given that most swim teams begin their heavy training in January.
"We’re worried about that, but we have to control what we can control," Lee said. "Coach (Logan Schaefer) always says to focus on controlling the controllable."
The North and East wrestling teams each had one of their biggest tournaments of the season canceled to due COVID-19 concerns. The Olympians were supposed to wrestle in the Al Smith tournament in Mishawaka, and the Bull Dogs set to wrestle in the Spartan Classic at Connersville.
However, North and East scheduled wrestling matches in the week of Christmas to make up for the losses.
In early December, Indiana had the worst infection rates in the country, according to The COVID Tracking Project.
Hospitalizations hit an all-time high for the state Dec. 1 with 3,460. Also this month, nearly 40% of the counties were labeled as a red county on the color-coded advisory level chart of the COVID-19 dashboard on the Indiana Department of Health’s website.
The chart a lot of basketball teams across the state in limbo because of either a positive case or contact tracing. Basketball is the biggest sport at risk of losing many games during the season because most schools play two or three games a week, which means more contact tracing and exposure than the other winter sports.
According to the policy of Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp., teams are not allowed to compete against schools that have their county designated as a red county. The policy has forced North and East to postpone many meets and games.
"Our athletic director (Pete Huse) has done a very good job of finding us games when things got canceled, and we really appreciate that," Greiwe said. "I’m so thankful to be playing right now because I know so many other people haven’t been as fortunate."
The BCSC policy of not playing schools in a red county has its positives and negatives. The biggest positive is that it has kept North and East athletes safe and COVID-free during the fall season, and for the most part, the winter season as well. The biggest negative is the decrease in probability of playing a full schedule when other schools across the state can play schools that are a red county.
"Whatever they feel is the best for us as a corporation, I believe in," Greiwe said. "I’m so glad that when we do cancel those games that we’re able to reschedule or even reschedule for another team to play on that day. They’re doing their best to keep us safe and continuing to give us games at least and not just shutting down our season."
Barker and McKinley also weighed in on policy.
"I know that I definitely want to play as much as possible, but I know the restrictions are in place for a reason," Barker said. "Whether I like them or not, I respect them, and I understand why they’re put in place. I want to play basketball, but I also want to keep other people safe, as well. It is not just me. It’s not just about me playing basketball; it’s about other people’s safety, as well."
McKinley added, "I think it is a little bit too strict with playing teams that are in the red if no one on their team is sick, but I see the point of it, also. I want our team to be safe, but I also don’t want to have all of our games postponed or canceled to later."
Once the calendar turns to 2021, girls basketball will be at the point of no return if a game happens to get postponed. It’ll make rescheduling the game much more difficult with the postseason staring in early February.
There could also be an instance where one school travels for their respective game, only to have it postponed once both teams were getting ready to take the floor. That incident happened Dec. 12 when the Madison boys basketball team traveled to Bedford North Lawrence. About 15 minutes before the junior varsity tip, the game was postponed due to COVID-19.
"I think we would pretty much prepare the same, but it would be weird not knowing if you’re going to play or not," McKinley said.
A big telling sign if the winter sports season can survive is how the new case results come in during the early and middle part of January when everyone is home and visiting with family and friends during Christmas and New Year’s.
With COVID-19 not going away anytime soon, athletes will never know when they played their last game of the season, and in the case of the seniors, their high school careers.
However, the light at the end of tunnel against the COVID-19 pandemic took a big step earlier this month when the first initial doses of the vaccine were shipped out across the nation. Vaccinations started on Dec. 14 for healthcare workers. They’ve started in Bartholomew County over a week ago.
According to the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC), 556,208 doses of the vaccine had been administered as of Monday. More doses will still be distributed in the next few weeks, but it will still take months for the vaccine to be available to the population nationwide.
"In the back of my mind, I’m like, ‘We can’t get these years of high school back,’" Greiwe said. "Personally, I put so much work into it, so I know mentally and emotionally it would be really tough not playing. You never know when we would have to stop our season, so right now, we’re just living life to the fullest right now as we can because we can’t get those years back."
"I want to go out there with my teammates again. I want to wear the jersey again. I’m very eager to get back to playing basketball and enjoying my senior year," Barker added. "I understand that times are different right now, and I have to respect that and I can’t do anything about it. All I can do is control what I can control, and I can’t control if we come back and play basketball or not. That’s up to other people, so I’m just told what I’m told and kind of go from there, but I definitely want to get back there."
