There are many parents, doctors and educators that believe students need some form of sports participation to help maintain a balanced educational experience. In normal times I would fully agree, but these are not normal times. Eight months into this pandemic is way too early to consider playing this season, which has the potential of putting families at great health risk. We just don’t know enough about this disease yet to fully understand how to keep everyone safe.

What is more damaging to a young person’s high school experience – not being able to play a fall sport or finding out that he or she brought COVID-19 home from a sporting event that caused either a friend or family member to become severely ill or die?

My gut feeling is we need to slow down and stop worrying about sports right now. There shouldn’t be undue pressure put on educators, players or parents to play a fall sports season when schools across the country are struggling with sending kids home because of outbreaks. It’s challenging enough right now just keeping everyone safe during a normal school day. Let’s keep it simple and focus on academics for now while we use common sense and time to sort things out.

Ronald Kramer
South Portland

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