As the winter season arrives, many schools have decided to cancel winter sports due to new regulations set in place by Governor Ralph Northam.
On Thursday, December 10th, new regulations were made, affecting guidelines such as social gatherings and curfews. Schools have also been affected by these new rules, with some schools deciding to cancel their winter sports season.
Richmond City Public Schools is one of the multiple school divisions in Virginia to cancel their winter sports this season. Sports like basketball, wrestling, gymnastics, and multiple others have been cancelled to assure safety and health guidelines.
Many schools have decided to cancel their winter season after seeing an up roar in covid cases within the school.
Petersburg City Schools has made the decision to cancel all winter sports after a unanimous vote was made on Wednesday.
Henrico County Public Schools has also decided to cancel winter sports due to the new regulations in order to assure people attending the school will be healthy and safe.
Whether or not these guidelines will affect the upcoming spring season is unknown. Many schools are staying hopeful that they will be able to return to a normalcy when the spring season arrives.
VHSL ( Virginia High School League) had announced on December 10th that masks would be mandatory when playing sports however, they later re announced that the decision on whether or not schools should wear masks during sports is being left to the school district itself. Some schools may choose to not enforce wearing masks during sports, while others may enforce it.
Some schools like Patrick County have decided to not require masks while on the court but are making coaches wear masks the whole time, and making students wear them when coming on and off of the court.