#LetTheKidsPlay

Social Media movement sweeps the nation in a time of unknowns

On Thursday, March 12, 2020, HSE Schools announced that the district would be closing its schools until April 13 due to growing concerns of Covid-19. On Friday, March 13, 2020, students and teachers discussed what e-learning would look like in the weeks to come.

For most students, there was not much of a problem as they were starting to figure out what their daily schedule would look like in terms of the work they would be doing. Athletes at both Fishers High School and Hamilton Southeastern High School still had one big question that was left unanswered, will there still be a high school sports season?

As spring sports teams met after school to discuss an unknown future of a season that could potentially not happen, the Indiana High School Athletic Association, otherwise known as the IHSAA, released a statement regarding high school sports seasons.

 Several days later, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb announced that all K-12 schools would be closed until May 1. For most students, this meant that there would be more weeks of e-learning to follow. For senior spring athletes, this meant that they may never get to play their sport again at the high school level.

During this hard and pressing time, a social media trend titled #LetTheKidsPlay swept the nation at every level imaginable. Not only were high school athletes participating, collegiate and professional ones were too. For a handful of people who never really use social media, a new trend can be quite confusing.

“Let the Kids Play is about trying to still give athletes the opportunity to participate in the sport that they have prepared for,” senior Fishers softball player Alyssa Weber said. “This trend is something that is giving athletes hope for the future.”

Hope is something citizens across the world are holding onto as the duration of this pandemic has shown no end date in sight. A trend like #LetTheKidsPlay provides athletes with the hope that they will one day get to compete in their sport again. Having hope in a time like this is crucial to the mental well-being of a person, especially when there is nowhere to go.

Most citizens are finding a mandated quarantine with no contact allowed to be quite the boring situation they never expected. Online learning has allowed kids to take a break from boredom and experience a whole new type of classroom. Learning from a computer comes with its challenges, but it also provides students with unique skill sets that could come in handy later on in life. Several teachers have turned towards Zoom, a platform that allows for video and audio communication through a computer screen.

Even though zoom is a great resource for communication, it does not help athletes cope with not being able to interact with their teammates on the field.

“Personally, I have been affected by not having the start to my senior season playing softball,” Weber said. “I have missed a lot of memories [with my team] from the beginning of the season.”

This break has come with more uncertainties than anyone could have ever imagined, especially for athletes. The silver lining to this all came from a statement the IHSAA released on Thursday, March 19, 2020. In short, the IHSAA has adjusted their policies on the number of practice days required before a team can participate in a competition from 10 to 5, assuming they are able to resume on May 1.

“I believe the IHSAA changing their rules allows athletes have have a better opportunity to participate in sports,” Weber said “I am excited because if our season resumes, we can have more games and will not have to worry about having as many practices.”

In a world of so many unknowns right now, high school athletes have something they can look forward to, the continuation of their season.

For more information on the impact of Covid-19 on high school sports, visit IndyStar.com