Daniel Maher is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Saint Mary's Catholic for AZPreps365.com

Saint Mary’s Catholic Athletic Director Matthew Mayo had little time to prepare for the winter sports after the AIA voted to restore sports in January. 

“Everything we do in athletics is on a calendar; we have hard deadlines, we are able to plan for things well in advance. With COVID, you really can’t do that,” said Mayo, “And here we are just trying to do the best we can to stay healthy, and doing the best we can to keep our kids as safe as we can. 

A multitude of state modifications have been put in place to try to keep athletes from getting sick during the pandemic. Masks must be worn at all times. “Even the kids in the game right now have to wear masks,” said Mayo. “Though this may have caused some controversy, in the beginning, we are going to follow what the association tells us to do.” 

Student-athletes have been given a variety of mask options to wear during sporting events. The Gator masks or “buffs” are acceptable for basketball and soccer. The disposable surgical masks are permitted if kept over the mouth and nose at all times, and washable cotton masks are also allowed. “The AIA has been pretty hands-off as far as the type of mask, all they ask is that it completely covers the nose and mouth at all times,” Mayo said. 

Initially, the only people that could attend sporting events were two parents or guardians per player for the home team. These restrictions were loosened this week, and now two parents for each player from the visiting team can also attend. 

At a professional level, many athletes have opted out of their prospective sports seasons. For Saint Mary’s, this was not the case. Only one soccer player decided not to play due to underlying health conditions. 

Saint Mary’s has done a good job of following protocols and keeping all its athletes safe. This does not mean there haven’t been some scares. The boy's basketball team defeated Thunderbird High School 80-46 in the season opener, and shortly after this, Thunderbird had to shut down due to COVID-19. Fortunately, all the boys' basketball tests came back negative, and they continued with their season. 

“We also have had a couple of games that have been postponed because the team we were playing had to go into a quarantine,” said Mayo. 

The window for these games to be rescheduled is rapidly closing, though. Mayo believes all games that have been postponed up to this point should be made up, 

“One of the games, the school just came out and said they don’t want to reschedule the game because they were worried about fitting it into their schedule.”

This has been a difficult experience for everyone. For Matt Mayo, the biggest challenge has been having to do everything on the fly. 

“The spring schedules haven't even come out yet. Everything is just kind of up in the air all the time. So we have to kind of change the way we do our job.” 

As the spring season approaches and the COVID-19 vaccine begins to roll out in larger doses, the only thing Mayo and many other athletic directors can do is wait and see and adjust accordingly.